The great Singapore beer rip – day 2…

Well, decided to change tack a little, and rather than ordering a beer from the other side of the world, decided to see whether a more ‘local’ beer would come at a more reasonable price. And being the lazy person that I am, the venue was to be the same as yesterday, Raffles.

So, after a great late lunch for all of $7, I headed back to Raffles to see what would happen today.

Pulled up a seat by the bar and ordered a pint of Tiger… ahhhhh… it went down super well. So much so, a second chilled one was ordered as soon as the first one was finished. Knowing that this was an expensive beer I savored each and every drop.

Crunch time came as I asked for the bill, which came to $43 give or take a little, which comes in at $21 a pint… ouch… but atleast I got change from a $50 today!

BUT, on a pure bang per ml basis the Tiger wins by about 30%. Though at these prices the only ones that are winning are the bars!

Worlds most expensive beers?

I think I may have just bought three of the worlds most expensive beers.

The story…

I’m currently having a short break from work in Singapore. A bit of relaxing, a bit of shopping, plenty of good food and the occasional drink. The food and the shopping are relatively inexpensive, but the grog is way over priced (or maybe its just where I drink them).

Today I went for a walk down Chinatown for a couple of hours, got really hot and sticky, so decided to have a bit of a siesta back at the hotel mid afternoon. Woke up a little thirsty with beer on my mind… the itch needed to be scratched.

Now, I know this is really stupid, and I’ve done it before so I have no valid reason to whinge, but relaxing in the courtyard at Raffles with a cold beer in the warm humid Singapore afternoon, while watching the world go past, is just a nice way to spend an afternoon. So that’s what I decided to do.

So, trundled over to Raffles, pulled up a chair and ordered a stubby of Carlsburg, nothing special, but a tasty refreshing drop. It went down super quick smart and another coldie was ordered, and then a third.

I knew I’d run up a bit of a tab (based on past experience) and got $50 out of my wallet as I asked for the bill. I then, very quickly, dived back into my wallet for another $10! Yep, 3 beers and I was only getting small change back out of $60!

Sure, the ambiance of the place is nice, and hotels are always more expensive that other drinking establishments, but how can anyone justify the best part of $18 for a single stubby of beer????

To put things into perspective

  • a slab of 24 Carlsburg’s can be bought for $55 in Melbourne, that $2.30 each
  • a stubby of beer at most bars in Melbourne will set you back $6 or $7 each, that’s somewhere between 160% and 205% markup

Assuming that Raffles also buy their beers for $2.30, which is undoubtedly wrong as they would get trade and bulk discounts, they are adding 682% What a rip!

I think I’ll find somewhere cheaper for a beer tomorrow.