Bira 91, India’s original craft beer, has arrived in New York City as the exclusive beer sponsor of the city’s iconic Tribeca Film Festival, running from April 13 to April 24. The New York City debut is the first step in a full US rollout for the company, which launched in Delhi in early 2015 and soon was launched in all over India.
Founder and CEO Ankur Jain, a serial entrepreneur, was inspired to introduce his product to New York after falling in love with the city’s passion for beer during his post-graduate years as co-founder of a NYC-based healthcare revenue management firm. As a die-hard film fan, Jain has attended the Tribeca Film Festival himself since its inception in 2002.
“Bira 91 was imagined in India with inspiration from American beer culture. It’s unorthodox, urban, fun and modern,” Jain said. “The film world parallels a lot of these values, and so I knew Tribeca Film Festival was the perfect platform to bring Bira 91 to my favorite city, New York.”
The brand’s two styles—Bira 91 White and Bira 91 Blonde—are available at official Tribeca Film Festival events as well as at bars, restaurants and beer retailers throughout the city beginning in May.
“As a group of creatives, Tribeca Film Festival is always looking for cool, progressive brands to be involved in our events,” said CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, Andrew Essex. “When I met Ankur and he introduced me to Bira 91, we knew it was the right fit for our beer sponsor. Like our festival, Bira 91 is groundbreaking, modern, creative and above all, fun.”
Referencing India’s country code, Bira 91 found fast success in India through unconventional social marketing, whimsical branding and underground campaigns. The company now has a 30 per cent share in the on-premise premium beer segment in its active markets and has doubled in revenue each quarter so far. The brand’s growth earned Jain an inclusion in Fortune India’s ’40 Under 40’ list in February 2016. The brand was able to bring its product to the US with the backing of Silicon Valley venture firm Sequoia Capital, the fund’s first investment in a beer company globally.
Bira 91 White is a wheat beer with low bitterness and Bira 91 Blonde is a hoppy craft lager. Made with all natural ingredients from farms in India and Europe and brewed with a secret recipe, the products are available in bottles, cans and kegs.
Bira 91 was imagined in India with inspiration from American beer culture
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