While craft beer continues to boom around the world, the local craft beer scene is a study of patience and perseverance – not helped, of course, by recent kerfuffles with authorities involving beer festivals. Taps Beer Bar’s newly opened outlet in Plaza Arkadia – nearly six years after owner Alvin Lim opened the first bar in Changkat Bukit Bintang – is an example of how far KL’s craft beer scene has come, and how far it can go.
Located on the edge of Desa ParkCity and bordering Kepong, this outlet of Taps Beer Bar is a little further out than what most KLites are used to, but it’s worth taking that few extra minutes’ drive. For one thing, the new premises are almost twice as large as the now-closed branch in 1 Mont Kiara, allowing for a more comfortable environment to drink in – there’s no need to jostle or drunkenly navigate through a standing crowd. The breezier space also makes it a more family-friendly bar, especially with a large non-smoking section and an alfresco seating area that looks out at a small fountain park where kids can play. The bar even offers a free meal to kids with every full-portion meal ordered.
But beers are the reason people come here, and they have that in abundance. Currently the bar has 15 craft beers on tap, but plans to have 30 by the year’s end, which would make it the country’s leading craft beer bar by some distance. The type of beers available changes each time a barrel empties out – which happens often on a weekend night – so weekly regulars are never short of variety. Among the craft brewers that are commonly seen on tap are those from Rogue Ales (USA), BrewDog (UK), Mikkeller (Denmark), Hitachino (Japan) and Pasteur Street Brewing Company (Vietnam), as well as dozens more bottled beers in the fridge.
For now, the food menu is limited to bar-friendly pizzas, pastas, burgers and snacks, with the Balik Kampung pizza (prawns, anchovies, kaffir lime leaves, ginger flower, lemongrass belacan béchamel; RM28) being one of the more intriguing choices – think of it as a pizza bianco made with a kerabu-like topping and you’re halfway there. The main attractions are their smoked pork and lamb, which are only produced in small batches for now until a larger pit smoker is installed in late December. If you’re hungry, go for the pulled pork sandwich (RM25), which is presented as a two-inch high pile of shredded pork on a brioche bun. The result is a meaty and sloppy sandwich served with a side of pickled salad that provides just enough crunch and acidity to balance out the meatiness.
Other notable features include a raised stage where two- or three-man acoustic bands (curated by Richard Lim, Alvin’s uncle and veteran of the pub music scene) plays every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights from 9pm. The bar has also started to show live football matches – a rarity among craft beer bars in KL – in preparation for the World Cup next year. There are more activities to come as the bar goes into full swing, and we have no doubt that whatever they do will be worth the wait.