Micro-breweries to bring more 'cheers' to UP

Lucknow, June 12 (IANS) It is time to say cheers. The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has approved setting up of micro-breweries in hotels, restaurants and pubs to pave way for serving fresh beer to customers.

The revenue-spinner will help plough in funds into the cow corpus set up by the government for protection of stray cattle through a 0.5 per cent levy on liquor and beer sale. 

According to a government spokesman, the idea to serve unbottled beer in bars and restaurants is modelled on the liquor policy in southern states, particularly Karnataka and Telangana. 

The spokesperson said that the decision was taken to cater to the rising demand from restaurants and hotels, mainly in metropolitan towns like Noida and Ghaziabad.

"This will boost tourism and employment opportunities in the state. The practice would be implemented after amending the UP Breweries Rules, 1961, to add establishment of micro-breweries in hotels and pubs. However, those setting up micro-brewery plants will have to dole out 10 times the current license fee," the spokesman said. 

Under the new arrangement, a hotel or restaurant seeking to install a micro-brewery and serve freshly made beer will have to shell out Rs 2.5 lakh annually, instead of Rs 25,000. The license can be renewed by paying Rs 2 lakh. There is a rider to the policy with a cap on serving unbottled beer. 

According to the cabinet note, a restaurant or hotel can serve up to 600 litre of freshly made beer per day. Annually, they can go up to 2.10 lakh litre. Flouting norms would invite a fine of Rs 5,000 per day. The move will help the government to mop up revenue with the annual liquor sale estimated at Rs 17,000 crore.