Friday, October 16, 2015

WEEK 61--Craft-Running -KL-BKK-SG

It's almost another year passing by, what has changed or emerged during the past 12-18 months in terms of craft beer locally? or say nearby cities of Bangkok,Singapore...
KL
the craft movement started some 6 years ago with 1 Belgium craft beer restaurant--then the first ever 100% craft beer bar came along some 4 years ago, after which 1 bottle shop joined in.
since the last 12-18 months--there's an addition of :-
2 craft beer bar+1 bottle shop--making it the grand total of 3 bars+2 bottle shop....
that's all we have locally for 100% craft dedicated places..
前不久,有亚洲啤迷来吉隆坡,之后社交媒体留言,觉得“吉隆坡CRAFT BEER发展不怎么样,没其他城市精彩”。
本地啤迷看到上述留言,可能会不是滋味,也可能觉得,在马来西亚这样一个对入口酒类产品税务极度不合理的环境下仍有几家专卖吧/瓶子店,很不错了,怎能苛求?
换个角度看,平心而论,在推广撞意啤酒文化方面,吉隆坡的确还有很多功课要做,本地还是缺乏有心投入专卖吧/瓶子店的业者,过去一年,本地只增加1家专卖吧和1家瓶子店。(总数3家专卖吧,2间瓶子店)
关键是,不同啤酒类别,品牌选择方面,跟三四年前相比,虽有新品牌被引进,可是也有之前出现过品牌再没看到,一加一减,实际上市场还是处在被动状态,业者仍在适应,摸索着本地饮客口味选择,着重啤酒花苦韵冲击的IPA(印度淡啤)和口味较平和的PALE ALE无疑是主选。(其他类别啤酒选择有,可都需要质和量的提升)
lack of varieties or selection---due to limited supply--is what KL craft beer scene is facing, this is still very much a market where pale ale, IPA take up most tap or displaying area at the bar/shop.(And we are not talking about comparison with US or Europe)
If we were to compare with Bangkok up north or Singapore down south, the lack of varieties in beer styles is quite obvious.

Is KL a lousy place for craft beer? NOPE--certainly NOT--far from it--but if you are a beer geek who demand varieties and high quality beers--then you would be somewhat critical about the progress--or the seemingly very slow progress( or was it even regress?) so far...

BKK
The craft movement in and around Bangkok been quite interesting--there's new bars opening up in numbers for the past 12-18 months, some 100% dedicated bars, some a mix of craft and macro or craft and coffee place....
虽然泰国政府对入口酒类税务也并不友善,不过,这城市的撞意啤酒文化在蔓延着。
过去一年,新开撞意酒吧不少,引人注目的包括“HAIR OF THE DOG”,13个啤酒泵常有类别分布均衡的佳酿供选择,有以质取胜感觉。另一家开在产业展示厅的“WISHBEER”是由之前只提供网上订购兼送啤酒上门服务的虚拟瓶子店变身而成,另外,之前开业只有8个啤酒泵的CRAFT已大量增加到40个啤酒泵选择,大有以量取胜的企图。(最近也在曼谷另一地点开了20个啤酒泵分店)
谈到曼谷,“米吧”(MIKKELLER BANGKOK)仍然是指标,除了不定时举行占领啤酒泵(TAP TAKEOVER)活动或新品牌品酒会,最新动作是正式把啤酒结合美食,在现有旧式洋房阁楼打造一间小餐厅,由之前在美国芝加哥一家米其林2星餐厅担任副主厨的高手玩美食配啤酒

Among the newly opened bars--some noteworthy ones are bars such as :-
-the 13 taps Hair of the Dog with good selection and varieties of beer styles (yeah--some may wonder about the name---there's no HOTD beers on sale)
-the virtual store turned bar---Wishbeer which is housing it's bar at a property showroom at Ekamai
-the 8 taps turned 40 taps Craft(number game wise this could be the bar with the most taps in BKK for now)
and of course--Bangkok has got Mikkeller Bar which always would have something exciting for geeks and drinkers alike....latest development is a restaurant Upstairs--offering fine dine, tasting session and of course more beers...

在曼谷或更外围的地方,一班泰国啤迷正发起一场渐成规模的自酿运动(跟本地一样,自酿在泰国法律上是被禁的,在新加坡是合法行为)。跟少数本地,新加坡啤迷一样,这些泰国啤迷不满足于只喝别人酿造的进口啤酒,所以自己动手。不一样的是,虽是地下活动,泰国啤迷会在社交媒体发放新酒发布会消息,就像歌手发片那样,当天会有啤迷来捧场,而且泰国自酿啤酒是讲究品牌包装的(不像本地或新加坡自酿只用空瓶子装),先不论酒质素,只论包装,泰国自酿瓶子无疑最抢眼。
If you are into home brew--the movement is getting quite interesting since it is legally NOT PERMITTED but it's moving none-the-less, there's even publicized events for new launches where drinkers, geeks and brewers get together.

SG
Singapore is kinda near to KL(it's about 4-5 hours drive on the highway on a normal traffic day).

以大马观点回看,隔一道长堤,吉隆坡和新加坡之间的撞意啤酒文化发展有好大一段距离,不单是业者数量,有一个现象是,很多吉隆坡喝到的啤酒,其实都是对岸供应商送过来的。
 不同啤迷对新加坡的撞意啤酒文化会有不同解读,实际上,要是曼谷没有“米吧”,以不同啤酒类别选择/供应来说,新加坡毫无悬念是三地之首。不单现有专卖吧/瓶子店多,自酿的话,每年都有供应商和啤迷联手打造自酿大赛,以一个面积比曼谷或吉隆坡都小蛮多的东南亚城市来说,新加坡的确领跑着。
It is a known fact that Singapore is quite a small city in terms of size--but in terms of craft beer supply--selection--importers--distributors--craft beer bar and bottle shop---there's no denying that Singapore is the best city among the 3 cities...and of course HOME BREW is Legally PERMITTED in Singapore--there's home brew equipment shop that you can buy most of what you need there....

如果以跑步来比喻东南亚三个城市的撞意啤酒市场发展,大致情况是,新加坡是领跑者,曼谷逐步发力,吉隆坡还在慢跑中。。。
To put it in perspective, maybe this is how it went for the past 12-18 months--if we could use running as examples:-
Singapore is Pace Setter
Bangkok is gaining pace and getting stronger
KL--is basically slow pacing itself to say the least



1 comment:

  1. Unless you're rushing for tasting, then you can reach Singapore in 2+ hours haha.

    ReplyDelete