Where to Find Cheap and Good Beer in Singapore

Beer in Singapore is expensive, that is a fact. It is probably the most expensive place for beer. Even in supermarkets of Singapore, the relatively cheap but decent enough ones, such as Tiger Beer, is about S$5.20 to S$5.60 per big bottle (633ml), which is US$4.2 to US$4.5. In normal bars, one pint of beer easily costs S$15 to $20. This price I mentioned here has not included the 7% GST (Goods and Services Tax) and 10% service charge. And in some high class bars and restaurants, it is not surprising that one pint of beer can cost $30 or more.

But men love beer. This is also a fact. It makes men happy. If you are happy, you go for beer. Naturally. If you are sad, you go for beer. Also naturally. In fact if you stay in Singapore long enough, like more than 2 or 3 days, you will somehow get used to such price, and realize it is more practical to sit down and enjoy the chilled beer in summer, instead of wasting time complaining about it pointlessly.

If you are still grumpy about getting overcharged for beer, well, why not read on further, see whether you can find something useful to you.

Budget

If you are on tight budget, and can accept drinking at your own house or sitting on your own mat along the beach or in the public parks, following are my recommendations.

1) Duty Free Shops. When you arrive Singapore, buy duty free beer in Changi Airport or Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Beer usually cost about 20-30% cheaper than supermarkets. But there is a limit of 1 litre, so with that quota i.e. three 330mil bottles or two 500mil cans, it won't last too long.

2) Supermarkets. Price of beer in Supermarket is relatively fair. In most supermarkets such as NTUC FairPrice and Giant (Shop N Save now is part of Giant), you can get normal brand like Tiger, Carlsberg and Heineken, pricing ranging from S$5.20 to S$6.80 per big bottle. If you have a special craving for higher end beer such as Erdinger (around S$7 for 500ml), Hoegarden (S$4 to S$5 for 330mil), or Kronenbourg 1664 (S$4 to S$5 for 330ml), then you need to go to Coldstorage or Market Place. And if you would like to try some basic, down to earth, no frill beer, you can get those from Sheng Siong, like Zhujiang (珠江啤酒) or Weihaiwei (威海卫啤酒), at $3 per big bottle.

3) Special neighbourhood shops or special alcohol retail shops. I would recommend Ang Mo Supermarket as it offers the cheapest retail Hoegarden in Singapore. S$2.65 per 330ml bottle. Yep it is even cheaper than duty free shop. Ang Mo has many branches. I personally have bought from the branch at Blk 407 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10, and another one at Blk 639 Punggol Drive. Other than beer, Ang Mo in fact offers other cheap life necessities too such as toiletries and groceries. Cellarbration is a beer shop which frequently offers promotional prices for beer. You need to buy in bulk though. 24 cans of Heineken costs as low as $56 and 24 Hoegardens for $65. 

Mid Range

Yeah if you choose mid range, you get a more decent place to sit, and probably you get served.

1) Hawker Centres. Here beer costs about $0.50 to S$1.50 more expensive than supermarkets, but you get proper table and seat. In certain hawker centres premier beers such as Erdinger and Hoegarden are available too. Sometimes beer ladies offer to pour beer for you. This service is free, and even if you order beer from the beer ladies they won't charge you a cent more than the retail price from the drink stalls. Their commission is included in the retail price of the beer. If this is the first time you are in Singapore and you would like to talk to local people, it is not difficult to find retirees at your nearby table, and most of them are 24 by 7 for you. Lucky for you, there are as many as about a hundred of hawker centres in Singapore.

2) Coffee shops and Kopitiam. Tables and seats here are cleaner, and lights are brighter than Hawker Centres. However beer normally costs S$0.20 to S$0.80 more than Hawker Centres. If you are lucky, some coffee shops and Kopitiam are equipped with air-con. Coffee shops and Kopitiam, like hawker centres, are available almost everywhere in Singapore.

Luxury

The topic is about cheap and good beer. So even in this section I can guarantee you real cheap beers, with good ambience. Yep by Luxury I mean decent bars. I also mean draft beer fresh from tap, but not cans or bottles.

1) Holland Village. Along this whole strech of a dozen of decent bars, beer normally is not as cheap as hawker centres or coffee shops. However, there is this good thing called "Happy Hour". Most happy hours are before 9pm daily. Some bars offer buy two get one free, some bars offer a fixed price such as $40 for a bucket of five 330ml bottles. I would recommend Baden Restaurant and Pub, which is opposite to the noisy Wala Wala. For happy hour, you can get 2 Erdinger or Guiness Draught for S$16. They don't charge GST, so there is only 10% of service charge. That calculates to S$8.80 for a solid pint of cloudy Erdinger or smoothy classy Guiness. If you can find anything better than this with similar ambiance, man, let us be friends.

2) Clarke Quay. Yep most bars and restaurants here are expensive. Except for one - but must be during Happy Hour. That magic place is none other than Brewerkz. It brews its own beer, and a lot of kinds. From noon to 3pm, one pint costs S$6 only. You can drink that while sitting along the Singapore River and watching to-and-fro boats, in the sunny afternoon. Nothing beats this. From 3pm onwards the same beer gets pricier, to S$9 until 6pm, and to S$12 until 9pm, and tops at SS$15 between 9 and 11pm.

3) APB (Asia Pacific Brewery Pte Ltd) Brewery tour. Yeah this is where Tiger is brewed. Heineken and Carlsberg are brewed here too. The tour is a normal tour, same beer tanks, same brewery processes as other countries'. But the finale treat is fantastic, considering it is Singapore. In 45 minutes to 1 hour's time, you have full access to all kinds of beer in this Brewery, including Tiger, Carlsberg, Heineken, ABC stout, Anchor, Baron and Archipelago beers. All these costs S$16 only. The only drawback is the location of APB. It is at Tuas, the west most part of the Singapore island. So if you have enough time and don't mind taking one hour of bus (taxi will defeat the purpose of enjoying the "cheap and good" Luxury), this should be your top choice.