The Philippines: Craft beer maker Palaweño Brewery set on expansion next year

As the craft beer industry in the Philippines begins to grow, the first and only brewery of artisanal beer in Palawan is set to share its taste of success to more Filipinos through expansion, the Manila Bulletin reported on November 11.

Palaweño Brewery is a small, wooden brewery and taphouse that makes 300 cases of craft beer a month. It serves craft beer of all sorts—American amber ale, Belgian wheat beer, German Honey Kolsch to name a few.

The brewery’s part-owner, Ayah Javier, said that it’s only open from 1:00 p.m. and closes at 9:00 p.m. to give way to bars, restaurants and hotels that carry their beer.

Javier said that the place is frequented by more foreign tourists than local tourists, perhaps because that although the craft beer industry is slowly growing, it is still relatively new to Filipinos.

“When we started, there were only five (craft beer breweries) now, there are 33,” Javier said.

“We’re in the works for expanding,” she said, clarifying that this did not mean branching out but rather increasing its production rate from 300 cases of beer to 1,200 cases by March 2017.

She also hopes to be able to distribute their craft beer in more establishments and cities. Their special beer has so far made it to Metro Manila (Makati), Cebu and Davao.

Javier said that the brewery was opened with an initial investment of PHP8-million and has gone as far as having featured in British news website, The Guardian ever since.

However, she revealed that competition among local craft beer manufacturers was nonexistent as the likes of them would willingly give each other business tips and share ingredients.

She also acknowledged how introducing craft beer did not have any intention to compete with the likes of San Miguel.

“San Miguel will always be our beer we don’t have any ideas to topple them. San Miguel will still be our Filipino beer,” Javier said.

Asked what she did when business ventures fail, she said that the rule of thumb was simply to “drink all our mistakes away.”

She assured, however, that their beer has “no preservatives, no chemicals” and “won’t give you a hangover”.

Palaweño Brewery is located in 82 Manalo St. Puerto Princesa, Palawan.

11 November, 2016