A beer drinker's delight
BT More got Martin da Costa to taste the best new foreign beers in India and deliver his verdict. 
Colour: Black & heavy
Taste: Richly bitter. Once you acquire a taste for it, it’s never lost. You don’t want to get drunk on it
Smell: Haystackish
Dress code: Expensive leather jacket, boots
Occasion: Cold winter afternoon watching a cricket match with friends
Food match: Meat pie
Glass: English pint
Price: Rs 145 (Can)
Carlsberg
Colour: Deep gold
Taste: It seems to have a nice comforting taste to begin with but then leaves you with a bit of an unfriendly residual taste in the back of the palate. It’s not too fizzy, which is nice
Smell: Nice, natural aroma
Dress code: Noveau flashy, Armani suit with a Pringle polo shirt
Occasion: Uncle’s house before a wedding in the family
Food match: Spicy chicken
Glass: Half-pint mug
Price: Rs: 108
Asahi
Colour: Light
Taste: Bitter in a good, wholesome way
Smell: No smell at all
Dress code: Yamamoto tight white shirt, baggy trousers, white plimsolls
Occasion: Your best friend’s promotion
Food match: Sushi in a five-star hotel
Glass: Ultra modern test tube
Price: Rs 95 (Pin
Heineken
Colour: Rich Mediterranean yellow
Taste: Clean bitter taste that lingers at the back of the palate
Smell: Like a very good Pinot Noir (or a good fresh young wine recently harvested)
Dress code: Quite smart, Hugo Boss dark blue suit
Occasion: Celebration of an agency win
Food match: Home cooked Kerala meal, appam, etc.
Glass: Pilsner glasses
Price: Rs 90
Corona extra
Colour: Light, early morning Goan sunshine
Taste: Light fizzy party beer
Smell: Nice
Dress code: White linen suit, summer print dress for the girls
Occasion: Party
Food match: Party food
Glass: Straight from the bottle
Price: Rs 95
Barron’s strong beer
Colour: Dense, golden
Taste: Largely bitter aftertaste
Smell: Like well tempered steel
Dress code: Army cargo trousers and old T-shirt
Occasion: Desperate to get drunk, drinking to forget when you have broken up or had a second divorce
Food match: Tandoori food
Glass: Whisky tumbler
Price: Rs 60
Indian budweiser
Colour: Wheatish golden
Taste: The first taste is not promising at all—smells like it has a chemical additive in it…it gets better – tastes of a very long sea journey in an aluminum vat
Smell: Slightly false
Occasion: You have moved as cabin crew from Jet to British Airways
Food match: McDonald’s wedges
Glass: Straight from the bottle
Price: Rs 58
Amstel
Colour: Pale goldish, pale light gold
Smell: Lovely earthy barley smell
Taste: Beautifully balanced, very obvious maturity, consistent
Dress code: Casual
Occasion: Summer afternoon under a mango tree with friends and family, celebrating the birth of a son
Food match: Chargrilled garlic and rosemary spring chicken and butter steamed snow peas.
Glass: Unfuzzy, high quality, high ball glass
Price: Rs 88
*Martin da Costa is a former rugby player, founder of Seventy Management and partner Olive Bar & Grill
As told to T.V. Mahalingam
