When and why did you start collecting beer bottles?
I grew up around my father’s Tiger Beer memorabilia so I was naturally attached to beer and collecting things. Collecting beer bottles actually took off by chance when I realized that a friend had the same dormant interest. That was in 2007. Before, I was only keeping uncommon beers I bought in supermarkets. I think our enthusiasm really rubbed off on each other. It’s like postage stamps and currency notes; collecting beer bottles is my way of learning about other countries.
How many beers were around when you first began collecting?
I never really counted, and it’s hard to say because I bought more than 20 different beers a month, for about eight to nine months. It also coincided with a time when uncommon beers were getting popular, so many new beers were streaming in each month. I’m still quite fascinated by that, and this was before beer festivals and events were widely organized.
When did this beer boom begin?
It probably started about two to three years ago when the number of microbreweries surged. I remember seeing a lot of publicity about it and quite quickly the number of importers and imported beers grew. I think people started to embrace new beer styles and competition increased, even among the already established brands.
With so many beers in the market now, what excites you in the way of new finds?
Limited edition brews, or those from countries not in my collection. However, I get most excited when I find something new from the most unassuming of places, like in a hawker center, a convenience store or a small café outside of town. I still enthusiastically text my friend each time something like that happens. It makes you wonder how the beer got there and who it’s being sold to. It keeps me going.
What’s the greatest length you’ve gone to in securing a bottle of beer?
If you’re asking in terms of distance, it’d have to be Syria. Effort wise, it would be in India in 2009 when I crossed into Nepal unknowingly. Citizens of the two countries don’t need passports to cross each other’s border, so the jeep I was in drove through the checkpoints thinking I was a Nepali. I arrived lost and spent 15 minutes explaining myself to the border guard. He eventually sent me on a rickshaw back to India, but not before escorting me to his friend’s liquor store to buy Nepali beers. I ended up with four bottles, haha!
