Carlsberg has got a huge brewery in Shah Alam here in Malaysia - just outside Kuala Lumpur. I've been told it is in fact the largest Carlsberg brewery anywhere in the world and it certainly look much bigger than the one in Denmark.
When I first came to Malaysia some 12 years back, Carlsberg was absolutely ruling the market. It was a rare treat to find any bar or restaurant serving any beer except Carlsberg. Surely occasionally you would find a dodgy bar serving the odd Tiger but it was definitely not common. I'm not sure if it's true, but I was told back then that Carlsberg was putting pressure on the bar owners. If they wanted to serve Carlsberg, they could have no other beer on tap. And that apparently was the reason one would never find Carlsberg and tiger at the same place. One noticable exception was Finnegans in Bangsar and later Finnegans in KL. That was the only bar for years to have both Carlsberg and Tiger on tap.
The last 3 - 4 years have however completely reversed the picture. The large brewery is still there, but I haven't got a clue what they do with all the beer, because it is next to impossible to find a single place serving Carlsberg. And I know positively that Tiger is showering the bar owners with freebies and promotions - including such far fetched items as video projectors for football matches.
The reason I write this now is that it would appear that Changkat Bukit Bintang just lost it's final watering hole serving Carlsberg - and that last one was indeed Finnegans. Just a few days ago their Carlsberg supply dried out and it is now, to the best of my knowledge, impossible to buy Carlsberg in what can only be described as one of the most happening places in KL.
The locally brewed Carlsberg is pretty shitty. The problem is however that Tiger is even worse so unless one buy bottled beer it is now almost impossible to buy a drinkable beer in KL.
The BIG question is. What on earth are Carlsberg thinking and why on earth do they not fight back. Guess they lost their spirit after they got seriously fucked in Thailand some years back. Sad sad sad.
Reggae Bar and Sutra Bar,both on Changkat Bukit Bintang sell Carlsberg.
ReplyDeleteTrouble is it comes in smaller glasses than the mugs of Tiger you get elsewhere and sells for RM11.50 in Reggae then climbs to RM 14.50 after 10pm.Sutra is RM11.But it's still less volume than a mug of Tiger.
Most places on Jalan P.Ramlee serve Carlsberg (Beach Club,Aloha,Rum Jungle and of course Hard Rock....The only place that sells Tiger in that part of town is Thai Club...so maybe the 2 breweries have decided where to concentrate their efforts...and don't bother to compete with each other...