King Cobra

Legend has it you were introduced to beer in an Army mess in India. Was it a Beautiful Beer?

My father was a commander in chief in the central army in India. And when I was a student I was introduced to beer there. It was Indian lager and I loved it. I took an instant liking to the taste of it. My father always loved the taste of whisky, but somehow I took much more of a liking to beer.

You have a degree in law from Cambridge and are a qualified accountant. What attracted you to a career selling beer?​

When I came to England to complete my higher education, I drank many of the well-known, world-famous English lagers. And I have to say I took an instant dislike to them - I found them unpleasant. They were bloating, gassy and fizzy - particularly with Indian food. Then an English friend introduced me to English real ale, which I absolutely loved and still do. But what I did find was they didn't go so well with Indian food - they were too bitter.

So I had the seed of the idea for Cobra. Most business ideas come from being dissatisfied about something, particularly something you are passionate about.

How difficult was it setting up the business on your own?​

While I had nothing to lose, there was an element of sacrifice as many of my contemporaries were working in the City and earning large sums of money. I was living in a shared flat, working from my dining room table and picking up pallets of beer from delivery vans and storing them in my attic. But I will always be grateful for that time as it gave me experience in every part of my business.

While the UK market gave us the freedom to launch Cobra, it also made it highly competitive - there were nine Indian lagers in the market at that time. When no one knows your product and brand, the only way they will buy it from you is if you show a passion and belief and conviction in what you are selling. That gives people confidence.

Why did you pick Charles Wells when it came to looking for a brewer to brew Cobra for the UK market?​

Cobra really took off in 1996 and the following year we chose Charles Wells to be our brewer. We wanted a personal relationship with a brewer - and we struck up a great relationship with the Wells family. We knew we wouldn't get that with one of the large majors.

Its brewing facilities are state of the art and it brews world-class beers. Kirin is a beer with quality standards as high as anyone's in the world. If it could do the job with Kirin, it could do the job with Cobra. Charles Wells guaranteed us capacity and it has been fantastic ever since. It is a Rolls-Royce brewer.

What is the thinking behind the introduction of King Cobra? Is it an innovation as much for pubs as it is for restaurants?​

King Cobra goes back to the basic principle of innovating by changing the market you go into. We are all about aspiring to achieve above all others.

I've always disliked strong lagers. I felt the taste was harsh and quite syrupy. And brewers would often try to compensate for the syrupiness by making the beer overly bitter. I thought it must be possible to have a strong lager of the quality of the Belgian strong beers.

I wanted to create the world's finest strong lager but wanted to take it one step further. So when our Belgian brewer came up with the idea of double fermenting it, like you would do with champagne, I said go for it. We use ale yeast to do that and then seal it with champagne corks.

It's my round - what are you drinking?​

I would have an English ale. I love Bombardier and Young's beers. But any English ale will do!