A viral Reddit post featuring a bar banner with different prices for "Chilled Beer" and "Thandi Beer" sparked humourous responses, highlighting India’s growing beer market, which is expected to reach Rs 781.2 billion by 2032.
A hilarious photograph of a bar banner advertising chilled beer was featured in a recent Reddit post. The image went viral, generating a lot of amusement and witty comments from people. The beverage in question is offered at two distinct prices on the banner: "Chilled Beer" costs Rs 140, while "Thandi Beer" (the Hindi counterpart) costs Rs 150. The tiny price difference between the Hindi and English labels has been a source of humour on the platform, with many users sharing their amusing interpretations in the comments area.
The user who posted the photo captioned it with a bewildered, "What is this??" leading others to speculate and crack jokes about the Rs 10 difference. The post, which has rapidly gained traction on Reddit, has since left users in splits as they continue to react to the unusual pricing quirk.
One Reddit user humorously commented, “10 rupees fine for not knowing English, I guess,” implying that the extra charge in Hindi was a penalty for not ordering the beer in English.
Another user suggested that the price difference could be seen as a “service charge for Hindi use,” taking a playful jab at how languages can sometimes be perceived differently in certain settings.
The banter didn't stop there—one person theorized that there was a "language tax" in place for those opting to order in Hindi instead of English.
Amidst the jokes, one user offered a tongue-in-cheek explanation for the pricing variation, writing, “One is chilled. One is cold,” differentiating between the words in a literal sense, as if "chilled" and "thandi" somehow denoted different temperatures.
Another light-hearted comment poked fun at the strictness often found in Indian educational institutions: “Owner must be a CBSE school ex-principal… Rs 10 fine for reading in Hindi."
Beer remains one of the most popular alcoholic beverages in the country, with sales steadily rising year after year. The Indian beer market reached a value of Rs 414.7 billion in 2023, and recent projections from the IMARC Group suggest that it will expand to Rs 781.2 billion by 2032, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.1% during the 2024-2032 period.
This growth is driven by several key factors, including the increasing preference for alcoholic beverages, particularly among millennials, who are consuming beer during celebrations, social events, and cultural gatherings.
Additionally, the changing lifestyle of consumers, characterized by greater openness to trying new beverages, and the widespread availability of beer through online platforms are further fueling the market's expansion.
As noted in the Oxford Companion to Beer, beer ranks as the third most popular drink globally, surpassing both wine and coffee, with only water and tea ahead of it. China leads the world in total beer consumption, with an astounding 34,979 thousand tons consumed annually. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic holds the title for the highest per capita beer consumption, with an impressive 140.12 liters per person each year.
Top 10 countries that consume the most beer (per capita consumption as on 2021):
China - 34,979 thousand tons
United States - 24,563 thousand tons
Brazil - 14,077 thousand tons
Mexico - 9,866 thousand tons
Russia - 8,313 thousand tons
Germany - 7,615 thousand tons
United Kingdom - 4,496 thousand tons
Vietnam - 4,145 thousand tons
Spain - 3,856 thousand tons
Poland - 3,503 thousand tons
India ranks at the 24th position with total consumption of 1,473 thousand tons, with a per capita consumption of 1.05 litres per person.