This is a somewhat leaning towards idealistic piece about craft scenario in Asia from a Geek's "by-stander" point of view.
Here in Asia--people who are genuinely enthusiastic about investing time/ money/energy to either become a 100% craft-importer, run a full fledged craft beer bar/bottle shop are quite a rare breed--simply because there are other businesses that would likely bring faster return of investment- require lesser efforts in educating consumers or staff about the whole spectrum of what craft beer/mead is all about....
在亚洲，有心投入时间金钱精力经营CRAFT的人不太多。
跟做大厂啤酒生意相比，经营CRAFT有时候就好比是没事找事，自讨苦吃。
为什么这样说？很简单，因为绝大多数消费者都知道大厂啤酒就是冷饮快喝的简单酒精饮料，可是绝大多数人都不知道CRAFT的不同类别风味，这意味着经营CRAFT需要投入时间精力传递如何选择/享受不同风味啤酒知识讯息，或者说教育消费者，听起来就头疼。
在亚洲，最普遍现象是，无论是欧美澳纽入口啤酒又或是有本土酿坊的城市，这三大类会是市场最通销啤酒，其一浅白易喝适合新人口味的pilsner或pale ale ，其二是不少人以为就是代表craft beer全貌的IPA，其三稍微“重口味”的stouts/porter。
这是正常现象，打开门做生意，面对的现实问题不少，业者投入金钱时间精力当然希望生意有回报，确保生意有赚头当然很重要，尽量卖多一些比较畅销货色有什么问题？
The fact is--craft beer/mead business is NOT for anyone/everyone- there's a certain level of enthusiasm/passion/beliefs needed for someone to want to dive into that black hole of running a craft business--and that's perfectly fine--we don't need just anyone or everyone to come running into craft businesses though end of the day--just like any other businesses--passion/beliefs alone won't be enough to make business sustainable--all businesses need MONEY to compliment any noble intentions or enthusiasm--and that's when things might get a little complicated here on....
以吉隆坡来说，Craft在本地已发展接近6年左右，当时本地第一家自己进口啤酒的专卖吧从开业第一年因为生意麻麻差点结业到现在已发展分店到分销啤酒到吉隆坡以外一些餐厅酒吧来说，这条路走得不容易。
只是，对少数狂热啤迷来说，吉隆坡的“外号”是沙漠，这是个半认真半开玩笑的说法，亚洲城市来说，吉隆坡虽然只有三几个比较认真的业者，craft专卖吧瓶子店加起来也只有四家左右，以本地不同业者引进的品牌类别来说，不至于是沙漠状态，对初尝者或刚开始接触craft新人来说，选择算不错的。
那为什么要说吉隆坡是沙漠？对少数狂热啤迷来说，“沙漠化”导因是，市场来来去去能喝到的就绝大多时候都是三大类，很多时候还要是相同类别中比较平庸选择，这里没有很多不同类别风格选择，更谈不上大力推动CRAFT品饮文化。
Go to any cities in ASIA--and there's no surprises at all to find the 3 most commonly available beer styles would be:-
PALE ALE IPA STOUTS/PORTER
these 3 would probably be the best selling craft apart from the more commonly available Germans wit or Belgium ales.....
In a market inundated by MACRO offerings for decades--it's certainly not easy at all to run a craft business when majority who spend money on BEER still don't know there's a choice called craft beer, hence the question of :-
TRY TO LEAD
*do one set out to try and change the market drinking choices by introducing beer(or even mead) line up just as how the importer/owner( of bar/bottle shop) like/ wanted?
OR
GO WITH THE FLOW
*play it safe--play it slow--go easy on the "difficulty level" of beer/mead line up--bring in those that would suits majority drinkers taste profile--build up the market share and be contented with the fact that it's sustainable craft
It's obviously NOT an easy choice--when one is putting in considerable amount of money/time/energy trying to build a craft business in a "minority" market, in any business analysis/forecast plan--the answer is obvious--a business need to first survive--make profits--be sustainable---then only one can talk about "idealistic ideas" of wanting to have awesome varieties of beer styles to "uplift" the taste profile / palate/appreciation level of drinkers. This is the cold hard truth of business and it shows in quite a many craft places over different cities across ASIA.
这是在说吉隆坡是个很差劲的喝CRAFT城市吗？也不是的，实际上这样说对本地业者也不是很公平，政府多年来的超重税政策，加上近年节节败退的可怜马币让原本已经不利的经营环境雪上加霜，不过，要是放在很高水平要求基础上和亚洲一些不同城市，特别是也面对不利税务政策影响的曼谷做比较的话，吉隆坡还是做得不够好。
其实不只吉隆坡，对亚洲不同城市业者来说，如何选择也是个习题，是顺应市场绝大多数喝惯大厂啤酒消费者口味而只卖通销三大类? 还是说要本着引领市场口味而我行我素？当生意牵涉到金钱时间精力时，这个决定当然不是纸上谈兵那么简单。对啤迷来说，问题也凸显在这点，业者觉得市场不够成熟，新人朋友接受度不够，所以采取比较稳妥做法，尽量顺应市场口味。换个角度看，啤迷觉得如果业者不尝试引领市场口味选择，意味着新人们只能跟着业者脚步走，市场有什么就喝什么，碰上也是狂热啤迷的业者那还好，至少会有一些比较不同类别佳酿出现，如果遇到的只是稳妥做生意业者，那新人朋友大概只能三四年喝来喝去就那几支，或只能自己摸索前进了。
Is "going easy" on beer choices/line up a bad thing? From craft introduction point of view, the answer is NO--"easier beer choices" is actually good for craft to set foot in a minority market--it's good for newbies and it's good for business owners in terms of sustainability.
However--if we were to put the requirements higher--and purely from a GEEK'S point of view(i know--i hear you says why don't go open up your own)--then being safe and being contented with the same easy choices beer line up would equals to STAGNATION.
Yes--it's not easy at all to get brewers to want to sent their brew over to ASIA--especially those who gone big time hyped/ in demand---and it's a really time consuming/energy sapping/risk taking business to import/run a bar/bottle shop---but if we were to look at the very basics of market supply --in theory it would be craft importers/bar/bottle shop owners who would be the source of supply--meaning THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO CAN DECIDE WHAT TO SUPPLY HENCE LEAD THE MARKET-LEAD THE DRINKERS, because unless a drinker is buying on his own from overseas--drinkers can only buy from what's available locally, and if the operators don't lead--then who?
从推广craft文化出发点来说，业者当然是引领并推动市场的力量，无论是作为入口商或经营专卖吧瓶子店或者说本土酿坊，市场供应本来就是由业者提供，消费者只能跟着业者脚步走，理论上业者当然是引领推动者，很欣慰的是亚洲的确已有些业者是这样做着。
当然，当绝大多数消费者对啤酒观念还停留在大厂无趣啤酒时，要引领改变不容易，是的，站在场边指指点点很容易，穿上球鞋下场比赛去就不是那么一回事，只是，作为狂热啤迷，有时候还是忍不住唠叨一下希望亚洲CRAFT可以变得更美更好。
During a private bottle share recently here in KL, where we had some beers sourced thru own efforts, a friend who is more of a casual craft beer drinker said " if no one bring in these beers, then i will never know what is the different between awesome brew and a average brew--or say what's a NE style IPA..."
In ASIA--it's not realistic to wish or to compare with what our beer/mead friends who resides in US or EUROPE can get--the reality is such that when people in US can proudly says he or she don't drink IPA that's more than a week's old--we in ASIA can only dream of drinking that same IPA say maybe less than a month's old if one really seek for it on his/her own as it's very RARE(and don't really makes financial sense?) for ASIA importers to want to fly in fresh IPAs from US/EUROPE.
It's obvious ASIA cannot take US or EUROPE offerings /availability as yardstick--that's just too far fetch and not realistic--However, from a geek's point of view--trying to lead the market by introducing more varieties/ better brew would go a long way in elevating the taste profile/palate/appreciation level of drinkers here though it could be a case of 'easier said than done" in reality--the point is --if operators stays contented with the same old same old average/ mediocre line up or been going with the flow ( i.e. follow what easy beer drinkers wanted) for too long--perhaps it's time to see if a little varieties here and there would bring some surprises to the breaking of stagnation of both operators and drinkers palate? after all -is it not because of wanting to make a different that a craft business was chosen in the very beginning?
