From finance to brewing

Something he noticed over the years was seeing the changes in the local craft beer scene in countries including Hong Kong, Australia, Vietnam and Thailand. Yet, Singapore was still dominated by large industrial players. “There was zero representation of local craft beers in common bars and restaurants,” he continues, adding how he felt his beer was as tasty or even tastier than beers in neighbouring countries. Rather than “complaining” about it, he decided to do something about it.

Finding himself between jobs in 2016, Wei and his friends decided to put a sum of money together and commercially brew four of Wei’s beers. The goal was simple: to show that local beer can stand alongside any internationally renowned craft beer in terms of creativity of flavours and quality. Looking back, Wei shares how there was no grand plan for Brewlander to be the biggest brewery in Singapore but rather, to “get a local craft beer brand into as many outlets as possible” and be embraced by both locals and tourists.

Failure is not an option

For Wei, he sees challenges as a way to relook, regroup and restrategise. For example, the pandemic saw the brand having to delay the opening of its new brewery facility in Tuas. “We just fundraised and took over a sizeable unit for our new brewery, only for circuit breaker to kick in,” he says. Determined to push through, he used this time to find creative solutions. After nine months of construction delay due to the pandemic, the large fully automated brewery opened in 2021.

It’s natural that hard times come with moments of doubt. Yet, the entrepreneur tries not to indulge his time in such matters. “It can quickly send one in a downward spiral,” he explains. His persistent attitude was inspired by his father, who came out stronger in times of trial. “Life presented him with many blessings and misfortunes, he made sizeable fortunes and lost them multiple times. But, he always had that resilience and self-belief during challenging times that he would recover,” he says. Like his father, he has learnt that failure isn’t the end of the world and that as long as “you are alive, able and determined, you can learn from [these] experiences”.

Beautiful possibilities

It’s been seven years since Wei started Brewlander and while he is already making waves in the industry, there’s much more to do. Reminiscing to when he first started doing tastings of his beers in 2017, he shares how people would jokingly comment whether local beer is safe to drink. “I’m glad that we’ve made quite a bit of progress since then,” he says, adding how the general beer market has only begun to notice them.

The future is bright for Wei and his brewery. Through his unique beer offerings, he hopes to shed the stereotype that beer is a “boring old man’s drink” and make it more appealing to the younger generation of drinkers. Wei believes that the challenge isn’t to change people’s perception but rather to focus on gaining the attention of consumers who aren’t aware of great local brews. On top of growing the craft beer and brewing scene in Singapore Wei also teases exciting projects that are in store—from overseas expansion to non-beer and non-alcoholic beverages.

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