RedDot Brewhouse

Boat Quay is stretch of bars along the Singapore River. It is conveniently located next to the CBD of Singapore and absolutely heaves on a Friday night. The proximity to water gives hope of cool breezes, but there is little respite from Singapore’s ever present humidity. As one of my colleagues said, you never really get used to it.

With it being so hot, there’s only one option – drink and drink lots. Boat Quay provides an endless range of pub options. When I was in Singapore 6 years ago I was struck by the homogeneity of the tap lists. It was pretty much Kronenberg, Carlsberg, Heinken and of course Tiger. That’s still the case in plenty of places, but now there are brewhouses and craft beer. Illiards tipped me off to Archipelago beer, which I chased down the previous evening. I also paid a visit to the world’s “Highest Urban Microbrewery”, which is up to its 16th seasonal. Occasional correspondent – KiwibackinNZ – had previously written about it here.

For my last night in Singapore, I opted for the RedDot Brewhouse, which is in the heart of Boat Quay. Again it uses a pricing mechanism based on the time. Best to drink early in Singapore. Amazingly I bumped into another Back of the Ferry inductee on the night who took care of the bill. So whilst there was little fiscal pain this time, there’s never really a cheap drink in Singapore. If you look at the price list in the photo and do the math, the cheapest option is the 1500ml jug, which still works out at $10 a pint. There were a few blokes giving the 3500ml tower a shot. A number of Asian blokes go red when they drink and one of the fellas tackling the tower of Green Monster was shining like a traffic light. Still, he and his mates made short work of their tower.

The RedDot range is broad and interesting. Along with the usual Kolsch, Pilsener, Weizen etc – there are a couple of oddities. The Lime Wheat and the Monster Green Lager are unique twists for this drinker. The Monster Green is a lager that is coloured green by the addition of spirulina (blue green algae apparently). It really looks like GI Lime cordial, but is an inoffensive, smashable lager perfect for Singapore drinking. The Vienna Seasonal, brewed for Oktoberfest was a real corker with a deep, rich malty backbone. Probably beer of the trip. The back story to RedDot is one worth reading. Next time I might find my way to the actual brewhouse, but I certainly look up RedDot again.