After Five Years Of Continued National Growth, Rupee Beer Partners With Nappi Distribution In Home State

Brewed by craft-brewing legend Alan Pugsley, responsible for launching over 100+ breweries around the world and the former Co-founder of Portland-based Shipyard brewing, Rupee focuses on having lighter, less carbonated beers which compliment and highlight rich and complex international cuisines, such as: Indian, Thai, Mexican, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and beyond. 

Rupee has scaled tremendously the past few years having retail presence in 20 states, and online sales live in 45 states since its inception in 2020. The brand has received numerous awards and features in publications such as Forbes, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, Food & Wine, Eater, and BuzzFeed. Additionally, the brand has also secured select placements at national chains, such as: Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Wegmans, Total Wine and World Market. 

Co-founders and brothers Van & Sumit Sharma are very excited to announce distribution in their home state of Maine. "After scaling our vision and mission in several of America's cosmopolitan hubs, we are excited to partner with a distributor in Maine to grow our brand even further in the state we grew up in."

About The Founders 

Brothers Van & Sumit Sharma, sons of Indian restaurateurs in the Indian restaurant business internationally for over 50 years, found themselves continually frustrated they were never able to consistently source Indian beers in Maine – the least diverse state in America where their family immigrated to from the United Kingdom & Germany in the late 80's and launched three of the state's first Indian restaurants. 

Growing up the only Indian kids in school in Portland, Maine's largest city in the 90's, the brothers went on to attend university in Boston, and soon after moved overseas to London & Melbourne, Australia where they lived and worked for over a decade. 

During the pandemic, the both found themselves regiging their lives and moving back to Portland where they found themselves helping out their family's long-running Indian Restaurant, Bombay Mahal, in the heart of downtown Brunswick, Maine. 

During this period, they noticed once again the global beer supply of Indian and many international beers into Maine was deeply impacted by Covid-19, and left numerous customers asking for Indian products to pair with their take-outs while the restaurant stayed open during the pandemic.

They enlisted the expertise of British-expat and craft brewing legend Alan Pugsley to start the research and development for Rupee Beer - a beer which would perfectly compliment an Indian curry or rather any international style of cuisine. Rupee is now seen as a disrupter within the world & ethnic food & beverage category. 

Rupee Beer is now available across Maine exclusively via Nappi Distributors offering its two year round skus: a Basmati Rice Lager & India Pale Ale, and summer seasonal Mango Wheat Ale.