If someone simply said to you “Let’s catch a beer sometime” – you know that’s an invitation for a good time!

A ‘natural’ drink derived from grains, beer is the most widely consumed alcoholic drink, and the third most popular beverage after water and tea. As one of the oldest drinks in the world, archaeologists found traces of beer fermentation from nomadic societies as far back as 13,000 years ago!

Made up of malted cereal grains (mostly barley, but occasionally also oats, rice, corn and wheat) which are saccharified (converted into sugars), yeast, and then fermented into a drink (sometimes with added flavouring); depending on the fermentation process, a ‘beer’ might then be sub-categorised as a lager, stout, pilsner, ale, and so forth.

But drinking isn’t the only thing beers are good for! Flavourful and versatile, beer is a celebrated subculture of everyday life and food; with entire festivals built around it, restaurants and eateries use it in various cooking processes, and the recognisable beer mug shape has become so iconic that thousands of gifts and souvenirs in its shape are produced and sold all around the world, every single day.

In celebration of this year’s International Beer Day on August 6^th 2021, we invite you to treat yourself to a pint or two, in whatever shape or form!

Beer Cakes

Just like adding rum to Christmas fruit cakes, beer cakes – particularly chocolate cakes made with a dark stout – are a lesser-known favourite among seasoned cake makers. By including beer in your recipe, your cake batter may profit from the added depth of flavour as well as the leavening abilities of the beer, while also keeping moisture in during the baking process. And before serving, you could even add a splash of Guinness to your frosting to round out the flavour.

On GemSpot:
Check out our cool beer-shaped cakes from our talented cake vendors! Perfect for your Dad’s birthday, or for your beer-loving friend’s house party.

Beer Gifts

Do you know a die-hard beer enthusiast? There are many ways you can gift someone beer, for example:

• putting together a beer brewing starter kit, complete with pre-packed malt extract and carbonation tablets,
• getting them a home draft beer dispenser (perfect housewarming gift!),
• gifting them a monthly beer subscription,
• getting them a collectors set of artisanal beer from different countries (such as a beer advent calendar for Christmas),  
  and more!

On GemSpot:
Let someone know you’re thinking of them with a thoughtfully packaged Tiger Beer gift set from Bloom23. Or if going over to your beer-lover friend’s house, why not gift them a beer piñata to make for a fun party activity.

Beer-battered Food

If there are two things England is well-known for, it’s for being the land of pub culture and fish & chips. And wouldn’t you know it, they’ve even combined their love for those two things to give us the legendary beer-battered fish & chips!

By adding a light beer such as a lager to the fish batter, the bubbles help aerate the batter, resulting in a golden, crispier coated fish after frying. And besides fish, you can also use a solid beer batter for just about any food you fancy deep frying such as onion rings and boneless chicken strips.

On GemSpot:
A perfect starter for sharing, try the delicious beer-battered button mushrooms from Bavarian Bierhaus.

And the OG… Beer as a drink!

While places like Europe would have many artisanal and local beer brands in different towns and cities, we in Asia are also privileged to have quite a few beer brands from different countries such as Singha beer from Thailand, Tiger beer from Singapore, and Tsing Tao beer from China.

And in case you’re wondering, besides bottled beer, you can also get draught beer such as Heineken and Carlsberg delivered to you!

On GemSpot:
Available for delivery, you can order draught beer including Tiger, Heineken and Carlsberg, bottled and canned beer including Tsing Tao, Tiger and Harbin; and for the kids and non-alcohol drinkers, why not help them feel included by getting them a root beer or even a root beer float.

In the mood for a pint?

Throw yourself a beer party and enjoy RM6 OFF your delivery fee (with a minimum spend of RM30) all throughout the month of August!