…is really expensive.
Six-packs of anything are impossible to find for less than S$11.50, which translates into about $7.25 USD.
While $7.25 may not sound that expensive for a six-pack of decent beer in San Diego like Firehouse Pale Ale, but when the cheapest beers are fairly watery lagers like the local Raffles beer, it’s not so good. Also, it’s really expensive next to the average cost of a meal. A decent meal at a hawker center anywhere in the city (that’s not downtown) will run you around S$ 3, or $2.05 USD, with a can of beer almost equal the cost.
Before I came to Singapore I knew alcohol would be expensive but I wasn’t sure how expensive. According to the Singaporean national budget site for 2008, hard liquor duties were S$30 per liter and the new excise duty is now S$70 per liter. Yikes…
I read elsewhere that beer is taxes roughly S$3 per liter but I can’t seem to find the link. Not so bad, I guess.
The taxes do work. All I can say though is that even on New Year’s Eve for me I curtailed my own drinking because I was unwilling to shell out S$8 for a 12oz cup of Tiger Beer.
Tiger Beer brings me to some good news!
Tiger Beer is the beer in Singapore. As pictured left with my roommate Tommy, a 24oz bottle of the locally brewed lager can range anywhere from S$5 at hawker centers to S$15 at high-end restaurants and bars. It’s not a bad beer, and it’s fairly accessible. That’s one thing I find hilarious though. Licensing laws appear to be fairly lax and beer is sold almost anywhere food is, but it’s pretty damn expensive (in comparison.)
One thing I may have to do when I start traveling stopping in the duty-free shops. Some fellow exchange students (who were wiser than me) bought a couple bottles of liquor on their flight duty-free knowing the heavy taxes. I guess whenever I travel I’ll have to do the same. Just buy a couple bottles of something to have before a night out in Singapore. The trick is, you can’t bring duty-free booze from neighboring Malaysia, by Singaporean law.
But there is always the Mayflower Cafe and Pub on campus, which is the university staff club. Speaking with other students (and based on my own experiences there so far) only the Western exchange students seem to hang out there, not the staff.
With cans of Singaporean Anchor Beer and Thai Chang Beer for S$3, it makes for a fairly active hang-out. They do offer some nicer beers like Hoegaarden for S$6 a bottle, if you are feeling like actually enjoying a beer, but it still makes for a great environment.
On the flip-side, my goal is to find a dank, smelly bar somewhere near the docklands of the island where salty old seadogs hang-out so I can tell stories that sound like lyrics to Tom Waits songs. To be honest though, I’m just looking for a place to enjoy a beer and play pool off-campus that’s not a tourist trap or crawling with exchange students.
Alcohol just isn’t big around here and I think that’s OK, and probably for the better. The drinking culture at SDSU is a little excessive (which is why I generally prefer bars away from campus and “bro-zones” like Pacific Beach,) so I think it will be a nice change of pace.
I think my next post will be about food, so as to not come off as a booze-hound.
-John
I love how your biggest problem is finding good cheap beer! Your blog looks really good im glad you spent most of Christmas making it. HA
Great blog John! At least you can buy some beer. Try getting some cool suds in Port Sudan, Sudan in 120 degree weather in mid July after traveling on a gray boat for 3 1/2 weeks sometimes called the ‘Good Ship Lollipop’ and as dry as any god-fearing county in south Kentucky, and then I will be impressed. It sounds like you are having fun – Da(d)ve
GO CHARGERS!
Hey John! I’m glad you found some good beer! how does Tiger beer compare to Fat Tire (my fav)? Looks like there are alot of exchange students in your Pics…… So atleast you won’t be homesick nor isolated. Let us know how the food is…. I heard everything tastes like chicken 😉
i’ve gotta say, we talked about you not hanging out with westerners there. how are you ever going to learn singaporian? 😉 haha
i really like the blog. glad ur having a good time
Hi John,
Let me help provide you with some information. The customs and excise duties can be found on this link http://www.customs.gov.sg/leftNav/trad/val/List+of+Dutiable+Goods.htm
The excise duty for beer is S$48/litre of alcohol and the customs duty is S$16/litre of alcohol. So the taxes varies depending on the alcohol content in the beer you are drinking.
The bottle of beer you posted is probably around 630ml with a 5% alcohol content.
It is probably brewed locally at a company called Asia Pacific Brewery i.e. no Customs duty, but the S$48/litre of alcohol excise duty is still payable. A quick calculation shows:
630ml x 5% alcohol content x S$48/litre = S$1.52/630ml bottle of beer.
The rest is production cost and profit PLUS the very expensive rental business owners have to pay. The
Just to give you an idea – a recent coffee shop transaction in a ‘cheap’ government housing estate went for S$23,888,888. The shop is only around 4000sqft! Imaging how many bottles of beer the poor vendors got to sell to pay for the rent!
It is not the beer or tax. It is the rental that kills.