Food & Beer Culture

Neer Dosa with Ginger Chicken, Chicken Ghee Roast with Dosa: this is what dinner looks like at a Bengaluru brewpub when the kitchen cooks regional dishes. Neer Dosa is a wafer-thin rice-flour pancake that soaks up spicy sauce. Chicken Ghee Roast is a chicken dish from the coast of Karnataka made with red chilies, spices, and clarified butter.

Why does beer pair so well with this? Beer is cool and carbonated, and both qualities cut through fat and heat on the tongue. A mild lager or a pale witbier with a touch of sweetness tempers chili, while a robust IPA brings its own heat and pairs better with grilled meat, cheese, and hearty snacks.

For breakfast and in the afternoon, the city drinks filter coffee. Vidyarthi Bhavan serves Benne Masala Dosa, a crispy pancake with butter and a potato filling, and the MTR chain — Sri Maruthi Tiffin Room — has been serving the city dosa, rava idli, and coffee for nearly a hundred years. Beer comes later, in the evening, once the offices empty out.

The beer culture here is young and urban. It thrives in brewpubs, where coworkers meet after work, share pizza, burgers, and snacks at long tables, and watch the brewers at work behind the glass. In a brewpub, you drink alone far less often than at a traditional pub, and groups tend to order several styles to sample together.

There are no fixed rituals here like in Bavaria. When sharing a beer, people pour in turn from large bottles, and a pint is the standard measure. Still, it's a sociable scene, and those who drink slowly and eat along the way end up having the best evening.