Brewpub Near Me in Changi Village: Little Island Brewing Co's Smokehouse

Little Island Brewing Co is closed on Mondays, and that is the single most useful thing to know before you ride a bus all the way to the island's north-eastern tip. The rest of the week its microbrewery and smokehouse at Block 6 Changi Village Road, #01-01/02, Singapore 509907, pours its own unfiltered beer from 2pm or noon, with a regular pint of Sister Golden Ale listed at S$14. For anyone searching brewpub near me from Tampines, Pasir Ris or a Changi Airport layover, this is the nearest place in Singapore where the beer is brewed a few metres from your table.

The company's own about page dates the Changi Village brewery to 2015 and describes a 10,000 square foot space with room for around 400 people, built as a microbrewery, smokehouse and restaurant in one. It sits directly behind the Changi Village bus terminal and hawker centre, a deliberately unglamorous spot that the owners lean into with picnic-style tables, fairy lights and open sides that let the sea breeze through on a good night.

The brewery points out that The New York Times recommended it as a must-visit in Singapore on October 25, 2018, and that early success let the group spread to two more outlets: a basement bar at South Beach Avenue that began life in 2016 as the Alchemist Beer Lab, and a conserved colonial warehouse at 43 Malan Road in Gillman Barracks. Changi remains the original, and the only one the website calls the brewery's home.

Brewmaster Steve Spinney runs a deliberately manual operation, according to the brewing process page, with little automation and early starts on brew days to boil the malt before adding hops. After fermentation each batch rests for a few weeks depending on the recipe. Every beer is served unfiltered and unpasteurised, straight from the serving tanks, and the house only pours its own brews, so there are no guest kegs or big-brand lagers hiding on the tap list.

On the Changi Village menu the beers are split into staples and seasonals, each with a happy-hour price and a regular price. Sister Golden Ale at 5.0% is described as the top seller and costs S$14 regular or S$11 at happy hour. Naked Lager, a 5.1% extra pale lager with honeyed German malt, Shimmer, a 5.1% New Zealand Pilsner with Nelson Sauvin notes, and White Light, a banana-and-clove Hefeweizen at 5.2%, all sit at the same S$14 regular price.

The stronger beers move up a dollar. That Old Black Magic, an award-winning dry Irish stout served on nitro at 5.5%, and Stars and Bars, a 6.4% American IPA with stone fruit and caramel malt, are S$15 regular and S$12 at happy hour. Vertigo, the double dry-hopped West Coast IPA with watermelon and lemon-peel notes, lands at the same S$15. Start with Sister Golden Ale to calibrate, then move to the stout if the evening is cooling off.

The kitchen leans on slow smoke and charcoal. The 15-hour smoked brisket appears in several forms, from a wagyu brisket main with balsamic truffle sauce to a brisket sandwich with maple mustard mayo and chimichurri on sourdough. Crispy pork belly arrives with ponzu cucumber, turmeric butter rice called nasi kunyit and a green sriracha, while Huli Huli chicken chop and stout teriyaki pork ribs come off the Argentine charcoal grill alongside lamb cutlets and a 200g ribeye.

The best value is the weekday lunch set, served Thursday and Friday from noon to 3pm except on public holidays. It costs S$18.80 before service charge and GST for tomato soup, a main such as fish and chips or the brisket sandwich, and a soft drink. Adding a pint of craft beer is S$10 and a sticky date pudding is S$5. Families should note the S$12 kid's meal, which comes with fries or greens and a junior juice.

Opening hours run in three bands. Tuesday and Wednesday the doors open at 2pm and close at 10pm. Thursday, Sunday and public holidays run noon to 10pm. Friday, Saturday and the eve of a public holiday run noon to midnight, and those are the nights the live bands play, which the brewery calls a major attraction. Arrive before 7pm on a Saturday if you want a table close enough to the stage to hear the vocals.

One honest skip: Sunlight, the 2.5% light lager brewed with Simcoe and Cascade, costs S$11 regular, only three dollars less than a full-strength pint. The brewery pitches it as a rehydration beer after outdoor activities, so it earns its place if you have just cycled the coast, but for a seated evening the Sister Golden Ale is better value. If the weekend crowd fills every seat, the sister outlet at Gillman Barracks is open until 11:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

The mix here is unlike a downtown taproom. Families come for the kid's meals and the space to roam, and the brewery runs a dedicated kids' party programme. Cyclists and walkers drift in sunburnt from the coastal paths, ordering the light lager the menu designed for them. By nine on Friday the band crowd takes over, dancing near the stage, and the venue also markets itself for weddings and corporate parties, so you may share the garden with a celebration.

Make a full afternoon of the trip. The Changi Village Hawker Centre right in front of the brewery is famous for its nasi lemak stalls, which makes it an easy early dinner before switching to beer. A short walk east, the Changi Point Ferry Terminal runs bumboats across to Pulau Ubin, the rustic island where you can rent a bicycle and ride past old kampung houses and quarry lakes.

If you would rather stay on the mainland, the Changi Point Coastal Walk is a raised boardwalk that hugs the shoreline beneath the cliffs, ideal at sunset when the light turns orange over the Johor Strait. Changi Beach Park stretches west along the coast from the village. Time the walk to finish back at Block 6 as the fairy lights come on and order the first round of stout as the sky darkens.

Buses 2, 29, 59 and 109 terminate at Changi Village Bus Terminal, and the brewery is behind the terminal and hawker centre in Block 6. There is no MRT station in the village, so most visitors arrive by bus or taxi.

All prices on the menu are subject to a 10% service charge and the prevailing 9% GST, so a S$14 pint is closer to S$17 on the final bill. No alcohol is sold to anyone under 18. Bring mosquito repellent for the open-air tables after dark, and keep an eye on the brewery's band schedule page, which lists performers and start times by date.