Play

The play part of the trip was brief. One night a month an APB employee volunteers to organize a tour of different bars and restaurants that sell Tiger Beer. The brewery rents a passenger van (small bus like vehicle) and a driver, and pays for all the beer that we buy. That is so long as we all fill out report forms for each establishment. The report forms consist of what APB beers were on draft (or in the bottle), what the service was like, the condition and temperature of the beers and when the beers were packaged (yes, someone has to check the kegs dates). I am sure that some of you have already surmised that the reports from the early part of the evening look much better than the reports from the latter part of the evening. The only thing that the brewery does not pay for is the food. Everyone that wants to eat throws in $10.00 and we head to a "food court" of which there are many in Singapore. Food courts are open air areas that have stalls that serve all kinds of different foods - Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, - and thankfully, they sell beer too. We split up into groups and head to different corners of the food court in search of something delicious to eat. Each plate of food cost about $3.00 to 6.00 Sing. dollars and $110.00 buys a lot of food. We rendezvous back at a table and eat family style (all sharing each others dishes). I tried to get a picture that captured the whole of the table, but I just could not do it, there was just too much food. And good - wow - the food was great. Top of my favorites list was the Sting Ray in hot chili sauce (middle right), and the Hor Fun noodles (upper right). Good food, great company and nice cold beer - we had a really fun evening. One thing is obvious, I am gonna have to ride my bike a lot while I am there, otherwise when I return I'll be as big as a house.

Yes, I know - I should update the blog more often .... but I am busy with ... ahh. well...
Things....

I was in Singapore for the first two weeks of July to help designe the brewery and the equipment. Lots of work and a little bit of play (more on the play later). The picture above is of the area where the brewery will soon be. The facility will take up all the grass area and the motor bike parking (yeah, the bikers are loosing their prime parking real estate - I know, it's a clear case of biker discrimination - sorry). The spiral staircase will have to go too. Where the motor bikes are now will be the entry area and the tasting room will be above that. About 2/3 of the grassy area will be dedicated to the brewery. I am not exactly sure what the exterior will look like. The building design has changed several times and it has been about 3 weeks since I left Singapore so there may be a whole new concept by now. The aim is to have it look rustic and local - like it is 75 or so years old. Not at all like the current brewery of Blue and yellow. It now looks like I will be making the permanent move to Singapore sometime in September.