How India is developing a taste for freshly brewed beer

In a rigid whisky-drinking country, beer may have finally arrived

The paltry early evening crowd at Factory by Sutra doesn’t seem to fluster assistant manager Milap Thakur. It is Saturday at Gurugram’s sector 29, the city’s new and wildly popular carousing zone, and Thakur, a gangling, bearded man in his late 20s, is preparing for one of his incredibly busy workdays. Factory, a microbrewery that opened last year, has quickly established itself as a favourite among locals, with visitors dropping in by the dozens every evening.

At the bar where Thakur briefs his staff, a couple of bartenders pour out three different types of freshly brewed beer — wheat, lager