Eight brewers from five countries will come together for Myanmar’s first craft beer festival on Sunday, January 19.
Yangon-based Burbrit—the country’s first and so far only craft beer producer—will host the event at its Dagon township taproom, a former teashop near the Thai embassy that has plenty of space for indoor and outdoor drinkers.
Meanwhile, brewers such as Vietnam’s Winking Seal, Singapore’s OnTap, and Australia’s Old Wives Ales, are primed to distribute their tipples after using the equipment at Burbrit’s riverside microbrewery in North Dagon Industrial Zone.
With a ban on beer imports, brewing beer in Yangon was the way forward, explained one of the organisers, Luke Corbin, a PhD student at the Australian National University who is researching the history of Myanmar alcohol.
“Normally in Myanmar it’s the same lager or stout beer,” he told a press conference at the taproom today. “At this festival we will have beer recipes and ingredients that have never been brewed before in Myanmar.”
One of those drinks follows a 186-year-old recipe of East Kent Goldings hops, ale malt and traditional English ale yeast.
Among the other drinks are a watermelon sour and Saba, a light, bright beer made with Ayeyarwady delta rice that the Burbrit team have tipped for local success.
Named for the founders’ nationalities (Bur for Burmese, Brit for Britain), Burbrit has been doing the heavy lifting in the domestic craft beer scene.
But the team hopes the festival will mark a turning point in awareness of independent, high-quality booze.
“We are optimistic more people will come to a greater appreciation of the depth, flavour and authenticity of craft beer,” Corbin told Myanmar Mix.
In a country where industrial beer dominates, sometimes offends and quite often has dodgy military connections, we raise our glasses to the new taste in town.
Where: Burbrit Taproom, 74, Manaw Hari street, Dagon township
When: 12pm-12am on Sunday, January 19
How much: 20,000 kyats per ticket, including three drinks and one food item (message the festival and see where you can buy tickets here). The first 100 people to arrive will receive an extra drink.
