In the late 1820s, Edward Abraham Dyer, father of Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre, moved from England to set up the first brewery in India at Kasauli in the Himalayas. The Kasauli brewery launched India's and indeed Asia's first beer, Lion, which was in great demand by the thirsty British administrators and troops stationed in the sweltering heat of India. Lion was much appreciated as a beer, and one famous poster featured a satisfied British Tommy declaring, "as good as back home!". The brewery was soon moved to nearby Solan, close to the British summer capitalShimla, as there was an abundant supply of fresh springwater there. The Kasauli brewery site was converted to a distillery, which Mohan Meakin Ltd. still operates. Dyer set up more breweries at Shimla, Murree, Rawalpindi, Mandalay and Quetta and acquired interests in the Ootacamund Brewery. Another entrepreneur, H. G. Meakin, moved to India and in 1887 bought the old Shimla and Solan Breweries from Edward Dyer and added more at Ranikhet, Dalhousie, Chakrata, Darjeeling, Kirkee and Nuwara Eliya. After the First World War, the Meakin and Dyer breweries merged and, in 1937, when Burma was separated from India, the company was restructured with its Indian assets as Dyer Meakin Breweries, a public company on the London Stock Exchange. Following independence, Narendra Nath Mohan raised funds and travelled to London, where he acquired a majority stake in Dyer Meakin Breweries. He took over management of the company in 1949 and built new breweries at Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Khopoli and the company name was changed to Mohan Meakin Breweries in 1967. On the death of Mohan in 1969, his eldest son, V. R. Mohan, took over as managing director. He introduced a number of new products that are brand leaders today but died in 1973, soon after taking over. In the 1970s, the manufacturing activities of the company were diversified into other fields including breakfast cereals, fruit juices and mineral water under the leadership of Kapil Mohan. The word brewery was dropped from the company name in 1982 to remove the impression that the company was engaged only in beer making. New breweries were built during the 1970s and 1980s at Chandigarh, Madras, Nepal and Kakinada near Hyderabad. Today, Mohan Meakin's principal brands are Old Monk Rum and Golden Eagle Beer. Its other products include Diplomat Deluxe, Colonel's Special, Black Knight, Meakin 10,000, Summer Hall and Solan No 1 whiskies, London Dry and Big Ben gins, and Kaplanski vodka. Asia’s original beer, Lion, is still sold in northern India.
Beer
Lion Beer is the main brand first sold by Dyer Breweries in the 1840s. Lion was originally an India Pale Ale but the beer style was changed in the 1960s to a lager. Lion remained the number one beer in India for over a century from the 1840s until the 1960s. After this, another Mohan Meakin brand, Golden Eagle, took the number one place until the 1980s, when Kingfisher became number one. By 2001, Lion sales had declined substantially and Lion was only available to the Indian Army through the Canteen Services Department. Mohan Meakin then entrusted the marketing of its original beer to International Breweries Pvt. Ltd. The brand has since been relaunched in the north Indian market. With a new label design and marketing campaign, Lion has established itself once more in the civilian market and is now expanding into markets across India. Lion earns a place in history as Asia's first beer brand. Lion's popularity with the British during the heyday of the empire led to the start-up of other Lion beers around the world, in New Zealand, South Africa and elsewhere. Lion remains the number-one brand in neighbouring Sri Lanka, where Mohan Meakin had introduced it in the 1880s through their Ceylon brewery.
Rum
Old Monk is a vatted Indian rum, blended and aged for 7 years. It is dark, with an alcohol content of 42.8. It is produced by Mohan Meakin, based in Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. It is available in all parts of India. Old Monk is also the third largest selling rum in the world. Old Monk has been the biggest Indian Made Foreign Liquor brand for many years. The first time it was tasted officially was 19 December 1954. It is sold in five size variants: 180 ml, 375 ml, 750 ml, 1-litre and 2-litre bottles.
