City People Chill With Beers!

The Hyderabad people  enjoys guzzling beer down by the case, more than liquor, if the overall sale figures of last year are anything to go by.The overall sales, of both beer and liquor, registered a sharp growth of 18 per cent in 2017-2018 as against the sales in 2016-2017. As per figures, nearly 10 lakh more beer cases were sold last year in comparison with the previous year, while only about 2.5 lakh more liquor cases were sold in the same period. 

Statistics of the Prohibition and Excise department show that 50,28,001 beer cases were sold in 2017-18 compared to the 40,98,349 cases sold in the previous year. Similarly, 37,80,890 cases of Indian-made liquor (IML) were sold in 2017-18 as against 35,43,020 cases in 2016-17.The bubbling beer sales helped the overall sale value shoot up for the department, from Rs.194 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 231 crore in 2017-18.

If traders are to be believed, weekend parties coupled with other functions contributed to the rise in beer sales. They said in spite of imposing prohibitory orders on several occasions on the sale of liquor during prominent days including festivals, the sales continued to rise.

Among beer lovers, a majority were in the western parts of the city, who preferred to enjoy drinking beer in their favourite hangouts in the upscale Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Madhapur, Gachibowli and Kondapur areas. Tipplers in these areas, wine shop owners said, bought 650 ml chilled beer bottles. “There will be high sales from Friday evening to Saturday night. But the sale will be comparatively less on Sundays, maybe because Monday is a working day,” said Telangana Wine Dealers Association president D Venkateswara Rao.

Those who enjoy the chilled beer while on long drives went for 330 ml and 500 ml beer cans, probably keeping in mind the ease to dispose off the same.“We had anticipated that the sales would go up by 15 per cent rise last year due to the frequent prohibitory orders by the police. But still, it touched 18 per cent,” Rao said.