If you’re a Zythophile (read: Intensively obsessive beer lover), you will particularly enjoy the fact that India is all set to get it’s very first beer infuser - The Randall. Soon to launch by Woodside Inn, this infuser is all set to take Mumbai’s craft beer game to the next level. The Randall has been developed by Dogfish Head founder and President Sam Calagione back in 2002, and it has finally made it’s way here.
The question of the hour, naturally, is what on earth is a Randall? Simple. “A Randall is an organoleptic hop transducer, which looks like it’s straight out of a science fiction movie. Simply put, it is a sophisticated filter system that allows the user to run draft beer through a chamber of spices, herbs, fruit, etc. so that the alcohol in the beer strips and dissolves the flavour from anything whatever you add in the chamber beer. It also means that a draft beer is being infused with ingredients that weren’t originally brewed into the beer,” Woodside Inn tells us.
We were incredibly curious about the different pairings of infusers with certain beers, and Abhishek Chinchalkar, Home brewer & Resident Beer Geek at Woodside Inn told us, “It depends largely on the style of beer that we decide to use so there is no cookie cutter formula as such. We draw inspiration from a number of places and there obviously are a lot of trials involved as experimentation is big part of what goes on behind the scenes. We have an in-house panel of chefs, mixologists, beer enthusiasts and bartenders who weigh in with their expertise on different flavour combinations all of which helps us come up with new pairings.”
The Randall’s infusions will be available once a in a month at one of the Woodside Inn outpost, starting from Lower Parel. As part of their launch menu, they will be infusing Gateway Brewing Co’s White Zen, Doolally’s Gose and good old Kingfisher lager with seasonal local flowers, giving them an entirely new twist.
One of the combinations we are particularly keen to try is The Mogra + White Zen. Abhishek says, “As a fun twist on a classic, we decided to toss in in some Plumeria flowers, locally known as chafa/champa and it was exceptional. The resulting beer had a beautiful perfumy nose along with the classic estery profile of a Hefeweizen. We’ve also infused herbs like rosemary and basil in Independence Brewing Co.’s Four Grain Saison, which complement the peppery notes from the beer perfectly. Other infusions include coffee beans, orange rinds, spices, etc.”
Date: 7th April Onwards, Starts at 7 PM
Price of Randalised beers: Between Rs. 245 - Rs. 295 + taxes
Follow Woodside Inn, Colaba and Woodside Inn, Andheri as well so you know which day of the month the Randall is visiting.