Craft Brewery Spotlight: Brewlander & Co.

Region: Singapore

Note: Our Spotlight articles break down how each producer's unique process results in the distinctive flavour profiles of their drinks and spirits. Click here to learn all about the basics of craft beers and why they are a big deal.

While other breweries prefer to work with fewer yeast strains for each batch of beer, Brewlander works with 6 to 7 different strains.

 (Image Source: Brewlander)

It’s one thing to talk about following your passions, but it’s something else to leave your safe white-collar day job to pursue it. Now, what about raising $150,000 to turn your passion into a career? Would you ever consider doing something like that?

The Brewlander Story

Brewlander is considered by many as one of the most promising craft beer breweries in Southeast Asia – a place which remains a growing market for craft beers. The name “Brewlander” began its life as the online username of John Wei in obscure craft beer enthusiast forums and his personal blog. Around 15 years ago, John began brewing craft beer right out of his HDB apartment in Singapore and documenting his experimentations online as the “Brewlander”. After several years of trail-and-error, John achieved such a stunning level of mastery that his HDB-brewed craft beer would constantly sweep up awards at local craft beer competitions. That was when John knew he was on to something.

One thing led to another for John who decided to leave his day job. He did not wish to become employed as a professional brewer because the pay was not attractive and there was no creative outlet. Starting an actual brewery in expensive Singapore was also an incredibly heavy investment. Then John encountered a brilliant idea: he could rent brewing facilities from a craft beer brewery in a cheaper location, produce craft beer at a sensible scale, take advantage of the cost advantage and ship the beer back into Singapore.

The idea wasn’t unheard of amongst craft beer communities abroad: this model is known as “gypsy brewing” or “contract brewing”. However, John was proposing Singapore’s first gypsy brewery. Together with a few friends, John incorporated Brewlander & Co., pulled together S$150,000 and began personally brewing their first batches of beer at Kingdom Breweries in Cambodia. Every other month, John would fly to Phnom Penh to oversee the brewing of each batch from start to end over the course of several weeks.

Brewlander’s beers splashed on to the scene in 2017 with aspirational names such as Love (Wild IPA), Hope (Summer Ale), Pride (Saison Bier) and Courage (Double IPA). While many drinkers are familiar with the various styles of craft beers today, Brewlander was taking a gamble by debuting with beer styles that were unfamiliar to the market at the time.

In an interview with Salt Magazine, John reflected on his dilemma after his well-meaning industry friends advised him to stick to safer styles of beer when the public was not familiar with styles like “Saison Bier” (a highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, Belgian farmhouse ale) or “Wild IPA” (an IPA brewed with yeast strains naturally found in the environment, as opposed to standard brewer’s yeast. Still John boldly trudged on and his debut beers received a glowing response from the local beer community.

Within circles, John earned an intriguing nickname, “Yeast Whisperer”, a title which he has become quite fond of. Years of obsessing over brewing has turned him into something of an yeast expert. Yeasts fermentation is a complicated process with many moving parts. Still, John has a deep understanding of yeast’s role in brewing beers, and is able to work with yeast in a way that achieves specific flavours in a consistent way. While other breweries prefer to work with fewer yeast strains for each batch of beer, Brewlander works with 6 to 7 different strains. John has compared this with having to deal with six different children each with different temperaments, and having to work with them to get a desired result. More on these yeast-inspired releases later!

Eventually, after winning the effusive praises of critics and consumers, John and his team’s conviction grew. The frequent flights to Cambodia were wearing John out, while Brewlander’s business has grown to a point where it could no longer depend on a contracted brewery. John could also keep a closer eye on production quality in Singapore.

In 2020, during a period of pandemic lockdowns, Brewlander took an ambitious leap of faith and built what is probably Southeast Asia’s most advanced brewing facility in the West of Singapore. The beer brewing facility has a high level of automation (such as to reduce manual labour associated with moving sacks of barley). The brewery could also brew much higher ABV beers (up to 10%) with relative ease. The equipment also allows John’s team to steep hops at any chosen temperature, allowing delicate hop aromas to be extracted without too much hop bitterness. Finally, while typical beers are filtered to clarify them, Brewlander does not filter its beers. Instead a centrifuge is used to clarify the beer without stripping away flavour.

All these fancy, expensive equipment allow Brewlander to develop a larger range of beers, such as a high ABV “triple IPA” – Triple Threat TIPA – a tricky style to brew due to the need to balance maltiness, hops and alcohol character with drinkability.

Owning a brewery comes with other special privileges. After facing challenges as a gypsy brewer for a couple of years, John felt that they could give back to the fledging local craft brewing community in more ways than one. Therefore, the team also started The Craft Alliance project which offers contract brewing services and mentorship to smaller craft beer brewers.

Singapore has a vibrant cocktail bar scene. Yet on the craft beer front, Brewlander understands that there is still much work to be done. The Brewlander team often conducts educational brewery tours (sign up on their website here) to contribute to the craft beer movement.

Notable Releases from Brewlander

John and his team are very passionate craft beer geeks. However, there is no room for snobbery if you wish to grow the community of craft beer lovers. The range of beers offered by Brewlander reflects both a playful sense of experimentation (with traditional and bold beer styles), and a range of approachable and highly drinkable styles that are palatable to casual drinkers.

Their core releases receive very wide appeal from casual drinkers. This would include the highly quaffable Joy Session IPA, delicate Freedom Lager, and full-bodied Respect Porter (something like a stout).

That said, we have to admit that the colourful seasonal releases are what get us really excited. Brewlander’s seasonal releases which run the full gamut from desserty fruited beers and pastry stouts (Mango Fever, Black Forest Cake, Ong Lai Pineapple IPA) to silky hazy IPAs (Scale Ale, Psychedelic) to full-flavoured ales and porters (Courage DIPA, A Little Respect) and wild experimentations with yeast (Pretty Strong Ale, Is This Love). 

We love Brewlander for its purity and sincerity in its pursuit of making great beers. Despite having achieved significant scale and recognition as a brewery, the brewer retains much of John Wei’s humility and sense of exploration as a homebrewer just looking to have fun with malt and hops. Great quality with no frills and no snobbery. If there is anyone best-placed to bring people together and inspire a Southeast Asian craft beer movement, we’re sure it would be a team like Brewlander.

@CharsiuCharlie