Fort City Brewing

If Dr Frankenstein had lived to move on from human bodies to patching the most optimal parts of bars together, and was a little brighter, Fort City Brewing might have been his magnum opus. 

The place does the dim wide-windowed movie-postered hipster as much as it does the orange chandeliers of Indian boomer dreams. It boasts a globe-turning craft beer menu that has ventured into the likes of kimchi – and chocolate, in their latest – but they’ve also perfected chakna offerings that rival even the city’s dive bars. They manage to play Rage Against the Machine at an acceptable volume. They host trivia, froth up run marathons, and screen kooky films, and while they’re at it, routinely break onto best brewpubs lists in India and Asia. 

They’ve become one of the few pubs in the city that I’d recommend to people of all sorts. 

Unwittingly so. When they started out in 2023, they aimed to find drinkers in their early 30s. Folks who ‘don’t just drink to get drunk,’ as co-founder Ashish Ranjan puts it. Folks who would appreciate the taste of a well-brewed craft beer. The result of a process that has involved running from one government department official to the other and deciding whether to tilt a canister inside a relatively tight spot for a microbrewery, let alone the chemistry and compass of brewing itself. 

This crowd has only expanded. Perhaps it helps that Fort City’s located in one of the newly upcoming strips of Hauz Khas, where dance floors are walkable. And that chalkboards abound in their smoking areas to scribble immature things after the gruelling work of downing several orders.

You’d have guessed that Fort City, by necessity, rotates their craft beers. Rest assured their beer menu works like a cheatsheet, and you can order a small, regular or large pour, or a pitcher. In the meantime, it feels prudent to first recommend their latest – a chocolate stout by the name of Paapi Papi, developed in collaboration with Savorworks, a popular coffee brand in the city. (As in, their beans were literally involved.) The cacao kicks in with the aftertaste, a sourness coating your tongue before, notes of bourbon and vague fruitiness. A relief because I do not need my beer becoming a milk chocolate bar.

If you’re looking for more of a sweet note, you’d be better placed with Hop Daddy, a New England IPA that’s certainly the most beachside-friendly of the lot and closest to a cocktail, taste-wise. This might be the order for a non-beer person. More of a balance comes Not Your Monk, a fruity Belgian strong ale, and Jam Session, my repeat order, berry-forward and punchy after the tip.

Brut Jowar Lager is one I also like for introducing a dry, millet-based flavour to a liquid; it may be my favourite from the current menu. It works best as a first drink before your food arrives. Ctrl + S The Queen is similarly bready in a very English manner – and while it’s not got the highest alcohol percentage it certainly feels that way…

I’m sure even Fort City regulars would be surprised to hear this but they do some other mean drinks. The picante’s great. They’ve got Delhi-themed cocktails and classic beers too. Break up a pitcher plan if you want.

The food menu is strangely massive: pizzas, bhartas, burgers, haleems, tandoor grilled kebabs, a Parle G and Horlicks cheesecake, even chutneys special to them. Don’t fret. There is a section called Pre-game Plates. Make sure you order at least two things from it. Strong contenders include the Andhra style green chilli chicken or paneer, with a coated spice that creeps up on you through the crunch, and the Cerveza Prawn Gambas, which comes with a lovely bread and doesn’t sacrifice cream for flavour. Even the guacamole and chips aren’t underwhelming. While I don’t particularly care for their kebabs, their lamb harissa with naan is bloody good. 

Truth be told, as much as I’m a tipsy dancer, my ideal night at Fort City still involves laying back and slowly working my way through the pre-game plates, balancing it with not getting too buzzed. Hello, dear late twenties.

Time Out tip: Fort City’s dim and still suave enough during the day that the sunlight filtering in doesn’t make early hours too regretful of a choice, if you’re not willing to brave a possible wait time.