I was just randomly walking down the street when I noticed this place (79 Circular Road) all nicely done up in wood decor and with twin fermenting tanks. I asked myself, "Whoa...is this a new microbrewery in Singapore?" I stopped in to check it out.According to the coasters in this place, Archipelago was established in 1931 and was the first commercial brewery in Singapore before being sold off. But this place had only been open for three weeks, so I'm assuming that they revived the name more for marketing purposes than actually carrying over any of the beer. (A search online shows that this is actually run by APB, the behemoth behind Tiger Beer...kinda like Anheuser-Busch creating a "microbrew." They also apparently tried to use some Asian spices in the beer, such as lemongrass and tamarind.)
They had three beers on tap: the Trader's Ale, Straits Pale, and Traveller's Wheat. The first one turned out to be rather hoppy, which is a personal dislike of mine, so I moved on to the Straits Pale, which was fortunately maltier and smooth. (I don't like wheat beers, so I didn't even bother with the third.) Even though I liked the Straits Pale the best, I didn't like it so much that I would rush to come back here. The taste still seemed to stop short of what I'd prefer to have. That being the case, I'd much rather head over to Brewerkz instead (and no, they didn't appear to be serving food here).
1 comment:
Hello, Dano here, I am doing some work in my hotel room while in Singapore enjoying an ABC Extra Stout "Ginseng" and was wondering if I could buy these in the US??? I did the web search and found this blog and had to respond. Being a real beer drinker, having brewed a bit myself, and having the luck of a job which lets me experience many beers around the world, I find this a really interesting beer. Nice and chewy with a very interesting bitter from the Ginseng. I had dinner a few nights ago at Brewerks and had a couple of IPA's which were good but nothing special. Last night I bought an ABC Extra Stout and Extra Stout Ginseng and find them both very tasty and the Ginseng unique. Interestingly, I was walking yesterday from my hotel near Boat Quay needed a beer and stopped in at the Hard Rock Cafe - my bar tender recommended I try Archipelago Brewery. He wrote the name down for me, I did not remember what the name was but planned on a bite to eat and beer yet this afternoon and while writing this looked at the note... and surprise... ABC on Circular Road, behind boat Quay. He also recommended the Pump Room at Clarke Quay.
Bad news is, I did not find ABC in my search. I guess I will have to bring a few home and maybe share with my wife.
Have fun, Dano
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