Beer, beats, and beach days: Beerfest Asia makes its Sentosa debut with creative brews paired with fun, food, and music

Beerfest Asia (BFA) brought together beer aficionados and music lovers for a tipple-happy time at BFA @ The Beach, which made its beach debut at Palawan Green on Sentosa from September 11 to 13. 

The tropical lifestyle festival featured a buzzing line-up of local and international craft breweries, food and a pulsating entertainment roster spanning live bands, DJs and nostalgic anthems — giving beer and craft beverage drinkers a new reason to spend the day by the beach.

The move marks a new chapter for Beerfest Asia, launched in 2009 and repositioned around community, discovery and lifestyle. Beer, however, remains a cornerstone of the festival, with over 180 beers from Singapore, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Estonia, France, Scandinavia, and more. Hopheads chugged beers from breweries such as Vietnam’s Heart of Darkness, Germany’s Erdinger Brauhaus, and Taiwan Beer.

The US-based Brewers Association, which represents over 9,500 craft breweries in the US,  also made its Beerfest Asia debut, bringing beers from more than eight independent American craft breweries.

Paul Lee, festival director of BFA @ The Beach, says, “We want to bring people together, give Singapore’s brewers a stronger platform and create a place where different communities, cultures, and flavours can meet. Someone might come for the music and discover a Singapore beer; someone else might come for the beer and discover a new food, sound or community. Beer is the core of BFA, but it also connects people. We can push the boundaries to discover more.”

Putting Singapore beer in the spotlight

Festival-goers also had a field day checking out creative and newfangled beers from local craft breweries. The 1925 Brewing Co. presented refreshingly fruity brews like yuzu and lychee lager and the Good Boy Rocky West Coast pilsner, while People People showcased the Pacific Ale, which was brewed exclusively for BFA @ The Beach.

About 5,000 limited-edition collaboration cans of the refreshing and tropical ale with citrus and fruity notes were made available.

Sunbird Brewing Company takes inspiration from nostalgic local desserts for some of its brews. The Kueh Salat is a crisp rice lager with aromas of pandan and coconut, complemented by floral notes of butterfly pea, and the rich Pulut Hitam Imperial Stout has notes of roasted rice and coconut.

Other homegrown breweries at the festival include Rye & Pint, RedDot BrewHouse, and Rainforest Brewery. 

In recent years, Singapore’s craft beer industry has been grappling with questions about its identity and survivability in a competitive business landscape: How can independent breweries scale in a small, high-cost market, and how do brewing businesses survive beyond their founders?

These questions were addressed at Brewed Here, a three-part podcast series by The Peak Singapore and HardwareZone, the official media partners of Beerfest Asia. The series explores Singapore craft beer through the lens of identity, economics, and legacy.

The interviews with three homegrown craft breweries cover entrepreneurship, growing family-run enterprises, the challenges of running independent breweries in Singapore, and what lies ahead. 

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Brewed Here Episode 1: EK Yeo of The 1925 Brewing Co and Crystalla Huang of RedDot Brewhouse

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Brewed Here Episode 2: Clive Tan of Sunbird Brewing Company

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Brewed Here Episode 3: Luther Goh, managing director of Rye & Pint Brewery

Besides beers, BFA @ The Beach also showcased ciders and speciality beverages such as Arveau, a bittersweet aperitif made with calamansi, torch ginger flower, and hints of ginseng from local craft distillery Distillus, as well as low- or no-alcohol drinks.

Visitors also enjoyed a tantalising line-up of food from stalls and food trucks spanning cuisines such as Italian, Middle Eastern, and more. Well-loved gastropub Lad & Dad served its signature Fish & Chips; Two Men Bagel House featured a creative line-up of its house-made bagels; and American barbecue-inspired Blue Smoke served slow-smoked meats with sides and punchy sauces.

A vibrant entertainment line-up

Music was central to BFA @ The Beach. The Mixtape Memories programme was a vibrant celebration of songs and music moments spanning generations, from the 1980s to the noughties.

Over the weekend, more than 22 acts, including live bands, international DJs, and emerging artists, took to the stage to serenade the audience as they dug into their food and beer. 

Singapore bands such as Syltra Trio, Ruby Rocks and Rock Rosettes shared the stage with contemporary music acts from the Philippines and DJs from Korea, while EMONIGHTSG brought its exhilarating emo, pop-punk, alt-rock, and nu-metal tribute party to the festival on Saturday night.

Bringing The Peak Singapore community together

The conversation continued at Sunset Social, where Creative Eateries showcased 12 canapés paired with beers from three Singapore breweries in a lounge area. Inspired by the tropical setting, the experience explored the interplay of freshness, fruitiness, spice, and acidity through the food-and-beer pairings. 

The Peak Singapore also hosted a special get-together at the festival on Friday (September 11) for its community at Sunset Social. Business leaders networked and mingled over beer and food in a relaxed setting.

For Beerfest Asia, the beachside setting offered a fitting backdrop for its return: less a festival confined to beer and more a day built around what happens when drinks, food, music, and people have a reason to come together in a thrilling way.