I am intrigued into beer making after my visits to the Heineken and Carlberg Experience in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. When I heard that my company was organizing a trip down to the Tiger Beer Brewery Tour, I signed myself up!
How to get to Tiger Beer Brewery Tour
Venue: 459 Jalan Ahmad Ibrahim, Singapore 639934
Directions:
Via Public Transport: Alight at Joo Koon MRT and proceed to the bus interchange to board bus service 182/182M.
It takes approximately 15 min to reach the Tiger Brewery.
Via Car/Taxi : Travel Along AYE and exit at Exit 24
Complimentary parking is available on a first come, first serve basis. (Remember: Don’t Drink & Drive!)
Tiger Beer Brewery Tour Tickets and schedule
Price: SGD$20 for Adults and SGD$12 for child.
Do note that there is a 10% discount if you are going with a group of at least 20 pax. The discount is attractive for company events!
Method of getting the tickets: Visit the official website to purchase the tickets.
Schedule: Every Tuesday to Sunday.
Timeslot: Tour runs hourly from 1pm to 5pm
Tiger Beer Brewery Tour Experience
1. The Visitor Center
We switched our identification card at the ticket counter for a Tiger Beer Lanyard and proceeded to the visitor center for our guided tour.
At the corner of the visitor center, there is a huge cabinet filled with historical timepieces signifying the deep history of Tiger Beer.
When everyone has gathered at the Visitor Center, our guide then played a video about the history of Tiger Beer. The video was interesting and it shared a very important piece of Tiger Beer History. When F&N first decided to brew beer, they did not have the knowledge and skill in brewing a beer and thus sought Heineken’s help. In the cabinet, you can find Heinken and Tiger Beer mugs positioned side by side, indicating the deep ties between them. WOW
2. The beer ingredients
After the commentary on the Tiger Beer history, our guide led us to a corner of the Brewery’s Garden to share about the ingredients in making beer.
We found many similarities in the main ingredients used in both Heineken and Tiger Beer, a testament to the historical links between them. Tiger Beer is made up 2 types of Barley, one of which is the raw barley and the other, the roasted barley. It is the ratio of these 2 variant that gives Tiger Beer its signature taste.
3. Live-making process
We proceeded to take photos around the garden before heading to the live-plant. Do you know that Asian Brewery was actually known as “Malayan Breweries”?
We were led to the brewery building through the access door upstairs. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any photos in the brewery.
The live-plant felt warm and humid when we stepped into it. The guide explained the brewery process and it was interesting to see the huge machinery around us. Interestingly, the Tiger Brewery do not just brew Tiger Beer in its brewery but in fact numerous other brands of beer under the Asia-Pacific Breweries are brewed here too! The Heineken brewed in this plant tastes different from the ones in Europe due to the difference in the raw ingredient (i.e water quality).
4. Live-packaging process
The live-packaging scene stunned us when we entered the building. Huge and precise machinery packaged the individual freshly brewed beer cans into boxes and then into crates. It was like a scene unfolding from a documentary video. The process looked so seamless and mesmerizing that we could literally stare at the packaging line for hours.
5. Heritage Center
The Heritage Center was the last stop of the tour. Inside the center, the guide demonstrated the right technique to pour a glass of Tiger Beer and offered to whoever answers his question correctly.
The different exhibits in the heritage center amazed us. The evolution of Beer Taps can be seen at one corner of the center. It describes the modernization and technology introduced over the years.
6. The Beer Tavern – Free Flow beer
The best part has come! After the tour, we headed to the Beer Tavern for our glass of Tiger Beer. At the tavern, you can order up to 9 different types of beers to sample. Keep the free flow coming! The only catch: the bar closes 45 minutes after the tour ends.
Once 45 minutes is up, we were told that our lanyard could be used to exchange for an extra fresh bottle of beer! This fresh bottle of beer is not found in retail stores and it was brewed on that very day. As Singaporeans/PR, we were given extra cans of Tiger Light and Tiger Dark!
Do remember to grab your free copy of Tiger Beer 80 years History book!
Afterword
The Tiger Beer Brewery Tour is very different from our previous brewery experiences as we were actually visiting the live-brewery instead of a historical building showcasing mock vats (i.e. Heineken Experience). In my opinion, if you have not been to a brewery tour before, the Tiger Beer Brewery Tour would be a great experience and it would be even better if you could get a group of friends to go together.
For families with kids, I would not recommend it as the tour provides little interaction, unlike the Heineken Experience where touch screen panels are all around for the kids to learn and play with.
