A series highlighting the very best in bars, pubs, taverns, saloons, commons, watering holes, cocktail lounges, drinkeries, tap rooms, ale houses, cantinas, bier halls, bacaros and izakayas around the world.
One of our strongest, and potentially most divisive, travel beliefs is that the view from the thing is never as good as the view of the the thing. Put another less seemingly pornographic way, when you can scale an iconic landmark and see the view from atop its lofty vantage point, jaw-dropping as it may be, it is always missing one key thing: the very iconic landmark you’re standing on. And isn’t that landmark what you’re there for in the first place? Why endure the lines to the top of the Eiffel when you can go ogle the seminal spire from any Seine-spanning walkway? Why climb to the dome of the Duomo when the view from nearby Palazzo Vecchio gives you a much more representative, and Duomo-inclusive, Florentine panorama? And in the case in question here, why get a drink at the top of Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands hotel when you can get one with an unparalleled view of it?
I know I know, the easy answer to that question is perhaps the dopest infinity pool on the planet. Which, yea ok, that checks out. But consider LeVeL33, the rooftop micro brewery who’s perch over Singapore’s most recognizable district affords unbeatable sightlines to the bay, the Supertree Grove, and everyone’s favorite pool-equipped flying saucer landing pad.
Admittedly, “world’s highest craft brewery” label notwithstanding, your inner cicerone won’t exactly be floored with the tap room’s output. This is very English brewing, without the flavorful gravity to attach a “Barleywine is Life” hashtag to. But in a Southeast Asian landscape where you’re more often evaluating the hop profile of Leo vs Tiger rather than Leo vs Ursus, anything over -3 plato is a welcome change of pace.
And of course, all of that is beside the point. If you managed to correctly identify the nondescript highrise housing this foeder-fostering fermentery, you already know why you’re there. That view. It’s essentially “Why You Came To Singapore” in a pilsener glass. The typical warehouse by way of steampunk aesthetic that most American breweries saturate themselves with is substituted with polished floor-to-ceiling glass angled directly at the bay and its trademark library shelf of a signature hotel.
And because this blog is ours and nothing matters except what we say does, I’ll add that a large reason this view is memorable to us is that we happened to be quaffing milds and ESBs with front row seats to one of the most visually stimulating thunderstorms we’ve ever seen. We waded through some exceptionally humid locales on Megatrip, but the stroll from the Supertree Grove to LeVeL33 stands out as memorably swim-like in it’s atmospheric consistency. And right around the time it felt like I might actually drown in what chemically qualifies as the compound “air”, we arrived at that rooftop, we ordered ales that were slightly less aqueous than what we were breathing, and we sat down with a commanding view of the very humidity we just trudged though announcing its physical porperties in the form of rhythmically spasming plasma clouds.
While observing this barometric ballet, we took perhaps the least necessary time-lapse video ever. Because of course, the whole thing could be observed in hypnotic real time. And right under this cumulus crescendo, this meteorological release valve of climatic violence, was the iconic Marina Bay Sands, standing tall and futuristic, almost high enough to touch the surging sky above it. Yes, that rooftop pool looks pretty amazing. But you can’t swim during a thunderstorm. And you sure can have a beer.
