Visakhapatnam: Excise minister K.S. Jawahar's statement “Beer is a health drink” has gone viral and become controversial. But Vizag has somehow justified his statement as it has emerged in the top place in terms of consumption of beer in Andhra Pradesh. It’s not just the winebibbers who are gulping it down but also the neo-boozers have added to the sales of beer in Vizag region.
The sale of beer was about 1.82 lakh boxes in a month whereas the sale of liquor (whisky, brandy and rum) is high only in December and January. Vizagites have consumed a total of 21,91,140 boxes of beer in 2016-17 financial year and Vizag was the number one district in terms of beer consumption in the state, said deputy excise commissioner, Vizag, Ch. Gopala Krishna.
Beer has emerged the most favourite drink for Vizagites. Despite the weather conditions, be it sultry weather or wet spell, beer is the Vizagites’ most preferred drink and majority of the consumers are youngsters and students of various colleges, said S. Srinivas, a beer businessman. Strong beers like Carlsberg Elephant, Knockout and Kingfisher were the most preferred beers among the youth, he added.
“I have no idea whether beer is a health drink or not, but I have developed the habit of consuming chilled beer during my engineering college days and continue even today,” says K. Siva Kumar, a software professional. Not uncommon in college hostels, a student, P. Viswa-nath, frankly admits taking beer to beat the heat. “There is a strong belief that beer is healthier than other drinks such as vodka and whisky because it contains a lesser percentage of alcohol than others. Hence I prefer beer always,” he added.
Soon, beer lovers in Vizag and tourists can guzzle the freshly brewed beer, available in a variety of flavours at tourist spots and other places in the city as the AP government has annou-nced setting up of microbreweries in the state in its new bar policy, said excise officials.
