Singapore

Singapore is one of the richest and most developed cities in Asia. It can at times feel like a somewhat bland facsimile of more authentic world cities. Like anywhere though, it is what you make of it. Today we'll take a spin through the city's growing beer scene.

A convenient place to stop-over between Europe and Asia, Singapore is somewhere I've visited a few times in the past year or so. This has given me ample time to sample most of the beer offerings in the city.

MALT🍺 is one of the city's standout beer bars in terms of selection. I found a wide variety of Asian and Western breweries on tap. Like anywhere in Singapore it was expensive and the atmosphere a little sanitised and too brightly-lit. That said, it's definitely an enjoyable place to sink a few drinks.

Next on the list, I found myself at American Taproom, Waterloo St. Again, an impressive taplist albeit with a "hotel-restaurant" kind of vibe to it. Lion Brewery Co is a brewpub serving up a pretty wide selection of their own beers. It was fine but nothing spectacular. Almost Famous Craft Beer Bar is another place I've been to a few times and has a slightly more low-key feel to it.

I enjoyed both the food and the drink at The Beer People Co🍺 in Little India. The place serves up some good Thai food and has a big selection of beers from Asian breweries to choose from. I didn't find anything on tap here last time I visited and the beers are generally not the kind of heavily hopped IPA's you might look for elsewhere.

Near by, you'll find Yeast Side - Farrer Park, a casual hangout with a decent taplist. Druggists also has a nice ambience and some decent, albeit pretty heavy snack options.

For something actually different and special, I'd recommed heading to Welcome Ren Min🍺.
It's a micro-taproom of a local brewery situated in a hawker's street food market. You can sample the local treats like Hainanese chicken or Laksa here and wash them down with some tasty beer.

If you find yourself missing home, you might consider checking out The Penny Black, arguably Singapore's most authentic English pub. Sadly, although the ambience was about right, the beer selection wasn't great with Guiness being the only thing I deigned to drink. Alternatively, Brotzeit has a few locations in the city offerring up German beer and food. If you like stout and metal music, The Flying V Metal bar is unusually located in the bowels of a mall but is a friendly place with a crowd-curated iPad playlist and some reasonable beers on draft.