Featuring over 400 types of beer from around the world, as expected, Beerfest Asia 2013 was a mad party with great brews
By Lester J Wan
Visitors to Beerfest Asia 2013 were spoiled for choice with over 400 types of beer from around the world, including
a variety of unusual brews with fruit and spices.
It was pure pleasure tasting these brews which ranged from the traditional, from the oldest brewery in the world, to the contemporary, with rare fruit or other unusual flavours.
We highlight some of the best.
Limited Edition IPA & Growler
Archipelago Brewery Company, established in 1931, was the first commercial brewery in Singapore. Today, it falls within the portfolio of Asia Pacific Breweries. Archipelago’s craft beers were the main focus, such as the Belgian Wit, Summer Ale, Bohemian Lager, Irish Ale, and the British India Pale Ale.
The Limited Edition British India Pale Ale is the pride of brewmaster Robert Beck. After intense experimentation, Beck has come up with his own version of the popular 19th Century British India Pale Ale first brewed in England. Primary and secondary fermentation add layers of texture and flavour. Apart from a bouquet of orange and citrus aromas and flavours, gula Melaka is also an ingredient, making it even more pleasing to the Asian palate.
Archipelago’s 1.89l Beer Growlers, made from ceramic glass and with a twist-cap, also made their debut. This means more, better beer!
New Beer flavours
Taiwan Beer and its fruit beer may not be new but newer flavours such as Pineapple and Mango were brought in. Beerfest was the platform to launch its new Grape Fruit Beer and Orange Fruit Beer.
Oldest Surviving Brewery
It was a lovely surprise to see Weihanstephan beer from Germany. Weihenstephan is the oldest surviving brewery in the world. Its roots can be traced all the way to the mid-8th Century, from the time records indicate that the Benedictine monastery there had been brewing.
Some of the Weihanstephan brews imported by Dre@mfields Pte Ltd included the Original Bayrisch Mild, Hefe Weissbier, Vitus, Korbininian and champagne-like Infinium.
Dre@mfields also brought in other brands including Schneider Weisse, Weltenburger Kloster and Nogne.
Flavoured Ciders
Gaymer Cider had a few interesting flavours of ciders. From the crowd at the booth, you could tell that the Tropical, Pear and Cherry & Apple ciders were very popular.
First Whiskey Lounge
For the first time, there was a Whiskey and Wine Lounge at Beerfest. The whiskies took precedence, with Suntory’s 17-year-old specially-aged Hibiki among the best.
Jim Beam’s Red Stag range of also stood out with flavours such as Black Cherry, Honey Tea and Spiced. The Jim Beam Honey, infused with real honey and liqueur, is a very sweet, mellow blend that goes down easily.
It also has notes of caramel, oak and vanilla.
The recently-launched whiskies from Morrison Bowmore Distillers were also featured, including Auchentoshan and Bowmore. Apart from these, the never-before tasted Glenrothes Vintage 2001 was brought in for the first time.
Interesting craft brews
Other interesting brews included a US craft beer with bacon flavour, and an Australian one with chilli.
The diversity and interesting range of flavours could be explained by the large majority of craft beers at Beerfest. This means, they were small-batch brewed in limited numbers.
The large number of new beers to Singapore was a pleasant surprise, and there are no signs of weariness toward this regional beer festival.
We are already looking forward to the next edition.
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