Ranchi: Beer buffs in the city are going thirsty and wondering what 'ales' government shops.

The oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drink in the world seems to have done a vanishing act from state-run stores. And, if someone is lucky to spot a bottle somewhere, chances are that the brew will be too warm for comfort.

On Sunday evening, Morabadi resident Rakesh Kumar hopped three shops for a carton of chilled beer before he decided to buy vodka instead for a get-together with friends. "There was no beer at Morabadi and Karamtoli as early as 5pm. In Kokar, I found a few bottles; but they were not cold," he said.

Keshav Majhi agreed. "Two days ago, when I visited a Kokar shop in the evening, I was greeted by a no-stock board. Beer is suddenly not available at most stores," he said. All registered booze shops in the state are run and regulated by the government since August last year. Ranchi has around 58 of them.

According to a member of staff at a Karamtoli shop, the demand for chilled beer increases every summer and 2018 was no different despite April-May being cooler compared to previous years. "I won't call it a major crisis, but yes, there have been issues with beer supply. At our store, both space crunch and erratic power supply are deterrents. New stocks take time to cool down," he said.

Depot manager of Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation in Ranchi Kundan Kumar Singh said the major part of the crisis got over in April.

"There were issues of pending payments to beer companies for a couple of months. That has been sorted out at the headquarter level. Supply is slowly being streamlined," he said, adding that brands such as Kingfisher, Tuborg and Godfather were currently available in state market while Carlsberg supply was withdrawn months ago after a brewery in Bihar shut down.

Singh said on an average, Ranchi required between 4,200 and 4,500 cartons every day. "We are supplying two to three vehicles daily. Each vehicle has a capacity of 1,400 cartons and each carton has 12 bottles," he said, indicating that the crisis was moderate.

State excise commissioner Bhor Singh Yadav couldn't offer figures, but said stock crunch was being addressed on a priority basis. "The difference between last year and this year is that we don't have additional stocks. So, we are trying to procure from different sources (states) and are supplying beer regularly," he said.