I have been following the beer situation in India for decades. In terms of beer drinking there was always a lot of it, but all of them macro beers and some of them very dubious. But recently the craft beer trend reached the country with micro breweries and tap rooms appearing all over the place. Many of them seem to be fly-by-night operations, they pop up and disappear. As for the beers they brew, the majority seems to be wheat beers and Belgian style beers. But in my experience many of the breweries/taprooms/stations have a very similar line up and often there is no correspondence between the stated type and the beer. Nor is the staff aware of what they are serving. Having said that there are some good quality micro breweries around. During a recent stay in Mumbai I visited a number of operations and came up with a Bombay Craft Beer Protocol (not all of the places in town were covered):
1 = pretty bad, 5 = Excellent
Effingut 2 Go, Chembur: Kolsch (2), Citrus Burst IPA (1)
Royal Oak Brewery, Vashi: Marzen (2)
Gateway Taproom BKC,:New England IPA (5). Gateway know what they are doing, the best beer in Mumbai.
Drifters Tap Station Bandra: Oktoberfest Special (3), NEIPA (3)
British Brewing Company Vashi: Brewers Blonde Ale by Igloo Craft Beers (3)
Independence Brewing Company Powai: Hoppy High Juicy IPA. Just a notch below Gateway.
