If you’ve ever looked at a beer menu and seen “hoppy” and thought, Okay, but… what exactly is hopping? - you’re not alone. “Hoppy” is one of those beer words that brewers use casually, while everyone else is left wondering whether the beer contains an unusually enthusiastic rabbit. Hoppy simply means the beer has a noticeable character from hops. Hops are the small green flowers added during brewing. They help balance the sweetness of malt, add bitterness, and most importantl

Have you ever taken a sip of a wheat beer and thought, why does this taste like banana? There’s a good chance there isn't a banana anywhere in the brewery. This is particularly common with German style wheat beers such as Hefeweizen. You can get aromas of ripe banana, banana bread, bubblegum and even a little clove. And all of this can come from the yeast. When we brew a wheat beer, the ingredients themselves are fairly simple: malted wheat, barley, hops, water and yeast. The

A small habit quietly changed the way I understand beer. Nothing dramatic, no new ingredient, no advanced technique. Just a pause before the first sip. For the longest time, I drank beer the way most people do. The glass arrives, you lift it, you drink. Simple, efficient, almost automatic. And honestly, there is nothing wrong with that. But somewhere along the way, inside breweries, during tastings, in those slower moments around tanks and fresh pours, I started waiting. Just

Teaching the First Steps: The Basic Brewing Program at Bangalore Culinary Academy There’s something deeply satisfying about watching someone taste their first well-made beer and suddenly realize that beer is not just “beer.” It’s grain, chemistry, microbiology, process, patience and a little bit of brewing magic. That moment of realization is exactly why I enjoy teaching brewing. Over the past few weeks, I had the pleasure of conducting the Basic Brewing Program at Bangalore