Izy
Adding a big dose of cool to this quieter bit of Club Street is swish joint Izy, helmed by chef Kazumasa Yazawa (formerly of Waku Ghin). As you’d expect, he takes the traditional bar menu to new heights with small plates like ocean trout carpaccio ($28). With snazzy interiors straight out of a cyberpunk movie, and a list of sakes, small batch single malts, craft beers and bespoke cocktails to work through, it’s no surprise that this place is always packed with cool cats.

KOI Sushi + Izakaya
Another fresh new Club Street offering is KOI, a cozy bar which spills out onto the road on weekend nights. It’s a great spot to nurse a Hitachino Nest beer ($15) or interesting concoctions like the Cherry Blossom ($16)—Effen black cherry, Kirei umeshu, cherry, lime—and the Truffled Japanese Whisky Sour ($16). The vibe here is pretty low key, with local artworks lining the walls and simple but satisfying bar bites like scallop sashimi.

Sumiya
This retro (think vintage enamel signs and copper crockery) grill and izakaya has been packing in crowds with its DIY-style meals. But if you’re here to drink—and you will, because this joint’s got the cheapest Asahi in town at a mere $4.90 a pop—you’ll want to go for all-you-can-grab edamame ($6) and deep-fried goodness (from $6). Oh, there are shochu cocktails and sakes, too, if you can somehow resist their beer deal.

The Horse’s Mouth
Thanks to a big sign outside the shopping mall, this underground drinking den is no longer as hush-hush as it used to be, though parting the unmarked curtain in Uma Uma Ramen and heading down the dark steps still feels excitingly illicit. Although you’d expect too-cool-for-you barkeeps and impenetrable menus here, the mixologists are truly friendly, chatty and do their best to deliver a fun cocktail experience.

When did you start?
We first thought of starting in mid 2010. It took us a while to figure out the format and the location. We had to get in the equipment and permits. So, by mid 2011 we were ready.

What inspired you to start the business?
In my career before, I had been working in the US, and that made me to realize how much more beer could be. Up to that point I’d only been drinking lager in India. I was awed by the variety and quality of beers elsewhere and when I came back to India, I could almost not drink beer anymore, though it was the same beer I was drinking until I left. I thought there must be more people who’d be into good beer, and that was what got me interested in the beer business. I then went and studied for a year in Edinburgh and got back to India to start a brewing company. My friend—who was living in Singapore at the time—who is now my business partner suggested we look at Singapore because the government here is very keen on promoting new businesses, and they make it easy for new businesses to start. So along with my partner, I met the various government departments and they were all very helpful and enthusiastic for us to start here.

How did you first approach the retail stores and bars to carry your beer?
Initially, it was a lot of cold calling because when we started the company we were a pure draft business. We didn’t do any bottles and we were trying hard to get draft beer accounts in local bars. We began to realize how all prevalent and exclusive these draft contacts were. Although we feel it is quite unfair to any new company, it continues to be the market practice in Singapore that big companies have exclusive tie ups with bars. And so it took us about half a year to rework our business plan. We began bottling in late 2012, early 2011.

What were the biggest challenges you faced?
Going to bar owners without a prior introduction has always been quite a challenge because they don’t know anything about our business or the beers we make. And when we started, craft beers were even newer then than they are now. So, many bar owners themselves were not very familiar with the products. They knew that people were talking about it, but they had no real way to evaluate it and across Asia. They viewed something local as being inferior quality and therefore that it should be priced less. That’s something we still find difficult, trying to get the same premium for our product as other people who deliver similar quality products that are imported.

Have attitudes changed over time?
Of late, I think a few key things have changed. People are starting to drink jungle beer and talk about it. And then we had quite a successful run at the Beerfest Asia last year, won quite a few awards and stuff, so I think that it convinced people—who don’t trust themselves to judge the beer—that beer was pretty ok, and that their customers might like it. A lot of bar owners began to take us more seriously when we said ok we’ve won all these awards. That’s when they began changing their view that something that’s local can also be good.

What’s you’re favorite of the beers you make?
I most often drink the English Pale Ale, which is a very easy drinking session beer. It’s got the right amount of power to balance the malty-ness. But my personal favorite is the Imperial Stout, the Kiasu Stout. That has for a long time been my favorite style of beer. To my knowledge no one else makes an Imperial Stout in Singapore yet. I don’t drink a lot of it though because it’s a very intense beer usually the last beer of the evening.

Are there any other locally-made products you like?
For coffee, I like Papa Palheta. There’s also Popaganda, they make popsicles and are quite creative. I can’t think of many other F&B products. Many people are more likely to start their own restaurant than to start a brand and make a product out of it, and distribute it.

Why do you think that is?
One reason most definitely is that there’s considerably more capital required, and also the challenge of sales. If you have your own restaurant, at the very least you yourself can get some customers though the door. But if you have your own product, the best you can hope for is that if you put it across many different stores, it just sells. You don’t know whether the store manager is going to promote your product or not, so there’s that additional challenge. And definitely, there’s the cost of setup. If you are going to start something, obviously you’re not going to do it small because you need the AVA permission and so on and so forth. And by the time you get a space that’s large enough to make it viable, it becomes quite expensive.

Where are most of the ingredients you use to make your beers from?
Most are from the UK and Germany. Our hops come from Eastern Europe, the UK and about 50% are from the US as well, especially the northwest of America.

Do you think people should support local?
I don’t think people should support local out of pity, but I think that people should not discriminate against local. At the very least, anyone in Singapore should be willing to try something that is local. If it’s bad or if it’s not as good as something that’s imported, they’re obviously not going to buy it again unless they are like uber nationalistic. So I think that yeah, the sole discrimination against local is quite odd and that’s something people need to overcome.

Are you planning other new products?
We have a few ideas we’re working on. One is the new range of beers called Hula. We’ve made a few trial batches and will add more beers to that range. We’re also looking at potentially making a lager beer, that’s something we have not made to date and we don’t want it to be anything like the ones that are already available by the big brewing companies. We should expect both of those before the New Year.

Adi Challa is the owner-brewer at Jungle Beer Brewery.

For Beer Hounds

Aquanova
Draft beers (Tiger, Heineken, Erdinger and Kirin) at $8 nett per half pint and $13 nett per pint. Daily, 6-9pm. Tiger, Heineken and Kirin at $8 nett per pint. Erdinger at $10 nett per pint. Sunday to Thursday, 6-7pm.

Bayang
Tiger jug at $25++. Daily, 5pm onwards.

Fremantle Seafood Market
Tiger and Heineken tower at $140++ for two. Daily, 10pm onwards.

Hot Stones
Tiger and Heineken tower at $140++ for two. Daily, 10pm onwards.

Le Noir
Bucket of five Tiger or Heineken bottles at $50. Monday to Friday, 5-7pm.

Paulaner Singapore Clarke Quay
Two hours free flow of 0.5L lager beer at $48++. All 0.3L draft beers and housepour selection at $8 nett. Sunday to Thursday, 5-10pm.

Rasputin
Nemiroff vodka bottle at $98 nett. Daily, 6-11pm.

Renn Thai
Housepour spirits at $9++. Mojito and bloody mary at $10++ each. Daily, 6-11pm.

The Chupitos Bar
Housepour spirits, bottled beers and shooters at $6 nett each. Daily, 6:30-9pm.

The Highlander Bar & Restaurant
50% off wines by the glass, beer pints, bottled beers and housepour spirits. Sunday to Thursday, till 9pm.

The Pump Room
15% off all bottles. Saturday to Thursday, 5-9pm; Friday, 5-8pm.

TongKang Colonial Bar & Restaurant
Housepour beer and wine at $5++. Daily, noon-3pm, 5-8pm.

Verve Pizza Bar
One shooter at $12, $20 for two and $50 for six. Daily, normal operating hours.

Vintry at Royal Selangor
20% off any wine for drink in or take away. Sunday to Thursday, normal operating hours.

Wings Bar
50% off all draft beers, housepour spirits and cocktails from 5-6pm, 25% off all draft beers, housepour spirits and cocktails from 6-7pm daily. Eight shooters for $50++. Sunday to Tuesday and Thursday, 5pm-2am; Wednesday and Friday, till 4am.

If you’re in the mood for food

Beer Market
Wings, grilled sausage or cheese nachos at $3 nett. Monday to Thursday, 6-8pm; Sunday, all day.

Muchos Mexican Bar & Restaurant
Free salsa with nachos (choice of one salsa) with every purchase of margarita jug or Tiger jug. Daily, 5pm onwards.

Shuffle
Buy any pizza, pasta, mains or asian delight and get a complimentary glass of housepour spirit, wine, beer, soft drink or juice. Monday to Thursday, 6-8pm.

The Chupitos Bar
Wagyu beef sliders (3pcs) at $6 nett. Daily, 6:30-9pm.

The Pump Room
Receive a $20 return spending voucher with a minimum spend of $100 (before GST) in a single receipt. Saturday to Thursday, 5-9pm; Friday, 5-8pm.

Verve Pizza Bar
Any pizza slice with one Heineken, Corona or Tiger at $15++; any 12” pizza with two Heineken, Corona or Tiger at $35++; any 12” pizza with two glasses of house wines at $40++; any 12” pizza with four Heineken, Corona or Tiger at $50++; free 12” pizza with order of six housepours at $60++. Daily, normal operating hours.

Vintry at Royal Selangor
Choice of nibbles at $7++ (Vintry roast pork, fries, caramelized roast pork, spicy caramelized roast pork, wedges, chicken bites, tomato bruschetta, cheese quesadillas, five-spiced chicken wings). Daily, 4-8pm.

Half-priced tipples

District 10
One-for-one housepour liquors, Stella Artois and house wines. Daily, 6-8pm.

Le Noir
One-for-one beer of the day. Monday to Friday, 5-7pm.

Mad for Garlic
One-for-one house red or white wine, draft Tiger and Heineken pint and all bottled beers. Daily, 7-10pm.

The Arena
One-for-one housepour and Tiger glass or jug. Daily, 9-10pm.

The Forbidden City by Indochine
One-for-one housepour spirits, house wines, draft beers with complimentary crispy Laotian chicken wings with straight-cut fries for IndoChine members. Sunday to Thursday, 5-9pm.

The Pump Room
One-for-one beers, housepour spirits and house wines at $10++ per glass. Saturday to Thursday, 5-9pm; Friday, 5-8pm.

Vintry at Royal Selangor
One-for-one house wines, draft beers, bottled beers, house pour spirits. Daily, 4-8pm.