Patna, June 13: Liquor connoisseurs, be ready to let go your favourite brand.

A disagreement between the foreign liquor retails in Patna and the state excise department over a particular beer brand is threatening to snowball into a prolonged dispute.

The Patna District Foreign Liquor Retailers’ Association has alleged the department is forcing them to buy “Godfather”, a beer brand, which, according to them, does not sell much in the state capital.

Chandra Shekhar, the joint secretary of the association told The Telegraph the “illegal” practice of the department is affecting the beer business, with many shops running out of stock.

“The retailers buy different alcohol brands from Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited (BSBCL), the main depot which is a state government undertaking. There is a clause of the BSBCL, known as first-in-first-out (FIFO). Under this, the brand which comes first at the depot has to be bought first by the retailers. The BSBCL, in connivance with the excise department, are misusing the FIFO and forcing us to buy Godfather brand of beer which is not at all popular among the people here,” Chandra Sekhar said.

Godfather is manufactured in the country by Devan’s Modern Breweries Limited, based in Jammu and Kashmir. The brand is available in 500ml cans.

Chandra Shekhar said the authorities at BSBCL are not listening to retailers. “The brand is not popular in Patna with most customers preferring either Haywards, Thunderbolt or Kingfisher. The BSBCL is pressurising us to buy consignments of Godfather stating it is only after its stock is over that other beer brands will be made available to us, ” he alleged.

When contacted, Krishna Paswan, the assistant commissioner, excise, agreed there was a problem.

“In the month of April and May, when summer is at its peak, the distributors of the bigger and more popular brands stop release of consignment, demanding a large share in revenue. As a result, the department faces losses amounting to crores. This trend has forced the department to contact smaller brands like Godfather and Calsberg, to supply their products. The department is only requesting retailers to maintain uniformity when it comes to stock of products. There are large stocks of Godfather in the depot and we are only requesting retailers to buy some of it along with other popular brands. Beer consignments cannot be kept for more than three months and these stocks need to be exhausted too,” the official said.