Bengaluru-based Geist Brewing Co. recently announced the ‘Ladies Who Lager’ initiative and launch of the collective’s first collaborative beer, The Geist Stratosphere Lager (6.3% ABV & 30 IBU).

It is India’s first packaged craft beer to be conceptualised and brewed by an all-woman team – and no, it’s not pink!

The pale lager was brewed at Geist’s distribution craft brewery located off Old Madras Road, on the outskirts of Bengaluru, and launched on the eve of Women’s Day.

The Geist Stratosphere Lager is brewed by Vidya Kubher (Geist), Aishwarya Ritti (Barley & Us), Kajal Manchanda (By The Peepal), Lynnette Pires (7Rivers Brewing), Megha Dalimbe (Byg Brewski Brewing) and Varsha Bhat (Mannheim Brews).

The six brewers came together at the host brewery to brew a specific beer representative of a common thought and to make this beer available in ‘crowlers’ (can+growler) in the retail channel, for the first time in India.

Established in 2017, Geist is currently the only distribution craft brewery in South India that has the license, required infrastructure and regulatory expertise to produce a craft beer batch for official distribution and packaging across Bengaluru, in retail stores and on tap.

Ladies’ league

‘Ladies Who Lager’ is an initiative by Geist to bring together a collective of women who brew beer, drink craft beer and/or are interested in celebrating craft beer. The idea is to help facilitate the production of quality craft beer by a group coming together to intentionally produce a beer that anyone can fall in love with.

The overall intention is to veer away from traditional notions of “craft beer for women” by underscoring that craft beer is for everyone, no matter who makes it. Beer made by women isn’t just for women, and notions of this beer needing to have “overtly female” markers (syrupy sweet, or a certain colour) are dated.

In time, Geist hopes for ‘Ladies Who Lager’ to serve as a platform for women across the industry to participate in a collaboration alongside experienced women craft brewers.

Brew day was preceded by a few days of discussion involving a series of decisions taken by the collaborators that take into account multiple factors, among them:

• availability of raw materials at the host brewery, including malts, hops and yeast;
• distribution breweries often have larger batch sizes than micro-breweries and therefore the viability of the style had to be thought through;
• at sales and customer touch-points, determining who is the intended audience and where will this beer be sold;
• suitability of weather conditions, which often play a role in beer preferences.

Name game

There are two parts to the beer’s name: the first is the word ‘Stratosphere’. This comes from the fact that the key hop variety used in brewing this beer is Strata hops from the US.

This is a relatively new hop variety with flavour profiles that include tropical fruit and stone fruit, which lends itself very well to the style.

The name naturally lent itself to the idea of embarking on a journey to achieve greater heights on a whole new level. Given the context, it can also allude to successfully pushing through barriers while on this journey. The packaging of the 500-ml, limited release ‘crowlers’ reflects this.

In designer Sanjana Bhatt’s own words, “Figuratively, a staircase is a passageway that can unite two places, ideas, or states of being. It is suggestive that one is about to embark on some kind of endeavour or journey, or of the sense of progress. It is also a transformative passage; the act of passing through something to ascend to the next level.”

The second critical part of the name is the word ‘lager’. This easily communicates the style of beer selected by the group mostly for its easy-drinking nature that appeals to a wide audience in India. This notion of widespread recognition and preference for this style is one of the primary reasons why we named the collective ‘Ladies Who Lager’.

The Geist Stratosphere Lager is available at Geist Restaurant & Beer Garden at its brewing factory and the Geist Brewing Taproom in Orion Mall. The beer is also available to Geist’s network of pub, restaurant and hotel partners to order and serve on tap at their locations.

Who is this beer for? Anyone and everyone who loves a good lager: gender no bar!