Maharashtra can prepare for a resurgence of craft beer with Effingut Breweries’ retail craft beer chain Effingut 2 Go – a revolutionary retail pourhouse concept backed by brewer-owner Manu Gulati. This will make E2GO earn its stripes as India’s first and fastest-growing retail craft beer chain to come out of this lockdown, despite the imminent threat the industry faced just a few months ago. As of 2020, Effingut’s offerings will now distinctly be placed in two categories – the larger brewpubs with a more diverse offering & the retail-oriented Effingut 2 Go experience for when patrons just want to have a good pint and a quick meal at home.
“Our industry has faced a series of challenges since the lockdown that initially restricted us from doing what we do best – make people feel Effingut,” mentions Manu Gulati, Founder of Effingut Breweries. “The demand for our craft beer, however, outfought the quarantine. The pressure to re-invent was high, and the industry was bleeding. We had to rethink a concept that allowed our patrons to live the Effingut experience in the comfort of their homes. This could only be achieved by timely deliveries, beer & food collaborations with other conscientious craft producers & a whole new Entertainment 2 Go concept that makes you feel Effingut even outside our brewpubs.”
Hence, keeping in mind every aspect of a customer’s journey, the entire Effingut 2 Go concept revolves around distilling the Effingut experience into a 15-minute time frame, ensuring extended, dynamic safety protocols for social distancing.
Once opened, each growler should ideally be consumed in the same sitting to get the best out of your freshly brewed beer. Effingut’s beer is brewed with an inbuilt ethos of preserving nature and local communities by using the best locally sourced ingredients.
However, an Effingut 2Go store is not just a beer shop, but a hub for all things craft. By also lending its shelf space to conscientious brews by wineries, meaderies, and new age ciders from other craft alcobev producers, Effingut 2 Go is in itself a platform that helps showcase artisanal craft and small-batch F&B. Every store will also offer a diverse range of imported glassware to match, alongside brand new lines of Effingut merchandise.
Effingut 2 Go will take a step further in its to-go experience by curating Effingut’s star dishes as ‘easy to consume microwaveable meals’ (entirely made inhouse) and snacks that go well with beers – all Effingut signatures such as Thecha Chicken, Mustard Chilli Chicken, Butter Chicken, Khow Suey, Biryani, etc. Each outlet will also house a hot dog stand with menu inclusions such as Bratwurst & smoked Krakauer sausages. These will be paired with hot dog buns that are again made in house as beer bread, made from the very same spent malted grains that make their signature beers. Beer Bread will also be available for purchase as loaves and baguettes.
To ensure craft beer is accessible, Effingut’s beers will be priced at an affordable INR 449 a Liter in Pune and INR 499 a liter in Mumbai. The recyclable PET bottles are free, when it comes to glass growlers, the 1.1 Liter is priced at INR 125 & the 2.5 Liter Growler is at INR 300. The company will introduce 5- Liter stainless steel growlers at a slightly later date. Effingut’s environmentally conscious vision also rewards people for doing their bit for the environment, by offering INR 10 off for each recyclable PET bottle that patrons return and INR 25 off per Liter in perpetuity whenever they refill their sustainable glass growlers.
