After the INR 300-crore acquisition of Mysuru-based Cheers Breweries in September this year, Indore-based Mount Everest Brewery Ltd (MEBL) is betting big on the South India market. Vedant Kedia, CEO of MEBL, speaks about the company’s brand strategies for the Indian market in general and South India in particular.
MEBL recently launched its STOK portfolio of beers in Karnataka with much fanfare, making the state the first in India to have access to the company’s entire product portfolio. The acquisition of Mysuru-based Cheers Breweries in September 2025 has given MEBL a head start in penetrating the South India market with its products in a significant way.
“We recently acquired this brewery for close to Rs 300 crore,” said Vedant Kedia, CEO, MEBL, adding that the acquisition would increase the company’s production capacity by about 75 per cent. “This brewery acquisition was all about building a southern hub for us and entering the southern market,” he said.
The newly acquired Karnataka facility, with a capacity of 1.5 million hectolitres, complements the company’s mother brewery in Indore, which has a capacity of two million hectolitres. Kedia said the acquisition would enable the company to enter major beer-consuming states such as Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, while also easing logistics and reducing transportation costs.
“Largely, we’ve been present in Central and North India. This will ease our supply chain and decrease transportation costs for us,” he said, adding that the acquisition was completed in September.
The company’s portfolio includes Mount 6000 in the value segment, Le Mount in the core segment, and STOK in the core-plus category.
Launched in 2020, STOK is positioned in the core-plus and core-premium segments of the market. According to Kedia, the brand was created to appeal to a younger generation seeking easy-to-drink, high-quality beer at an accessible price point.
“The motivation behind STOK was to create a brand for today’s generation,” he said. “There was no brand that really appealed to them. We wanted something that was very easy to drink—no strong flavours; even our strong beer is very sippable.”
Kedia said the brand is built around the philosophy of “Living the Chill”, reflecting a relaxed and mindful lifestyle. The brand’s panda mascot, he added, was chosen to visually communicate this philosophy. “Pandas are very chill animals, with no worries in life. We wanted that imagery for people to connect with.”
STOK currently has three variants—strong beer, lager and wheat beer—covering “99.9 per cent of the market,” Kedia said. The company plans to experiment with additional flavours once the brand achieves scale, including draft beer offerings in select Bengaluru bars.
Mount Everest Breweries is currently present in 14 states and views premiumisation as a long-term consumption trend across alcoholic beverages. “There’s a general trend of premiumisation—not just in beer, but in spirits as well,” Kedia said. “Consumers are moving up the ladder from value to core, and from core to core-plus.”
When asked about future expansion, Kedia said the company is working on a greenfield brewery in Uttar Pradesh to strengthen its presence in the North India market. “We’ve already acquired the land and obtained the necessary licences,” he said. “This will become a northern hub supplying Delhi, Rajasthan, Punjab and surrounding states.”
Responding to environmental sustainability concerns, Kedia said modern brewing technology has addressed issues often associated with breweries. “Our breweries operate on zero liquid discharge. There is no discharge whatsoever from our plants,” he said, adding that state authorities are now supportive given the sector’s contribution to excise revenues.
