Craft beer enthusiasts in the city are either hard at work or looking for some new and freshly brewed beer options to sip on. At Brew Whale, they don’t just like beer, they love beer! A Mumbai based boutique craft brewery, Brew Whale makes artisanal handcrafted beers with one purpose only - to quench the thirst of a nation that’s always looking for something new.

This October, your favourite brewery, Brew Whale founded by two young lads from Mumbai - Pranav Mehra and Vedant Munshi completes two years of pouring freshly brewed craft beers to the cities of Mumbai and Pune. To celebrate its second anniversary, Brew Whale introduces an all new Anniversary Brew called “Two Good To Be True”, a New England IPA. On their 2nd anniversary, we reached out to Brew Whale to talk to us about their brand story and success. Here’s what they had to say!

Brew Whale’s Anniversary Interview

What's the story behind the name Brew Whale?

While coming up with our Brand Name, we wanted to incorporate our passions - beer and the ocean. Brew and Whale were two words that resonated to both of us and our experiences. Pranav, being the passionate beer Connoisseur and true lover of the fermented grain, knew that his entrepreneurial future lay in brewing beer. Vedant, an avid scuba diver, on describing his experience under the surface, would almost certainly always mention a lucky sighting of a whale, being the one fish he would always hope to see on his dive. He thought, “Whale being the most desired fish you want to see on your dive, Brew Whale should be the most desired drink to have above the surface.” This was the birth of BREW WHALE.

The name truly defines our friendship and journey together and identifies with our passions. In concurrence with the name, Brew Whale has consciously dedicated their efforts towards Marine Conservation & overall environmental sustainability, and is slowly and steadily laying the foundation to protect and conserve our planet by bringing these efforts to the forefront of what we do.

Can you give us more details about the founders’ background and what they bring to the table at Brew Whale?

Vedant after his graduation, started his professional career in the Logistics space, after which he became involved in his family business – Construction and Real Estate. After 5 years of hard work, he decided to take a sabbatical, and it was at this time that the idea of starting a microbrewery was brewing. His love for beer goes back to his college days, and the age-old Cafe Mondegar would be a testament to that! Pranav, having studied and lived in the UK before his professional career took off for 3 years, was exposed to a sudden rush of freshly crafted and good beer popping up across the UK market, and developed an instant appreciation for a product that he previously thought was only limited to bottled commercial beer. Fresh craft beer quickly became his consumption choice, and it was easily available and relatively inexpensive. During his days in the UK, he frequented a lot of the local breweries and drank a lot of the locally made artisanal beer.

[caption id="attachment_23821" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Vedant Munshi & Pranav Mehra, co-founders of Brew Whale[/caption]

These visits made a big impression on Pranav, who by that time had already planted the seed that his entrepreneurial future lay in brewing beer. Pranav has always been a beer enthusiast, and was always open to trying all kinds of beers, whether bottled, canned, draught, or homebrewed product from his friends. He finally decided to quit his 9-5 job after 5 years and took the bold step towards following his passion.

A lot of hard work has gone into the creation of Brew Whale beers. Pranav and Vedant both spent the first few months understanding the beer market more than what they already thought they knew. They took a trip in 2015 to Europe to identify beer brands that could potentially suit the Indian palate. The trip included several pub-crawls, visits to numerous breweries, and a deranged bar hopping frenzy that served exotic and different beers.

Why did you decide to brew a New England style IPA to celebrate the anniversary of Brew Whale?

We wanted to brew something special for our customers, to celebrate our two-year anniversary. That’s when we thought of the NEIPA, since it’s a style that we haven’t brewed before and also something unique. The NEIPA had always been on our mind, and this was the perfect opportunity for us to experiment and add a new style to our beer matrix.

[caption id="attachment_23822" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Brew Whale’s Two Good To Be True - New England IPA[/caption]

Could you elaborate more on “Two Good To Be True”? How many types of hops were used? Was it dry-hopped? Have you added wheat/oats to give this style a body to stand up to the juiciness?

Two Good To Be True, is our take on the New England IPA. It features an intense, tropical fruit centric, hop aroma and flavour. It is heavily dry-hopped giving it a fuller body and opaque hazy appearance with a juicy sweetness. NEIPAs are one of the latest and most unique additions to the IPA style, and we guarantee that this one is Two Good to be True!

In total we use 3 varieties of hops and yes wheat and oats was added to give it the haziness.

[caption id="attachment_23823" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Brew Whale’s Two Good To Be True - New England IPA[/caption]

We're curious to know about the team behind the exquisite label designs particularly for “Two Good To Be True”. How did Brew Whale come up with the theme?

Our “Two Good To Be True” label was designed by Mumbai-based creative agency Plane Crazy. We wanted a design which was timeless, encapsulating our invigorating journey so far. The Plane Crazy team went with a bold yet minimal illustration style to encompass our recurring aquatic theme, and depicted our milestones so far in a whimsical, unconventional way, and it truly turned out to be “Two Good To Be True”!

Since Brew Whale’s approach involves working with new and uncommon ingredients, what was the most bizarre and unique beer style that was ever brewed?

Brew Whale loves to experiment with different styles and unique ingredients in their beer. The couple of experimental styles that we’ve brewed till date are - Apple and Cinnamon Cider, Mango Lager and Lemon Spiced Ale.

[caption id="attachment_23824" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Brew Whale Beers[/caption]

The Lemon Spiced Ale is one which we would like to particularly talk about. It is a mildly hoppy wheat beer, infused with Lemons and Star Anise spice. The addition of the Lemons and Star anises, perfectly balances the mild hoppiness of the Beer and makes it a very light easy drinking day beer.

What are some of the best things about being a part of the Indian craft beer community?

The Indian Craft Beer Space has picked up in the last couple of years with a lot of new brands launching all over the Country. Earlier it used to concentrate in a few cities but now we have a lot of states opening giving the rise to a lot of Breweries across the country. We think the best part of the Indian Craft Beer community is that since this is such a small market with an ever growing demand, everyone treats each other more as friends rather than as competition. Everyone is always there to help one another, in case of any issues, be it at the Brewery or at the Local Excise office. It’s the unity of this industry which has helped in getting many reforms from the Government. If we talk about Maharashtra specifically, it got us permission for Growlers.

With the launch of this all new beer, Brew Whale will let one choose yet another interesting pour with a classic style!

[caption id="attachment_23825" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Brew Whale’s Moby Wit - Belgian Witbier[/caption]

Brew Whale loves working with new and uncommon ingredients and is known for its disruptive ideas and constant innovation in the craft beer market. Also look out for their Moby Wit - Belgian Witbier, Bowhead Stout - Coffee Stout, Killer Ale - American IPA, Harbour The Lager- American Dark Lager, Blonde By The Beach- Blonde Ale, Isle of Citra - Citra Wheat Ale, Captain Dunkel - Dunkelweizen.

Keeping up with their love for experimentation, Brew Whale introduces a limited edition brew every season, which they make in small batches and are released under their ‘Endangered Searies’.

Order growlers of their classic styles online at their website