This week's Made in Chicago introduces us to a local brewery that features flavors of India just in time for Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights.
Co-founder and CEO Bhavik Modi explains why he and business partner "Gator" Strand named their brewing company Azadi, which means Freedom in Hindi.
"We wanted to kind of free ourselves from the traditional constraints of craft brewing, introduce new flavors and just open up a larger tent from which people can enjoy craft beer", he says.
One of those flavors he showed WBBM is a can of lager made from toasted Basmati rice.
"In the center of the beer you'll see something that represents a cricket pitch. Around that the grains of rice represent the entire field that cricket is played on. The reason we call it Doosra is Doosra is like a curveball in cricket. It's a spin. And this is our unique spin on a lager using Indian ingredients."
We spoke in the taproom of Pilot Project, a beer incubator where Azadi and other startups come to brew in large steel fermentation tanks.
Pilot Project Brewing coolerNancy Harty
Modi says the company they started five years ago now sells in those taprooms, several Indian restaurants, at Binny's and Whole Foods.
"Our goal is over time, how can we give back more to the Indian community here locally, but also back in India?"
Beer fermentor getting cleanedNancy Harty
To celebrate their anniversary which is around Diwali, they're releasing a new beer, a chocolate pistachio porter.
