I love festivals, so I eagerly marked my calendar when I had heard about this one. But I was a bit bummed upon arrival today as it felt a bit more like an industry trade show rather than a festival for the masses. Local microbreweries like the Pump Room, Brewerkz, and Archipelago were there (and even Harry's, which had launched a self-branded beer), but their venues are so easily accessible here in Singapore that I skipped right past them, along with the booths featuring commonplace global brands.
Thus, the only ones of interest to me were the imported beers, but most of them were in bottles (including Gordon Biersch from back home). The few draft beers that I did try, including both the pilsner and the ale from Australia's Grand Ridge Brewery, fared fine (and I was surprised to find that Pure Blonde low-carb beer from Foster's to be better than I was expecting), but in the end, I just couldn't get too excited about it all.
So I had hoped that perhaps the food vendors on site would help save the day, but there wasn't much to choose from either: it was limited to O'Briens, Kinara, and Brewerkz's own food menu. Fortunately, River Valley's Butcher House was grilling some tasty sausages over a fire outside, but using S$10 (US$7) tickets for one sausage was a bit steep, especially when that sat on top of a hefty S$40 (US$30) admission fee for the event itself. Well, I am encouraged that such a festival popped up here; I just hope that next year's program is a bit more interesting.
7 comments:
Wow, pretty pricey, but comparable in cost to beer tasting events around here (in western NC, USA) I attended a similar event and decided the next time I wanted to blow $45(US), I would just stay home, buy two six packs of my favorite, along with a couple of packs of brats for the grill, invite a few friends, and save myself the traffic and troubles.
nice blog. if you haven't already done so, would you ever consider listing your "top ten" all-time extraordinary meals?
and how about a list of, something along the lines of, say, your all-time favorite sandwich, or soup, or dessert, or snack, or most surprisingly good unusual meal ever?
How's this?
Yo fatboy! Get blogging, i'm suffering withdrawal symptoms!
It can't be you're not hungry.....
Hi BMA, nice blog, makes me ashamed as a returned singaporean who is finding it hard to fit in the life style here..Thanks for sharing the info and somehow your blog touches my heart today..Will be looking through and try to go around some of those food places you blog to get to know singapore all over again..
Have a good weekend..
Regards,
Nicole
p.s I am also a fan of anthony- if you like should try to read his kitchen confidential series of books..its really funny and almost like he is talking to you thru the pages...;o)
beerbeer was there, compare to malaysia which don't have trade show to promote beerfest is quite sad. But there always room for improvement....cheers!!!
Indeed the Singapore Beer Festival was a well organised event. We were one of the exhibitors, offering our 100% pure draught beers from the Grand Ridge Brewery www.grand-ridge.com.au (The booth was operated by The Prince of Wales pub www.pow.com.sg whom import directly Grand Ridge beers in Singapore)
Sadly, the organisers did not re-imburse us the "coupons" we collected from customers. (The public purchased coupons at approximately S$10 each. The exhibitors would receive S$5 redemption per coupon). In summary, We will NOT be participating in the 2009 event.
Regards, Malcolm Davies.
Director Prince of Wales P/L
Post a Comment