ARE THERE ANY COCKTAILS FOR BEER?

Which kind of food goes best with Beer and are there any cocktails available for Beer? Can somebody tell me?

RISING HOPS & MALT PRICES IN INDIA WORRY BEER COMPANIES

The making of beer is turning out to be costlier as the domestic industry grapples with steep increases in the prices of raw materialslike hops and malt.

Most of the Indian brewers which imports hops, have absorbed the cost instead of passing them on to the customers. A major fire at a hops storage facility in the US late last year and poor crop in the Czech Republic, one of the biggest producers, had more than doubled the price of hops at its peak.

The price has, over the last one year, increased from 16-22 euros a kg from a low of 9 euros.

Most of the beer is made from hops, malted barley, water and yeast. Hops are added to beer to give it a bitter taste, aroma and flavour.

The shortage of malt has also lead to increase in prices to around Rs. 17000 a tonne from Rs. 9000. The shortage is also because of increase in beer consumption, which grew 30 percent last year. While the malt capacity has not grown, the beer consumption has grown 30 percent.

For some of the key brewers in India, during the first nine months of the fiscal year F06-F07, cost of production has grown by 55 percent.

CHILLED BEER ON WHEELS

The Delhi State Civil Supplies Corporation is requisitioning refrigerators on wheels to serve chilled beer. Is it a good idea??

With the hot summers approaching fast, the DSCSC has decided to requisition refrigerators on wheels to store and chill beer. These wheeled refrigerators would be kept outside the shop during the day and wheeled inside the shop at the time of closure in the evening.

The sale of beer increases 2-3 times in the summer. As the shops have limited space and most of them already have fixed refrigerators, the requisition of refrigerators on wheels will make sure that customers get chilled beer at any time of the day. The Delhi government owned corporation has around 100 liquor shops in various parts of the city and the refrigeration facility for beer would double with the new facility and help increase the sales and excise revenue for the government.

The DSCSC expects to generate Rs 372 crore by the end of this month. In the last financial year, it had grossed Rs 344 crore. The profit this year is estimated to be Rs 6.25 crore as compared to last year's Rs 5.63 crores. On two days preceding Holi, the corporation grossed Rs 10 crore, a new record in the sale of liquor.