Should you prefer to drink beer, you’ll most likely be complaining concerning the apparent decisions accessible to you in Singapore.
From Tiger Beer to Corona to Heineken, mass-produced beers are sometimes monotone in flavour and never very palatable. You may be ingesting these beers simply to get the kick from the alcohol, and never since you truly admire the style and the flavour.
Will Julius, an American-Indonesian entrepreneur, noticed a spot within the Singapore market and determined to start out Lion Brewery Co, a craft beer firm.
Having lived in London, Germany, and Australia, Julius had been spoiled with the variability, decisions and abundance of craft beer choices there.
When he was a scholar in London, he lived 20 metres away from a neighborhood bar that served home-brewed scrumptious ales, which made him fall in love with the idea of craft beer. The cherry on high was that it supplied reductions to college students.
He later launched into a quick profession as a soccer participant in Germany, after which moved to Melbourne to work in advertising for 4 years. When he moved to Singapore, he met his co-founder Harry Renshaw, who’s an avid house brewer.
They then determined they wished to supply and promote beers that they want to drink themselves.
Brewing For Singapore’s Tropical Local weather
Craft beers style higher as a result of they’re made with particular, hand-selected elements, and it’s only produced in smaller batches by grasp brewers who really love beer.
They’re brewed with particular flavours in thoughts, so you’ll virtually by no means discover two craft beers which might be precisely alike. Craft beers additionally usually fluctuate by the season, based mostly on the provision of elements at a specific time of the 12 months.
When Julius first moved to Singapore, he observed that not solely is there a scarcity of craft beer choices in Singapore, those accessible listed here are fairly dense and never straightforward to eat for non-heavy drinkers.
They are typically of India Pale Ale (IPA) selection, which is a hoppy beer type throughout the broader class of pale ale widespread in England since 1815 and grew in recognition worldwide. IPA beers in Singapore are often very hoppy, and with greater than six per cent alcohol content material.
In keeping with Julius, his workforce has perfected a recipe of three flagship craft beers and eight seasonal brews which might be excellent to serve at a tropical room temperature. They arrive in decrease alcohol content material of round 5 per cent or much less, identical to the number of industrial beers.
On the one hand, Lion Brewery’s beers are crisp, refreshing, and straightforward to drink like industrial beers, however then again, they’re additionally flavourful with a variety of character as a result of using premium and pure elements.
They’ve their very own impartial, manufacturing facility in Singapore that isn’t connected to any macro brewery. An in-house grasp brewer from Singapore chosen distinctive elements to brew distinctive beer flavours that turned their flagship merchandise.
The Straits Pale Ale is a crisp pale ale, single-hopped with Citra at each the bittering and dry-hop phases for notes of lychee and citrus fruits, whereas the Island Lager is a clear, German-inspired lager brewed with Hallertau Blanc hops for a light-weight elderflower and pine aroma.
Lastly, their New England Session IPA is a juicy, unfiltered, all-natural brew with flavours at full blast at a refreshing 4.eight per cent alcohol content material.
Hailing From An Previous London Heritage
Julius purchased an outdated, black-and-white British craft beer label known as Lion Brewery, and introduced it again to life in Singapore, the Lion Metropolis.
It was such a serendipitous discover. I’m a historical past buff, and as a craft beer fan, I learn up concerning the historical past and origin of craft beers and attention-grabbing breweries by way of the ages. Then I got here throughout Lion Brewery and I knew that this needed to be our label.
Will Julius, Founder and CEO of Lion Brewery Co
The historical past of Lion Brewery dated again to 1836 London, the place it was initially based on the financial institution of the River Thames. For over 100 years, the brewery produced high-quality ales that have been shipped throughout the seas to all elements of the globe, together with Southeast Asia.
When the brewery was demolished in 1949, the brewery’s two iconic lion statues have been preserved on the request of King George VI.
They will nonetheless be present in London in the present day — one on the financial institution of the Thames reverse the Homes of Parliament, and the opposite on the entrance of Twickenham Stadium, the house of English rugby.
Since Lion Brewery’s inception in Singapore in December 2018, they’ve been rising and spreading in a short time.
Lion Brewery’s beers can be found on their e-commerce platform, by way of distributors similar to Chilly Storage and FairPrice Best, in addition to in over 150 bars, eating places, lodges and off-trade retail companions throughout Singapore.
Areas that serve them are often premium venues that match the model of their beers, together with 1880, Straits Clan, Foxtail, SG Faucets, Cafe Gavroche, Goodluck Beerhouse, Orh Gao Taproom, Sixteen Ounces, American Taproom, Burn, Boulevard, amongst others.
When Covid-19 hit, they shortly tailored by gearing extra in direction of the B2C (business-to-consumer) route as a substitute of promoting to occasion and venue companions.
Additionally they have growth plans to enter new markets in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and likewise again within the UK.
The Solely Carbon-Negative Draft Beer in Singapore
Lion Brewery at all times seeks out greatest practices to make its merchandise and operations environmentally pleasant, with out compromising on the standard of their beer.
They’ve made a dedication to change into totally carbon destructive. To be able to do that, they’ve partnered with GreenStepGroup to plant a tree in Indonesia for every pint of beer bought of their keg. For this 12 months, they intention to plant 200 bushes a month.
They calculated all of the carbon value required to supply a keg or beer, and the carbon value offset by planting and rising a tree. They discovered that one tree will negate the carbon footprint of the life cycle of 1 keg, therefore it’s secure to say that their draft beer is 100 per cent carbon destructive.
The expansion and progress of every tree may be monitored utilizing Inexperienced Steps Group’s proprietary “proof of planting” know-how platform that mixes geo-tagging, camera-traps and satellite tv for pc multispectral imagery.
A singular QR code hyperlinks to a person tree’s location, date and time of planting, and details about the native farmer. Every tree planted might be geo-tagged below Lion Brewery Co and the partnering F&B venue that purchased the keg.
Lion lovers having fun with their beers at house may contribute to sponsor tree-planting by including simply S$Four to any order positioned on the e-store’s checkout web page.
Julius hopes that this technique will encourage companions to share about their environmental contribution to their very own prospects, thus spreading the development and the great will.
The purpose of launching this firm is to create attention-grabbing beers that mirror our workforce and our prospects’ ardour and values. It isn’t about mass scaling beers on the lowest value attainable to maximise revenue; it’s about creating one thing that others might admire and luxuriate in.
On the coronary heart of our mission is selling a aware and intentional residing. We would like our prospects to decide on our beer deliberately as a result of they admire all of the elements and the considerate course of that goes into creating our product. We additionally need them to know the carbon affect of their consumption and provides them an opportunity to offset that.
Will Julius, Founder and CEO of Lion Brewery Co
Featured Picture Credit score: Lion Brewery Co