Bali

The word “warm” fits the Balinese people well but is an understatement when referring to the weather.  Even the pool water is around 90 degrees F.  This kind of weather I enjoy.  Randy, however, prefers it cooler.  Nonetheless, the temperatures are conducive to our project because it’s pretty good beer weather all in all.  Our first day we went to Kuta, one of the main surf and party capitals in Bali.  On our way to town the cab driver informed us that tourism is way down ever since the bombings (2002 and 2005).  Other than the empty storefronts he pointed out, we wouldn’t have known since there were so many people on scooters, in cars and walking about.  BTW: Even though traffic in Bali is nuts, all the drivers go with the flow despite the hyper-crowded roads.  It takes forever to travel what appear to be short distances.  You can either take a car service for an hourly rate or hop in a freelance taxi and negotiate the price as you drive along.

Our first stop: Mamma’s, a German restaurant established in Kuta in 1977.  There Randy ate some pretty good sausages; I had pea soup.  Supposedly the Best Pea Soup in the world, emphasis on the word supposedly.  At Mamma’s we had the ubiquitous Bali beer, Bintang, on draft.  Though a good pilsner and one with high quaffability, it almost appears to be the only beer around.  You really have to look hard to find signs of any other beer, such as Bali Hai (which is made elsewhere in Indonesia).  We also tried two beers from Storm Brewery, Storm Pale Ale and Storm Iron Stout.  Randy’s take on the PA: ~12P, 45-50IBU, and 35L.  Straw colored and light in body, this beer is slightly fruity in a good way.  ~5%abv, perfect for this weather.   He enjoyed the Storm Iron Stout, which reminded him of Shea’s Stout from Australia.  Flavors of molasses, burnt malt, hint of chocolate. Slight sweet bitter finish.  Suggestion of black patent malts, no hint of burnt coffee.  This beer holds a head; color of dark brown sugar.

Nowhere else during our Bali travels did we come across Storm beers, which are only produced in Bali and have very limited distribution.  According to the website, Storm beers have their origin in England where Thomas Storm (great grandfather to brewery owner Robert Storm) brewed ales for the royal court, ales whose recipes were kept secret “on pain of death.”   The tale of how Robert Storm established Storm Brewing in Bali is indeed a tale of stormy passion and exotic adventure on the high seas, in the islands, on land.  After several generations and brewing in many locales, Robert Storm chose a spot somewhere in the central mountains of Bali with a pure spring water.  Check out the website to learn more: http://www.stormbrewing.net.

Later on Saturday we hopped in a cab and headed to one of the better surfing spots, Pedangpedang in Jimbaran.  On Sunday we went to Tenganan, an original Balinese village known for producing ikat, a double woven cloth.  Only local beer at a nearby hotel where we stopped for lunch: Bintang.  In addition to Bintang, the hotel offered a selection of global brands, eg, Heineken, Corona, much like everywhere else.

Monday’s journey took us to Ubud, known as the heart of Bali.  Everywhere along the roadside you’ll see numerous carvings and furniture stores, but when you arrive in Ubud and its surrounds you feel like you’ve hit the motherload.  Some paintings are fairly disposable, not art of any quality or distinction.  However, there is a plethora of remarkably good art — from wood carvings to paintings.  It left us wondering what’s in the water that makes such creative and talented people, and so many creative and talented people.

We had a delicious Balinese lunch complimented by Bali Hai beer at Cafe Wayan.  Randy preferred Bali Hai to Bintang (our cab driver voted the reverse.  He’s not a fan of Bali Hai).  Randy found Bali Hai had less bitterness, great quaffability, nice hop finish on the back of the tongue.  Very light body, short clean finish. 11.5P, 20L, 16-18IBUs, 5%abv.

On our way back from Ubud we stopped at a grocery store.  Again, Bintang was so prevalent at first we wondered whether the store carried any other beers.  Finally we found a few, including a very good Guiness Stout for Foreign Export.  The others we’ll test today: Anker Lager and Anker Stout from Jakarta, and Bintang in a can.  The total cost for the four beers: 59,000 IDR. Figuring ~9,000 IDR to $1USD, that comes to about $6.50.  Not bad considering the Anker lager is a large bottle and cost 16,000IDR (at a restaurant a large bottle of Bingtang is ~20,000-25,000IDR).  The small bottle of Guiness was our most expensive purchase, ~17,000IDR, or roughly 33% of the entire bill.  Beer in Bali is not very inexpensive, certainly not when compared with the prices in China or the wages here.  Several people told us what they made, just as part of the conversation.  The cab driver who picked us up at the airport was the first to disclose his salary ($60/month),  and the young waiter last evening the last to make us aware of his monthly income (1,000,000IDR).

We’ll try the Anker beers and the Bintang in a can later today, before we hop our flight to Bangkok.

***Still unpacking and looking for my notes on the Anker beers.  In the meantime, a little research on Bintang reveals that it is Indonesia’s largest selling beer.  Not only that, the beer first came on the market in 1929, when Indonesia was still under Dutch rule.  In 1936 Heineken became the largest shareholder.  After several name changes, in 1981 the company became known as PT Multi Bintang Indonesia and went public.  The breweries also produce Heineken, Guiness Foreign Extra Stout and Green Sands.  Knowing that history, the prevalence of Bintang throughout Bali comes as no surprise.   PT Multi Bintang Indonesia is a member of Asia Pacific Breweries Limited, a company begun in 1931 as Malayan Breweries Ltd (MBL).  In 1932, MBL opened its first brewery in Singapore and launched Tiger beer, a beer that Singaporeans can be rightly proud of.

We had our first taste of Tiger on our Singapore Airlines flights from Beijing to Bali, and then again in Bhutan.  Definitely a lighter style beer with a good flavor profile.  It has a light hop aroma, was pretty typical of the beers we’ve encountered; nicely balanced.  About 18L, 5%abv, 20IBUs.  This is a good warm weather beer whose pale malt flavors become more defined when accompanied by spicy food.  Little did we know until we read the APB website that, “The distinctive taste of Tiger Beer is favoured by the modern man of today. Tiger Beer is synonymous with self-progression, manliness and social engagement. ”   Wow! That is a supremely elegant way of saying “Man in a Can.”   I hope they develop a Tigress Beer.