Goldilocks couldn't decide which to drink at first...

Well regarded in Singapore and by our reckoning even sought after by the Japanese and in London, Tiger Beer has come a long way since its humble debut in the Republic in 1930. Some Wiki facts:

• In the USA, Tiger Beer’s brand is well known in New York and San Francisco.
• In the UK, Tiger Beer can be found in more than 8,000 premium bars/clubs and distribution outlets in its major cities.
• Tiger Beer gained considerable popularity in Detroit in October 2006 due to the Detroit Tigers Baseball Team’s entrance into the 2006 World Series.

Since then it’s won numerous awards, 40 to be exact, and over the years its gone on to reinvent itself. With the recent launch of Tiger Crystal, where the beer is filtered at a chilling -1 degree C to retain its full flavour, there are now a stable of over 40 brand and variants to the Asia Pacific Brewery owned label. So what’s the Tiger up to this rabbit Lunar New Year in Singapore?

Beverage beauties beaming over brews and bullion

Touted as ‘Singapore’s largest dinner gathering’ – The Tiger Lunar Extravaganza 2010 – a dining extravaganza is being organised to bring to life the concept of Togetherness or 聚 [pronounced as jü, 4th intonation], in the Chinese language, as part of their “Celebrate togetherness with Tiger” campaign. APB likens it to ‘Singapore’s own version of Oktoberfest’. Hmmmm.

Would the Fab Four drink Tiger?

Leveraging on in-depth consumer insights and attitudes on gatherings and reuniting with friends and loved ones this Lunar New Year, the brands under the APB Singapore umbrella are all set to redefine the concept of “togetherness” this festive season. Key highlights include:

·         TIGER BEER LAUNCHES 聚LUNAR NEW YEAR CAMPAIGN : “CELEBRATE TOGETHERNESS WITH TIGER”

·         聚: CELEBRATE TOGETHERNESS WITH TIGER AT SINGAPORE’S LARGEST DINNER GATHERING!

·         TIGER BEER LAUNCHES SEARCH FOR SINGAPORE’S FAVOURITE CHINESE NEW YEAR DISH

·         RAINING GOLD IN THE HEARTLANDS: LEE HON MENG, FIRST WINNER OF TIGER BEER’S GOLD GIVEAWAY

·         APBS PARTNERS KRETA AYER-KIM SENG CITIZENS’ CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE THIS CHINESE NEW YEAR IN SUPPORT OF THE MEAL & GROCERY PROGRAMME

·         BE THE PERFECT HOST AND GUEST WITH GUINNESS: LIMITED EDITION GUINNESS BAK KWA GIVES TRADITIONAL CHINESE NEW YEAR DELICACY A TWIST

Tickets for Tiger Lunar Extravaganza 15-course Chinese buffet line at the renowned Peach Garden Restaurant are on sale at SISTIC from 19 December 2010 at $88 per ticket, inclusive of free flow beer. Just for early birds, purchase your tickets before 10 January 2011 and receive 10% off! Tables are 6-seaters or 10-seaters so gather your friends and come celebrate togetherness with Tiger Beer. Consumers also stand a chance to win a limited-edition 1kg solid-gold bar as well as 88 other 100g gold bars worth over a total of $100,000.

Read more about these celebratory events here. Good luck and good hunting! (tiger and rabbit hunting, geddit? No? Sigh…)

Red sky tonight, a beer drinker's delight.

Last month, we had an entry on World’s Top Brewery Tours where we mentioned a few brewery tours, one of which was the Tiger beer tour. Last week, we did get invited to tour the brewery at Asia Pacific Brewery, the mothership of Tiger. While it wasn’t our first visit to the brewery, it’s always great fun since the tour always ends at the Tiger Tavern where it’s free flow till lights out (and this normally means the bartender kicking guests out) at 9.30pm. And this happened again… no complaints and we’d gladly grease our rear ends again. 

While we don’t down Tiger as often as we could, it’s always a joy being at Tiger Tavern sampling all the different products Tiger has its paws in. We didn’t know Kirin is now being distributed by APB and we had more of the Archipelago Irish Ale we cleared out during the launch party. And on this 

We'd like to think we're exlcusive, so if you do find this on the shelves at Cold Storage, don't tell us.

 night, we got some tips on the upcoming Oktoberfest gigs in Singapore and even previewed the Erdinger Weissbier Kristall. Not available yet in Singapore, this crystal clear wheat beer has a light golden color with a foamy head which settles very quickly. Newbies to wheat beer may find this a good brew to start with since it’s low in carbonation and not as full-bodied as most wheat beers. 

The Tiger brewery tours will pause soon as they refurbish the areas open to public and will reopen just before the Lunar New Year. In the mean time we’ll continue to get acquianted with the lovely beer babes. 

Miss, excuse me, where's the toilet?

Tiger beer, the beer of my life, I knee-d you.

Look Ma, no hands!

Xiao Jie, let me help you carry this.

Singapore’s most popular beer gets upgraded after it’s last facelift in 2005. Our homegrown beer takes on this new look to commemorate the Year of the Tiger. All the gold trimmings have been replaced with platinum touches and this new look has already walked off with both the Gold and Silver accolades at the 2009 World Beer Championships Packaging Competition.

While the beer doesn’t sit pretty on our list of favourite brews, their ad campaigns are always something to look forward to, especially the campaign featuring the “brudders” Rod Monteiro and Glenn Ong or how about Jessica Alba saying “Yes,“ even before being asked the question. Bros, agreeable women and ice cold beer, who could ask for more?

Tiger’s new campaign couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s exams season for school kids so fathers are probably stuck at home watching telly instead of out at the pub. Plus, it’s perfectly timed for Halloween too and getting House Of Costumes as a sponsor would have been easy. So when the newest campaign was launched, we thought we’d share a couple of lessons we picked up.

Lesson 1: Never drink with a friend you need to fight or arm wrestle with. Heck, just get another bucket, if you’re too cheapo, ask for 2 straws.

Lesson 2: Men in tights never win.

Lesson 3: Men in underwear may overcome men in tights but they still may not emerge victors. Try putting on the underwear over the tights ala Superman style in future.

Lesson 4: Hairy men may beat men in underwear but not distant cousins of Storm Troopers, except possibly if you’re Brazilian (no pun intended) and the game is football.

Lesson 5: Even with biceps made of steel, it’s still no guarantee you’ll win a battle with a woman. The babe always wins.

We always dig a woman who enjoys her beers and in Singapore, it’s hard to come by such babes. Most local women would rather sip a Cosmopolitan or try really hard to decipher that hint of raspberry in a Merlot. So when we meet a babe like the blonde in the commercial, you can be sure, there’ll be another round of Tiger on the table.