A dip into Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest in India may sound a bit absurd but I just happened to visit a recently opened watering hole - "The Biere Club"(TBC) in Bangalore and they were celebrating the official last day of the fest. I was doubly lucky to have not procrastinated my pint of beer, for tomorrow is officially a dry day in the whole country.

TBC is situated on Lavele road in Bangalore, exactly in place of the old Kingfisher Airlines office. I doubt if that`s coincidence :). With the govt of India allowing separate and affordable licenses for brew pubs, I am guessing we will see more and more of these kind of places. There are a few already in other cities and TBC is almost the first in Bangalore. Toit in Indiranagar is also a brew pub, but they have not started making their own beers yet. The biggest dependency for this kind of place is to hunt for a in-house brew master, not so easy in this part of the world.

I entered TBC with my wife and daughter, about the same afternoon showers time for the city. It was 4 pm and the 3 floor beer garden did not have a single table free!!! Shows how much love and respect Bangloreans have for their beer. Neverthless I was directed towards the bar with my two girls..so clearly they do not have a problem with kids in their pub. Infact as we waded through the beery tables, I saw several tables had a kid or two thrown in :). The crowd of the place quite mixed - a few expats, a couple of small families, some teeny woopie youngsters, a group of men, few single girls. Almost like a place for all.

The USP of TBC is obviously that they make all their beers in-house. They have huge coppers overlooking the bar, where the beer is brewed. One whole wall of the ground floor is painted in cartoons in the Mario Miranda style. They have decent and simple lighting and several tables in all fashions - coffee, pub, 10 seater dinning, 4 seater. Some tables were dressed in typical German red and white chequered table cloth. Smoking is not allowed inside.

We looked at the beer menu and it was not disappointing. Finally there is a place in Bangalore that sells Stout. Thank HEAVENS!!! They have ales, lagers, stouts and wheat beers. At 300rs a 500 ml pint of Rs.225 for a 330 ml, I would say they are very decntly priced for what is being offered. Marking the occasion of Oktoberfest they have a few specially brewed beers too. Great thing about the place is they give you tasters from all or any of their categories if you want before choosing which one to order. I ordered ourselves a wheat beer to begin with as I always find them to be greatly refreshing starters. The last great wheat beer I liked for Giest, but that was bottled. When the beer arrived, it was perfect.....taste,temperature, head, the mug everything...I unfortunatly did not have my camera handy to take any pictures.

We got a table soon, and started looking at the food menu. TBC mostly serves mediterannean cuisine, a lot of moroccon actually. We asked for a spicy moroccon chicken appetizer. Priced at Rs 380, it was a very decent portion of grilled boneless chicken served with grilled peppers and zucchinis. Succlent chicken, well grilled veggies. My daughter Zyana, 2o months young, is a french fries loyalist and she had to disrespectfully for the place, order fries and was happy.

I ordered another pint from the Oktoberfest special beer menu - a coffee malt stout. People....after tasting the first sip, I was convinced that Jesus has arrived in Bangalore and we are to be redeemed soon. My wife Smita, almost said this looks like a dash of espresso in a beer can.A greatly brewed stout with the perfect balance between coffee and malt. I am not sure it will be available from tomorrow but this one was a killer.

We wanted to order a Tangine dish but Zyana decided we have had enough fun and that we should probably be heading home.

Staff were decent and friendly. I recommend you book a table in advance Walet factor- 1500 to 2000rs for beer and food for 2.

I came home hungry and made ourselves some Thai Rice stick noodle soup. I do not have patience to write the recipe and process right now but sufficed to say a lot of liquid for a single weekend...

PS: TBC does serve spirits too but would you care for them in such a place?