Stocked up your fridges and shelves with cases of cheap beer and liquor for visitors this Chinese New Year and now they’re all gone? That’s great, because that just means there is room to fill up your stores again, but with proper booze this time. Here are some solid suggestions.
Hundred Years Milk Stout
Locally owned and founded Pink Blossoms Brewing had been selling their freshly brewed kegs at craft beer bars here and at their own tasting room since late 2018, and now, they’ve launched cans of their two signatures: the Lean On Me New England Pale Ale and the (our favourite) Hundred Years Milk Stout. They’ve chosen to can instead of bottle, as contrary to popular belief, canning is the superior method to contain and transport beer – it keeps sunlight at bay, stays for fresher longer and doesn’t require a opener to get to the delicious brew. Available at Pink Blossoms Brewing.
Limeburners Peated Sherry Director’s Cut Single Malt
Bottled directly from the barrel and exclusively for Singapore, this limited release from the celebrated Western Australian Limeburners distillery is a real treat to have. First smoked with peat sourced from the Valley of the Giants, then aged in an ex-bourbon American oak cask, followed by further maturation in an Australian ex-sherry cask, expect each sip to begin with dried fruits aromas giving way to a sherry dryness on the tongue before ending in a rounded peatiness. Available $394 at Spirit and Penance.
Lion Straits Pale Ale
The first release from newly founded Lion Brewery Co, this citrusy and sessionable beer is made with the local climate in mind. Hop-forward, aromatic and crisp, the founders term their inaugural brew a balanced West Coast-style American Pale Ale that is easy for knocking back bottle after bottle. Available $5.50 at Thirsty Beer Shop.
Rye & Pint Moonlightin Porter
Longtime local craft beer brewers Ross Goh of Rye & Pint Brewery and Clive Tan of Archipelago Brewery met up outside usual brewing hours and brewed some more, resulting in a pair of moonlighting brews from the minds of these two geniuses. Of the two (the other being a Black IPA), try the higher ABV porter, an easy drinking, sweet and malty beer with smoky gula melaka notes. Available $8.70 at Temple Cellars.
The Macallan Concept Number 1
After first launching in Dubai, this new travel retail exclusive from Macallan now makes its Asia Pacific debut at Changi Airport at all DFS stores. The teal packaging and artistic design may first lead you to believe that it’s all looks, but in the bottle lies a liquid with bold assertions. With no age statement and matured first in sherry-seasoned oak casks then for an equal amount of time in ex-bourbon casks, the distillers have chosen to defy conventional whisky making methods to produce this first of what is undoubtedly a new range. Could this bottling rise to the levels of renown enjoyed by The Macallan Edition No. 1? Only time will tell. Available $170 at DFS.
