One swallow may not make summer, but rising temperatures definitely signal time for a frosty pint of beer.

The muggy heat that Pune has seen recently saw us heading toward The Beer Cafe in search of a brew.

Located at the far end of North Main Road in Koregaon Park, The Beer Café is to your left just before the turnoff to the Oakwood lane. The interior is spacious and airy (well ventilated). The whole vibe is that of fun! Posters lining the wall will make you crack a smile after a long tiring workday, and your favorite brew will help you cool off.

You can go all American and play Foozball, or play an old fashioned board game like Backgammon. Or, you can just solve some word puzzles while lounging in their comfortable booths.

There are plenty of sitting areas indoors and a table can easily seat eight. There is an outdoor area too which will be great in cooler weather, or at night. The tables are set with ash trays so I guess this is going to be a smoking zone.

Outdoor areas are so great for live music – more on that coming up below.

The Beer Café stocks 40+ beers, including craft beers and many popular foreign brands too. So you can go for that Stella or Corona, or try a micro brew. The Beer Café is the place where you can venture beyond lagers and brands like Kingfisher, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Heineken, Miller etc. which are the usual mainstays in India.

The Beer Café has beer based cocktails called Brewtails. This is a new concept and I can think of two kinds of people who will go for these – either those who don’t like the typical taste of beer (why??), or those brave souls who want to combine their beer with liquor.

We visited the place for lunch. And telling ourselves that ‘It’s five o’clock somewhere’, we decided to try a couple of drinks. Two mixed drinks or Brewtails were chosen and so was one craft beer.

The Blue Flip sounded like something I would like. I was pleasantly surprised to see it served in a mason jar or glass jar. The drink combined passion fruit and Blue Lagoon with beer and was my favorite. It is sure to be a hit with someone who wants to avoid the strong taste of beer.

Hazelnut ruled, and so did raspberry in the second drink – Crazy Nuts. There is a mild aftertaste of beer, just so you don’t forget that you are after all in The Beer Café.

White Zen, the micro brew I chose is a Hefeweizen, a German wheat beer, and is made by a Mumbai based brewery. Adequately bitter, and flavored by Hallertauer hops, beer lovers can’t go wrong with this one.

But the White Zen is certainly not for newbies, in my opinion.

Where there is beer, there has to be lots of food! At least in my book. The Beer Café has a vast and eclectic menu offering plenty of options for both vegetarians and carnivores. The Corn Bhel came highly recommended by the staff. But corn is something I cook with a lot, so it doesn’t really have restaurant appeal for me.

We went with Stadium Style Nachos to start with. Nachos are my favorite. These came piled high with tomatoes, sour cream and cheese. They are a good choice in a crowd and also very economical, I believe. I am of course partial to my own Mexican Salsa :).

Green Inferno, another starter, contained grilled paneer or cottage cheese and chili rellenos type stuffed chili peppers topped with salsa and sour cream. The sauce was nicely spiced and surprisingly, this was one tasty appetizer.

Another dish I tried was the cold spring rolls called Hollow Man. These are very much like Vietnamese style summer rolls, and contain crisp veggies stuffed in rice paper. Sesame seeds add a nice crunch, mint adds freshness and these are great dipped in sweet chili sauce. Not very typical with beer, perhaps, but they are a nice choice if you want to stay away from fried food and pack in some veggies in addition to all that fermented wheat and barley.

The Beer Café also offers thin crust pizzas and we went for the Spinach, Feta and Walnut Pizza – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I think it was all good! This is a great combination as a salad, and I tried it on a pizza for the first time. As expected, it turned out to be delicious. Pizza was well made and the pizzas are another great menu choice for a crowd.

The menu does offer a Caesar salad, and some other mains. Local flavor is represented in the form of Misal Pav and Kheema Pav. This means that you can enjoy visiting The Beer Café even with folks who do not like or won’t touch non-Indian cuisines. They are also a good local dish to offer visitors, and in a comfortable setting.

The dessert menu offered a cheesecake, brownie or Beeramisu. I really wanted to try the Beeramisu which is their specialty and is made with Witlinger beer, but it was not available that day.

Apart from the Capital Ale House in Richmond, VA which stocks hundreds of beers, this is the first beer haven I have come across, especially in Pune. Or should I say Beer Heaven?

I think The Beer Café is offering something unique in terms of providing Punekars with a wide choice of brews. I would have loved to see a Sam Adams on their menu or MGD. But it all depends on what is available for sale in the Indian market.

 Spirit, Music and Passion at The Beer Cafe

The Beer Cafe kicks off Spirited Saturdays 9 PM onwards starting March 21, with rock band PLUVIUM lead by Mark Raj and enhanced by Savio Sebastian,  Jeson Filipe and Alex Coutinho, Neeta Verma, Neil Fernandez. You can also groove to Mark Raj on March 28. Silver on April 4th and Hour Glass Inversions on April 11th are next.

Whether you like your pint of ale or not, The Beer Café is a great place to hang out, let your hair down and just let loose. A must visit!

The Beer Cafe

http://www.thebeercafe.com/

G-102, Gr Floor, Kapila Matrix
Koregaon Park
Pune 411001

Phone: 020-65335552