Have some dignity - don't bring your trick loaded coin

Man – you guys are lucky. We’ve been scouring the web and flogging our sources to bring to your attention the best deals for satisfy your insatiable thirst these couple of weeks that we ourselves are getting might drained and of course, parched! Well good thing this latest Good Things Must Share edition satisfies our need for a quick coldie plus the exciting element of chance!And its by no freak chance that TODAY IS WEDNESDAY!

Cos’ for those of you who have read our previous post on Brewerkz Flip Nite promotion held some time ago, by one of favourite our beer enthusiast informants @dk , you’d know that all you gotta do to is be there between 6-9pm on Wednesdays, tell your fave wait staff you’re feeling frisky, pick heads or tails and flip a coin! If it lands on your chosen side, lo and behold, you pay just S$1 for your half-litre liquid-fibre alcoholic goodness.  Promotion starts 21st July so rush down to Brewerkz now! Too bad its only played at their Bukit Timah outlet which I guess is a clever way to drum up business there. Smart chappys – now who said beer dulls the mind?

It may dull the sense of propriety though since someone close to us got real pally with one of their friendly wait staff and took one for the team to score us some extra beers! Cheers Mr. you-know-who-you-are-U2-fan!

Now the promo poster doesn’t say what happens if you guessed wrongly – I can only suspect you pay full price. Hey Brewerkz, can you clarify before we go out of our minds figuring out the disastrous consequences? And when does it end? We hope never cos the casinos have just been legalised in Singapore and it costs S$100 a pop for a local to get in – so for non-gamblers like us, this is our closest bet to winning a good deal! Bravo, Brewerkz, for bringing this back!

While this may not have been the intentions of the originators of Oktoberfest, it sure has been fine way of chugging more beer down throats in a few weeks than any other time of the year. Every beer loving throat looks forward to this time of the year with eager anticipation because we all know that for just this “limited time only” we get to sample specially brewed Marzen which have been fermenting since March! At the Munich village alone, over 7 million litres of alcohol is consumed over a the 2 week celebration!

In Singapore, celebrations will never get to the epic proportions witnessed at Munich each year. With this in mind, plus the fact that it should be every beer lover’s mission to visit Munich, we decided to make 2009 the year of our Oktoberfest pilgrimage. We even got past convincing our wives that there was shopping and wine in Germany by mentioning fashionistas like Claudia Schiffer and Karl Lagerfeld. Unfortunately, the year’s financial crisis made us a little more prudent and we decided that our pilgrimage would have to wait another year.

Instead, we set out searching for the few microbreweries in Singapore that do make an admirable attempt to brew their own Oktoberfest beers. We started out at Brotzeit after the first practice session of the Formula One weekend. Brotzeit’s Oktoberfest Bier had come over from Paulaner Brauhaus and had a nice pale golden colour, not too hoppy but with a crisp finish. Apparently, this is actually flown in specially from Munich making this a much cheaper option than flying to Germany.

Air flown from Munich

About 15 hours later, we were at Brewerkz sampling their brewmaster’s Oktoberfest contribution. This was vastly different from what we had tried at Brotzeit the night before. Brewerkz’s brew was dark drown, full bodied, malty, almost like a dunkel. And it’s 6% alcohol! We would have had a picture of this except we have an annoying habit of not reminding each other to take a photo of the beer before we actually drink it.

Paulaner Brauhaus didn’t start serving their special brew till the first week of October. Why special? This year, their freshly brewed beer, made on premise, was made in the same way as what they had served at the Munchen festival. It was full bodied with a golden yellow colour with a hoppy malt flavour which was very delicious. They’ve made only 50hl of this, of which, we’ve consumed 2 litres in jugular fashion.

We’ve got one more brew to try and that’s of a fellow homebrewer who’s invited us over this Friday to break open his very own Oktoberfest beer. To be continued…

In the song, “My Favourite Things”, taken from the soundtrack of Sound of Music, Maria sings 14 of her favourite things, from roses to kittens, from apple streudels to schnitzel with noodles. If the wholesome Maria couldn’t pick one favourite thing, then there’s no way favourite can be singular. Our list varies from single malts to manuka vodka, from stouts to sparkling rose, from sangria to self-made daiquiris.

For the purpose of this blog, I’m listing some beers which I try to stock at home. And coincidentally, there’re all southern hemisphere beers.

When in Singapore and I need a really good beer, the best place to get one has to be Brewerkz and the Wheat Ale remains a firm favourite. Though this has become seasonal and when not available, the next best up is the Golden Ale. Thank goodness they started selling take home packs!

One that Adrian and I agree on is Old Speight’s or properly known as the Gold Medal Ale. It’s like an amber ale with a cooperish colour. It’s got a slight dryness to it but the it has a lovely caramel malt taste.

New Zealand's finest

I recall the last I was in Auckland and was deciding between buying Speight’s or Tui home. And this bloke came up to me and said, “Mate, get the Old Speight’s.” These days, I get my fix each time I’m in Hong Kong where there’s a New Zealand product shop at Causeway Bay which retails this and other Kiwi brews. I’ll probably be having one during the Charity Shield game tonight.

Another awesome Kiwi brew is Montheith’s. Asia Pacific Breweries used to distribute this in Singapore for a short period of time about 6-7 years ago but probably didn’t take off as craft beers have only recently become more popular. But if you do come across this label, try the Celtic Red or Radler. One way of finding these will be to raid every Air New Zealand airport lounge!

Red and yelllow, black and white, they're all beer in my sight.

One thing we can’t dispute is that Australia produces some of finest craft beers. We’ve been seeing more of them appearing in the supermarkets in Singapore. And was I glad to see Cold Storage retailing my favourite Aussie beer, James Squire. The dude was a criminal who was shipped to Australia on the first ever boat of convicts and became the country’s first brewer. Being sent to Australia didn’t change his ways as he was eventually caught stealing hops to make beer! How can anyone fault this man?

140 year old ale

I make it a point to stock both the Amber and Golden Ale in my fridge. They claim that the yeast used for the Amber Ale is 140 years old and close to what Squire himself would have brewed. What makes it great as an after dinner ale is its sweet, roasted malt and nutty finish. On the other hand, the Golden Ale makes a perfect afternoon or evening beer. Clear Golden in colour, sweet and citrus taste.

Okay, I’m not quite done, but football’s starting, and this favourites list will never finish. Till next time…

Here’s a good one – for those who love to gamble AND drink. Cheers to dk.

Brewerkz Flip Night

Here is an interesting promotion by Brewerkz Bukit Timah.

From 14 July to 25 Aug 2009, every Tuesday evening from 6 to 9pm, just flip a coin when ordering your beer. If the coin lands on your chosen side, you’ll only need to pay $1 for your beer. (I guess if it doesn’t you’ll need to pay the usual amount)

Only at Bukit Timah Brewerkz. And only for half liters draft selection.

First, the guys from Brewerkz started following us on Twitter!

What’s the big deal? We know someone’s reading this blog! Well, we’ve been diehard fans of Brewerkz for almost 10 years now. I read a feature of one of the partners a few years back and absolutely admired their grit when starting Brewerkz. But most admirably, they make some of the best beer we’ve ever tasted! My personal fav is the Golden Ale or maybe the Wheat Ale, damn I’ll have both, enjoying beer shouldn’t be about choices!

Next, a new microbrew is opening in Singapore! Tawandang Microbrewery from Thailand will open their taps at Dempsey on 3rd July. We’ll do a field report and let you know how it rates.

A lot of friends or people we meet overseas ask us where’s the best beer pub in Singapore so we’re taking this opportunity to list the microbrews here.

Of course, the first place we recommend is Brewerkz. Absolutely crazy happy hour prices, huge TV screen for sports and free WIFI! Despite having expanded, the best location is still Riverside where reservations mean everything on Friday and Saturday nights.

Here’s the others in no order of preference.

The Pump Room – At Clarke Quay and Great World City. Our pick: Scottish Ale.

Red Dot BrewHouse -  The other microbrew at Dempsey Road and it’s opened by a Singaporean who had a dream, we salute you. Our pick: Monster Green Lager.

Archipelago - Setup by Asia Pacific Breweries, who brew Tiger beer. Our pick: Explorer, which you can only get at Duty Free at Changi Airport.

Paulaner Brauhaus – Part of the Paulaner chain which you’ll find in numerous other cities. Our pick: Oktoberfest beer.