Photos: Sargheve Sukumaran (left) with Chandramohan Nallur; Chandramohan with his wife Anna and with his family; happy clients
A Warsaw-based Malayali Chandramohan Nallur has made a beer that has hit the jackpot. He will enter the Indian market next year. Chandramohan also talks about his love story
By Shevlin Sebastian
Chandramohan Nallur is director, business relations, at the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industries at Warsaw, Poland. He sourced clients for Indian businesses. One client was a Nigerian business owner, Yusuf Jimoh, who ordered five tonnes of rice flakes. Following a message from Chandramohan, the Warsaw-based entrepreneur Shantanu Roy imported the rice flakes from Varanasi. Price: Rs. 8.5 lakh.
This was four days before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Because of the volatile movement of the exchange rate, Jimoh wanted to back out of the deal.
Chandramohan allowed Jimoh to do so because he felt he could find another customer. But when he did not do so, Chandramohan came up with an idea. He would buy the rice flakes himself. Chandramohan went on the net to find out what he could do with the rice flakes. That was when he stumbled on the idea of making beer.
Chandramohan asked his designer friend Sargheve Sukumaran whether he wanted to join the venture. Sukumaran agreed. The duo went to different breweries in Warsaw. They made a beer and provided it to local customers.
“There was no ‘Wow’ factor in the beer,” said Chandramohan. “And there were no repeat orders.” Some customers complained the beer was too bitter. Others said the beer was flat.
The production of all beers involves either malt or wheat. In their fourth version, they used the usual method but with one difference. They added rice flakes along with a reduced amount of malt.
“This reduced the bitterness and added a bit of sweetness,” said Chandramohan. “It became super light. It was an accidental discovery.”
Chandramohan had been using Polish hops. According to Wikipedia, hops are the hanging flowers of the Humulus lupulus plant. They are the driving source of bitterness, aroma, and flavour in all beers.
After doing research, Chandramohan discovered that the best hops come from Slovakia while the best malt comes from Bavaria in Germany. So, he imported both.
When Chandramohan thought about what name to give the beer, he decided on the name Malayali. “It was a crazy idea,” he said.
As for the label, the duo realised that Kingfisher beer has a kingfisher on the bottle. Bira 91 has a monkey on the bottle. Since the beer was going to be called Malayali, they took the help of a design firm in Kochi to find out what Malayalis relate to.
One was Kathakali and the other was the Mollywood superstar Mohanlal.
They launched the beer on November 13, 2022. Initially, they used the Mohanlal and Kathakali images on the bottles.
“The design gave the impression it was a craft beer and not a mass market one,” said Chandramohan. “So we changed the design.”
Two months ago, they began using the alphabet called ‘Ma’ (Mother) in Malayalam. “It is on the lines of a Heineken beer,” said Chandramohan.
The initial word of mouth in the Indian restaurants in Warsaw — ‘Mr. India’, ‘Namaste India’, ‘India Gate’ and ‘Coco Lounge’ (Polish) — was that this was a different beer.
Arun Barot, owner of the Mr. India restaurant said that ‘Malayali’ is super light and easy to drink. “It doesn’t make you feel heavy,” he said. “With other Indian brands, especially when you have it with our food, burping is an issue. But that is not the case with ‘Malayali’. One reason why the beer is so good is because Chandramohan uses the best ingredients. Hence, the beer is of a very high quality. All my customers like it.”
Now ‘Malayali’ is outselling ‘Kingfisher’ three to one in Warsaw, said Chandramohan.
“We are the only Indian beer which is also sold outside of Indian restaurants,” said Chandramohan. One cause was that the Europeans did not know what the word Malayali meant. “For them, it is like ordering Heineken or Carlsberg,” said Chandramohan. “We are a hybrid beer. We sell in Mexican and Italian bars, too.” In the Coco Lounge, Malayali beer outsells Polish brands like Zuber and Tyskie.
Now Chandramohan has plans to enter the diaspora market in Britain, America and the United Arab Emirates.
In 2023, Chandramohan sold around 36,000 bottles from July to December. Each bottle contains 500 ml and retails at 3.75 Euros (Rs 342).
In the first quarter of 2024, he has already sold 157000 bottles. “Because of this type of growth, I am looking for investors from India,” said Chandramohan. “In 2025, I want to enter the Indian market.”
Early Life
Chandramohan grew up in Palakkad, Kerala. He earned his B. Com degree from the Government Arts and Science College in Meenchanda, Kozhikode in 2007.
Then Chandramohan decided to study abroad. He wanted to do so in Scotland. A friend of his was studying at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen. He went to an agency which sends students abroad for higher studies.
While waiting to meet the staff, he saw a poster on the wall. It advertised a two-year degree course at the ESERP Digital Business and Law School in Barcelona. The fees were 1500 euros less than what he would have to pay to study in Scotland for a course. When he asked about the details, the agency said they had just connected with the school and had not sent anybody yet.
Chandramohan decided to go to Barcelona. “It was a random hunch,” he said.
After he successfully completed the course in political science and marketing, Chandramohan got a job in O’Hara’s Irish bar and restaurant at Barcelona. He worked there for three years. Then he joined a company called LycaMobile, the world’s largest network operator.
Chandramohan joined as a salesperson and began his climb up the corporate ladder. He travelled to Portugal, Germany, Italy, the USA and other countries. He ended up becoming the Director, Global Operations in 2012. In that year, he came to Warsaw to launch LycaMobile.
Earlier, in Barcelona, Chandramohan met a Polish girl by the name of Anna Lachmaniuk. She was a student and had come to O’Hara’s with her CV, looking for a job. They went on dates after that. And love blossomed between the two.
At Warsaw, Chandramohan continued to date Anna, a doctor for autistic and Down’s Syndrome children. Chandramohan took her to Kerala in 2010 so that his parents could meet Anna. They got married on August 17, 2013. The couple has two children, nine-year-old Maya, and four-year-old Julia.
Asked about his connections to the Chamber, Chandramohan said that it happened through a nomination process. Because of his background, he got into business relations. The chamber wanted to concentrate on business in South India. “Many South Indian companies approach us because they want to do business in Europe,” he said.
Chandramohan, on the other hand, wants to do business in India. Expect to see a lot of ‘Malayalis’ across the country in the near future.
(An edited version was published in The Sunday Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)
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