Craft Brewery Spotlight: Ren Min

Region: Singapore

Note: Our Spotlight articles cover each producer's unique brand story. Click here to learn all about the basics of craft beers and why they are a big deal.

 

A couple of years ago, I was in the heart of downtown Singapore, navigating through the crowded lines and past the food stalls of the famous Maxwell Food Centre. This is Singapore’s largest and most popular hawker centre – a type of open-concept food court where a large variety of Asian dishes are served at prices from US$2 to US$8. A bizarre stall sign caught my eye. I read the stall name and the large red Chinese characters, scratching my head. Ren Min? Ren Min (人民) as in The People? The same People in The People’s Republic of China? What does this stall have to do with Mao Zedong and gang? It was that day that I realised Ren Min was indeed the name of this craft beer taproom set in the hawker centre, specially to reflect the founder’s admiration of Singapore hawker culture’s communal spirit.

Amongst these bustling hawker stalls I found Welcome Ren Min, a business that offers a restaurant-quality taproom experience at Maxwell Food Centre. Yet, the brand pays homage to Singapore's rich hawker culture in its brand logo of the iconic, humble red plastic chair. This type of red plastic chair is a fixture of food centres across the island since the 1990s.

Surprisingly (but if you think about it, rather unsurprisingly), its founder does not look the part of a typical middle-aged hawker stall owner. Manbeer Singh is well-spoken, thoughtful, ambitious and only just getting into his prime. Before this life, Manbeer was a lawyer from Singapore’s top litigation firm, Drew & Napier. After five years of practicing law, he yearned for a change. He took a leap of faith and left the comfort and certainty of his high-paying job to pursue his passion for craft beer.

Choosing to set up his taproom in a hawker centre was a deliberate decision. Manbeer believes that there isn’t a more quintessentially Singaporean dining venue than a hawker centre. On a more pragmatic level, craft beer in Singapore can be expensive due to high production costs, shipping fees and alcohol taxes. By operating in a hawker centre where rent is lower, Manbeer is able to offer an affordable and accessible craft beer option for the wider public, with the added benefit of showcasing how Ren Min’s craft beers complement the local street food.

The transition from the law courts to the food courts was more challenging than Manbeer expected. Not only did he have to legally change name to “beerMan” (we’re kidding about this one), Manbeer realised that compared to being a lawyer the hours are no less gruelling as a hawker business owner. His business did very well, however. Driven by his passion and hopes to promote the craft beer movement in Singapore, Manbeer’s business took off against uncertain odds. Ren Min now has a second outlet at the Old Airport Road Food Centre called Hello Ren Min, and had recently started brewing their own craft beer in Singapore.

In interviews, Manbeer would emphasise that working in a hawker centre has been a humbling experience for him. For all that Millennials and Gen-Z have to say about “Boomers”, Manbeer has come to really admire the hard work and dedication of the older generation of Singaporean hawker men and women who work alongside him.

What’s on tap at Welcome Ren Min

It’s almost like Ren Min was a craft beer oasis in the middle of the sweaty, steamy, humid Maxwell Food Centre. With about a dozen rotating taps, the mini taproom offers a curated selection of craft beers from around the world with a remarkable range of styles.

Not content to just pour and serve, Ren Min has also been taking an active role in the craft beer world, collaborating with brewers from around the world to make their own Ren Min-collaborated seasonal brews. Some of the breweries they have worked with include Goose Island Brewhouse in Seoul, Birrificio Alveria in Sicily, Widowmaker Brewing in Massachusetts, Pasteur Street Brewing in Vietnam and most recently North Brewing Co from the UK.

The North Brewing Co. X Ren Min IPA - a hazy IPA at 6% ABV hopped with Mosaic, Moutere, and Mystic hops and the North Brewing Co. X TFG – a triple-fruited gose at 4.5% ABV with rhubarb, raspberries and blackberries (Image Source: Ren Min)

In 2021, during a series of lockdowns that decimated many F&B businesses, Ren Min turned to bottling their beers in collaboration with a Vietnam brewery. The result was a series highlighting the fundamental joys in life were temporarily taken from the people. The beers represented Travel, Mass gatherings, Physical contact and Family respectively.

You may read our contributors' glowing reviews of the Future Now series here:

• Cloud Chasing New England IPA (6.8%) (Travel)
• Crowdsurfing Hazy Session IPA (4.5% ABV) (Mass gatherings)
• Kiss Kiss Mango Smoothie IPA (6.9%) (Physical contact)
• Family Ties Chocolate Porter (5.6%) (Family)

On my most recent visit to Welcome Ren Min at Maxwell Food Centre, I noticed a diverse selection of beers on tap from hazy IPAs to pastry stouts, fruited sours and even a West Coast Pilsner, there was something for everyone from a range of Australian, UK, US and even Singaporean breweries. I was also struck by the friendliness of the part-time bartenders who eagerly offered recommendations to customers who were very new to craft beer.

Ren Min recently took their involvement to another level by brewing their own craft beer right here in Singapore. Manbeer named this first expression “Baby Steps”, a session New England IPA intended to be flavourful and yet sessionable (i.e. lighter in alcohol level) that was hopped exclusively with Mosaic hops which are known for their tropical fruit, blueberry and earthy notes.

You might be an enthusiast or you might be a craft beer curious. Ren Min offers a taste of the real Singapore at Maxwell, with a cold brew in hand. And as for my initial confusion about the brand, after a talk to the bartenders at the stall, I now understand that Ren Min is really about "the People" – the people who love craft beer, the people who work hard to keep hawker culture alive, and the people who make Singapore what it is today.

@CharsiuCharlie