How Narayan Manepally of Geist became a gold medallist
Jai Ho! The resounding A.R. Rahman composition from the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire played as Narayan Manepally, CEO of Geist Brewing Co. and Vidya Kubher, the brand’s head brewmaster, collected the Gold Award at the European Beer Star 2025 competition in Nuremberg, Germany, in September.
This wasn’t the first rodeo for the Bengaluru-based distribution craft brewery. In 2024, they won the silver for their light amber smoked wheat beer, Geist Rauch-a-Fella. But winning the gold in a competition judged through a rigorous two-day blind tasting was a different high.“We won the gold in the South German Hefeweizen Dunkel category for our beer, Geist Uncle Dunkel,” Manepally, 62, shares.
“This is a category that has been dominated by the Germans for decades, so to beat them at their own game felt incredible. We were treated like royalty,” he recalls. Since winning teams get to pick the song they want played as they go up to the stage, Jai Ho felt like a natural choice.
Seeing India on the list of winning countries, Manepally says, was a particularly proud moment.We are at the Geist production brewery on Old Madras Road, sitting in the facility’s craft beer garden, which doubles as a restaurant. Surrounded by greenery, the open-air format of the place makes it ideal for unhurried conversations. Besides the pleasing aesthetics, this 15,000 sq.
Read on livemint.com