5 Of India’s Best Craft Beer Brands Nominated At Zee Zest Unlimit Awards 2025

The introduction of beer to India is the one thing for which we should be grateful to the British! The combination of a tall glass of a high-quality frothy beer, pizza, and a terrific movie on Netflix on a hot, sunny day is soul satisfying. Don’t you agree? Okay okay, it can only be beaten by a cold beer with some live music in a great setting. So, for the beer connoisseurs among you, we bring the five best homegrown craft beer brands in India that are not only delicious but also innovative, and they’ve all been nominated at the upcoming Zee Zest Unlimit Awards 2025!

Windmills

Ajay Nagarajan, the founder, moved from Texas to Chicago to attend the Siebel Institute of Technology, one of the oldest brewing institutions in the United States of America, to follow his passion for brewing. After taking a few classes, in 2011 he finally discovered the right people to help him realise his brewery aspirations in Bengaluru, India- Kamal and Shibanee Sagar. With their help, Windmills Craftworks, Bengaluru was able to open its doors to the public.

 They use German malts and traditional yeast fermentation to create Hefeweizen, a wheat beer with hints of clove and banana that stands out. This is their take on the traditional South German wheat beer. A fruity, somewhat sour, and incredibly pleasant beer is the result of all this. Golden lager, their lightest beer, is an American brewpub-style lager with a touch of Prague, so it's perfect for those who aren't big beer drinkers. Crafted only with authentic Saaz hops and typical Czech Pilsner malt. It has a strong, flowery hop taste, is crisp and refreshing, and has a hint of breadiness. It goes well with meals and is also great on its own.

Effingut

Online sales of India's most famous craft beer have begun following the brand's success in the cities of Mumbai, Pune, and Kolkata. Manu Gulati’s Effingut offers 16 different varieties. The brew pub is a chill spot with tasty food, beverages, and cool tunes, but have you had their creative and tasty canned beers? We suggest the Incider Ale, often called Graf, an English cider that tastes like crisp, sweet Kashmiri highland apples. 

The champagne-like bubbles will tantalise your taste senses when paired with its tart kick. One of their most famous products is Bavarian Wheat Beer, often called Hefeweizen. This traditional wheat beer has been around since mediaeval Bavaria and Effingut’s version has aromas of banana and clove and is very light and fluffy with a silky smooth texture.

Great State Ale Works 

With a concentration on juicy IPAs, tart sours, and millet ales, Great State Aleworks, founded by Nakul Bhonsle, is a small brewery located in Pune that specialises in modern and experimental beers made with local ingredients. You really must sample some of their many varieties of beer! We love their 200-litre pilot brewing setup to create small-batch beers like Catcher and Hibiscus IPA, which are some of the most creative ales you'll find in India.

In addition, they have beers that change with the seasons, such as Curious Black and Double Down, which are made with unique and intriguing ingredients. Their Millet endeavour, a passion project to brew using local, raw, indigenous grains like bajra and jowar, is one of their most distinctive offerings.

Maka Di Beer

Maka Di (Konkani meaning "give me") was released in October 2020 by Latambarcem Brewers of Goa, a newcomer to the craft beer industry. Two brothers, Aditya Ishan (co-founder and CEO) and Anish Varshnei (co-founder and chief production officer of Latambarcem Brewers), are the driving forces behind Maka di. They both have a love for creating high-quality craft beer, and they wanted to contribute to the homegrown beer movement. 

Belgian Tripel, an aromatic bespoke beer made for India in collaboration with Lupulus Brewery in Belgium, Honey Ale, brewed with honey from Jim Corbett National Park, and Belgian Blanche, a delicate beer with hints of citrus, coriander, and cumin, are among the four varieties offered by the brand. Following the 'Reinheitsgebot,' the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516, which allows only water, hops, malts, and yeast to be utilised in the brewing process, their Bavarian Keller is an intriguing unfiltered beer.

Drifters Brewing Company

The beer-loving Shah duo, Nayan and Sheetal, have been creating unique beers for Mumbai utilising Czech brewing methods that date back hundreds of years. A very crisp Czech Pilsner, a Belgian wit, and a Hefeweizen are all excellent beers. Our hearts belong to the newest Mango Wit, though. Ripe Alphonso mango scents burst forth from the glass of this full-bodied, creamy wit. Quite frankly, it's mouthwatering. The juicy Red Drift is perfect for IPA fans and is very approachable because of its subdued bitterness and lively fruitiness.