The Search for Craft Beer on Bali!

The Search for Balinese Craft Beer!

Bali…

Known for its paradise island qualities, with beautiful beaches, nature and scenery. Or for others, (yes, you Australia) a great place to go party. 

However, what the island is not known for is Craft Beer…

Nope, no craft beer here...

Sufficient to say, my expectations for Bali were not that high, although significantly higher than Myanmar (one of my previous destinations).  Surely, it would offer me more than what I encountered in that lager/pilsner infested savannah named Bagan (not that there is anything wrong with lagers or pilsners for that matter).

I did have some hope for Bali, regarding craft beer, however. Some months ago, one of my friends who had been on his internship on the island brought back two Balinese craft beers! 

These two brews, a wheat and dark wheat ale from a Balinese microbrewery, gave me a real hope for success finding somewhat of a craft beer scene on this paradise island!

So, here follows the tale of my long, epic, and dangerous, quest of finding Craft Beer on Bali...

The first thing one will encounter in terms of brews, and encounter quite a lot, is Bintang. It really is Bintang’s Bali…

Having a Bintang, with a view!

Bintang is the local pilsner, or used to be if you keep in mind that Heineken now owns it. Light, crisp, and with a slight bitter, this is a nice and refreshing pilsner (especially with the humidity and temperatures one experiences on Bali). 

But, as mentioned, I was searching for craft beer and not the local pilsner, so that’s all I will say about Bintang for now. 

Anyway,

Sparked by those first few beers brought over by a friend of mine, I set out one afternoon to find some craft beer in Kuta, in which my hotel is located (party central on Bali). 

After checking quite a few bars and restaurants, I came across the Stadium Cafe. This bar had a number of beers on tap (Guinness, Kilkenny etc), and best of all what seemed to be one of the local brews: STARK WHEAT from the Lovina Beach Brewery or STARK BEER BALI. 

The Stadium Cafe, Kuta.

Apart from apparently having problems with their CAPS LOCK key, or being run by brewers who like to shout continuously, this seemed to be the only microbrewery that I could find on the island (yes, i did some research).  In fact, this was also the brewery from which my friend brought back some brews to the Netherlands.

Unfortunately for me however, they were out of STARK WHEAT at the Stadium Cafe, and really had no clue about when they would be resupplied. Disappointed, and ordering a Guinness as a consolation beer, i started looking online for some more places which served STARK. 

What i discovered at this point sounded amazing! STARK had their own bar/club, located on the areas party street (Jalan Legian), which was only about a 20 minute walk away! Downing my Guinness, i set out braving the hot and humid Balinese climate once more, the things i do for beer!

Surely, this would be the best place on the island to enjoy local Balinese craft beer!

Or not...

As you probably summarized from the picture above, the place was pretty much closed down. Literally swimming in my own sweat at this point, after my 20 minute afternoon stroll, and in dire need of a refreshing beer, i was extremely disappointed. 

Desperate, i went for a closer look, maybe it just seemed like it was closed…

Nope, still closed.

In dire need of a beer at this point, i swallowed my disappointed and rushed into the air-conditioned heaven that is Mini-Mart (small convenience store). Grabbing a (second) consolation beer, i asked the manager why the STARK bar was closed. According to Mr. Minimart, the bar had closed due to bad management only a little more than a month ago…

Just my luck..

Anker, Pilsner

With my Anker pils in one hand (average pilsner from Jakarta, Indonesia), and my phone in the other, i once again ventured online for another place serving STARK beers! Once again i found a spot, skipped over in favor of the STARK bar in my previous search, about a 30 minute walk away. However, being quite done with walking at this point i decided to hail a taxi.  "Rooftop Beer Garden serving a number of different Beers" sounded promising enough to do so, so off i went. 

More like a "very empty and depressing rooftop Beer Garden serving no Beer"

Climbing too many stairs, i arrived to this "Rooftop Beer Garden". In reality it was an abandoned rooftop pool bar, with an empty beer fridge, and absolutely no one there. Sitting down at the bar, catching my breath i noticed a telephone next to me with a number attached to it. At this point i had a slight hope that this calling this number might conjure up some bartender and some craft beer, so i gave it a dial. 

"Hello, Rooftop bar? So sorry closed, bye"- Random Telephone Lady, 2016

Well, having pretty much given up hope for the day at this point, i walked back down the stairs and set off back to the hotel. 

What i encountered at this point was like a desert illusion… 

Is it real?

Just as i had given up hope i encountered this beautiful beer oasis! (and yes, it seems quite happy ending-ish, and convenient for the story, but I'm not making this stuff up!)

The rooftop Beer Garden had apparently moved off the roof and was now hidden down below underneath the building. And the person that answered by phone call earlier, Random Telephone Lady, was behind the bar! 

YES!

I had suffered, i had endured, and now i had arrived in Balinese Beer heaven! It seemed like almost all available beer types on Bali were available at this bar, and best of all; STARK brews! 

Time for a beer!

Finally, after a long, hot, and sweaty search, i had finally found what i was looking for: Balinese Craft Beer!

STARK MANGO ALE 

I tried a number of different STARK brews at this point, all those which i had never tried before. The mango ale was especially enjoyable, light sweet with a hint of Mango, this was a very refreshing Balinese craft beer. I spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Beer Garden, sampling a bunch of different local brews!

It seemed that after my search, and the discovery of this Beer Garden, my fortunes had shifted. 

That night, when going out with a number of friends to the locally famous Sky Garden club, i made another surprising discovery!

Sorry for the out of focus picture, i was also a bit out of focus at this point :P

The two beers which a friend of mine brought back to the Netherlands; STARK WHEAT and STARK DARK WHEAT, were actually available in this club (and at exactly the same price as a Bintang!)

You can probably guess what i was drinking the rest of the night…



Well, that was my epic tale of my search for craft beer on Bali!

Cheers!

My Ratings:

STARK MANGO ALE: 3.5/5*
STARK 1954 Pilsner: 3/5*
STARK L.C.: 3.25/5*
STARK WHEAT: 3.25/5*
STARK DARK WHEAT: 3/5*
-
Bintang: 3/5*
Anker: 3/5*