Hop, Skip and Jump!
Olive Bistro has already won over many Hyderabadi hearts for its stunning ambience, combining an picnic outing feel outdoors with an elegant and simple decor indoors, (fresh flowers on window sills and a pristine white and turquoise Mediterranean colour shade), and not to forget of course, the sylvan surroundings of Durgam Cheruvu. Now, comes yet another reason to be seen here. The Hoppery by Olive, the brand’s first ever micro brewery in India, which opened its doors in at the same premises as Olive Bistro, Hyderabad recently.
Hoppery has a superb glass house view of the Durgam Cheruvu lake and the lush foliage around, there is also a tiny al fresco dining. It has a spacious enough bar counter and has the comfortable ambience of a beer place, cane and iron chairs in turquoise matching with the blue Mangalorean tiles. “As of now we are launching limited editions of our craft beer because quality control is very important to us, ” shares Shaaz Mehmood, partner Olive Bistro at the bloggers table hosted for a sneak preview a couple of weeks ago. “The four craft beers we are starting out with, Hop Notch, Copper Head, White Spice and HyderaBrew will be presented on a tasting beer platter on the house to diners, which will help them choose their brew, ” adds the amiable restaurateur.
For their craft beers, they have tied up with master brewer Aditya Challa, who comes with years of experience in Singapore, followed by a stint at Prost, Bengaluru, and known for his “rooted” beer, incorporating local spices and culinary sensibilities. For the food menu, there is a nice tapas concept of small eats, curated by the famed chef-restaurateur-food consultant SHaun Kenworthy.
Confession Time: I am not much of a beer person. But in honour of the occasion, I try the beer tasting platter and like Hop Notch an IPA (Indian pale ale) the most, followed by White Spice, a wit beer, with a touch of heat and triphala, the last of which is known to be intrinsic to Ayurveda.
Copper Head, the dark coppery lager brewed with unrefined cane sugar is a bit too sharp on the palate for me, even while having a caramel sweet aftertaste. Hyderabrew is light and fizzy and uses ingredients and flavours unique to Hyderabad buut nobody is giving away the secret yet.
What I found more appealing were the beer cocktails, my favourite being Flaming Lips, a jalapeno-infused vodka, sweet-sour mix and Hop Notch beer, a lovely fizzy drink with the sharp flavour of the jalapenos giving the after taste on the palate an edge.
The Classic Sangria (fruits infused in vodka, apple juice red grape juice and topped with Hyderabrew) also worked veryw ell for me. Secret Sundowner was also good fun, with a raspberry popsicle doused in white rum and topped with Hop Notch beer. The beer cocktails were being shaken and stirred with a flourish by Olive’s star mixologist Eric Lobo. This is how the Secret Sundowner looked like, by the way:
As mentioned, the food menu is about tapas or small plates…so we begin on some delectable Grilled Shrimp ina chilli-lime dressing and served with mango salsa. The Coriander Chicken Lime Tenders were also just the right thing to mjucnh on with the beer and so were the Grilled Lemon-Coriander Chicken Nachos.
Grilled Shrimp with Mango Salsa
Coriander Lemon Chicken Tenders
Mini Buttered Cobs
For vegetarians, the Mini Buttered Corn Cobs were superb, and so were the Pumpkin and Goat cheese Empanadas. Lots more like Spicy Artichoke Nacho chips, Classic Assorted Fries and Bacon Wrapped Sausages were sampled and enjoyed too.
I recommend The Hoppery for not only beer lovers, but for firm belivers in good times, munching on great food and drink, with some stunning locales in the background.
