BANGALORE: While the stomach for good beer is well known in India, its good taste and quality got a boost when Bangalore brewed ‘Australian Max’ beer won the World’s best strong beer award at the World Beer Awards in London beating over 700 entries from 57 countries.But the otherwise little known company, International Breweries (IB) of Toronto in Canada, is all set to make sure they ‘brew’ while the sun shines on them.Speaking to Express, Executive Director of IB, Peter S Harvey, gave details about the imminent plans of the company in Karnataka, Goa and Pondicherry.But this could expand to other south Indian states such Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andra Pradesh, he said.“We have been brewing in India with our partners, Khodays, for a while now,” he said. Stating that their current investment stood at around Rs 35-40 crore, Harvey said that the company is now planning to acquire a local establishment as part of their expansion.“We are planning to invest about Rs 100 crore which could include a possible acquisition,” he said.Unwilling to divulge details about the potential take over, he said that the talks were in initial stages and that within six months, they would be able to make an announcement.Commenting on the potential beer and larger market in the country, he said that there were many players, but quality has its loyalties.Stating that IB would be ‘bullish’ in the Indian market in the next decade, he informed that the ‘strong’ beer market was gaining momentum, which is a good sign for their expansion plans.Stating the content of his own product, he said that the beer had a volume of 7.3 per cent and they were allowed to take this level to a maximum of 8 per cent.“The market share for IB is about 3-4 per cent for strong beer at the moment and this is said to go up to 5 per cent,” Harvey said and added that they would take up an aggressive posture to compete against established and bigger players in the market.
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