Cobra Beer is the brainchild of Karan Bilimoria, who founded the brand in 1989 when he was aged 27 & £20, 000 in debt. Bilimoria was born in India & read law at Cambridge University before qualifying as an accountant. While at Cambridge, he regularly ate out at Indian restaurants, which led him to realise there was not a type of beer that could truly be enjoyed with Indian cuisine
- lager was too gassy & bloating, while ale was too bitter. He decided, therefore, to create a beer that had ‘the refreshing qualities of lager' with ‘the smoothness & drinkability of ale'. Although he launched Cobra during a recession, the popularity of Indian food was on the rise, which helped catapult Cobra beer to fame.