Rice Lagers Are Expanding Craft Beer’s Audience | Imbibe

Expanding beer’s audience is top of mind for a struggling brewing industry seeking to staunch declining sales, stoke new interest, and shore up aging ranks. That 2010s playbook of gimmicky ingredients and IPA everything is played out, and Frankensteining together trends—a hazy fruited sour ale, anyone?—isn’t the right answer. Beer’s well of innovation is endless, yet there’s no need to dig deeper. “We don’t need more beer styles,” says Neil Witte, a master cicerone.

Here’s the rice move. To attract multicultural customer bases and uncover new sales channels, breweries are leaning into not-too-strong lagers made with rice varieties, such as jasmine and basmati, that deliver broadly appealing refreshment. Food-friendly rice lagers also align with Indian, Japanese, Chinese, and South Asian cuisine, bringing craft beer to new dinner tables. Sipped between slurps of ramen or crushed with Indian curries, rice lagers are accessible and easily understood, requiring no lengthy bartender explanation before ordering a round. “There’s a familiarity with rice in beer,” says Van Sharma, a co-founder of Rupee Beer, whose Basmati Rice Lager is sold in Indian restaurants in 23 states and counting.

For Imbibe, I explored the role of rice in diversifying beer’s audience.