Mohan Meakin is a food and beverage conglomerate which started from Asia's first brewery incorporated in 1855 by Edward Dyer in Kasauli under the name Dyer Breweries Ltd. which also owns the Kasauli Brewery (India's first European style brewery still in operation) and Solan brewery and still produces the Lion beer (Asia's first beer brand), Solan No. 1, Old Monk rum, and Golden Eagle Whisky.
History
In the late 1840s, Edward Dyer moved back to India from England to set up a brewery in India (later incorporated as Dyer Breweries in 1855) at Kasauli in the Himalayas.[1] The Kasauli brewery launched India's and indeed Asia's first beer, Lion,[2] which was in great demand by the British administrators and troops stationed in the heat of India. Lion was much appreciated as a beer, and one famous poster featured a satisfied British Tommy declaring, "as good as back home!"
The brewery was soon moved to nearby Solan, close to the British summer capital Shimla, as there was an abundant supply of fresh springwater there. The Kasauli brewery site was converted to a distillery, which Mohan Meakin Ltd. still operates.