Bengaluru gets high on beer to beat rising mercury as city sees uptick in sales

Blistering summer temperatures are pushing the beer sales in Karnataka as the revellers and tipplers across Bengaluru are turning to the brewed beverage to beat the rising mercury.

In the last 15 days, a whopping 23.5 lakh carton boxes of beer have been sold in Karnataka, with Bengaluru being the major consumer, said a senior excise department official, the Times of India reported on Wednesday.

This comes after the Indian Meteorological Department's forecast earlier, which projected that this summer would see an extended duration of heat waves across various regions in central, northern plains, and southern India

The unusually hot weather in April in Karnataka has contributed to a surge in beer sales, particularly in Bengaluru, India's beer capital.

Karnataka has already recorded 61 per cent of total sales seen in the entire month of April, according to the report.

In last April, 38.6 lakh boxes of beer were sold, whereas this year, 23.5 lakh boxes have been sold in the first two weeks of the month. "Compared to previous years, we’ve recorded 30% more sales till date this summer," the excise department official told TOI.

Drinking beer, especially chilled beer, seems to be the preferred method to cool down during the summers in Bengaluru, another official said. With this summer's sweltering heat coinciding with the Lok Sabha election has seen an added demand for the brewed beverage, TOI reported.

April is expected to bring above-normal maximum temperatures to most regions of the country, particularly across central and southern India.