I have just received an email from a Singapore government official telling me that there is no longer a need for a license for us to brew beer and liquors. This is good news for everyone interested in brewing beer. No need to pay and no need to travel down to the customs office to get our license anymore. I had wasted half a day to do that, since my workplace is very far away from the customs office. Anyways, if you are interested in home brewing, go and purchased a beer kit and start brewing! Or if you have just a bucket, you can brew beer or wine as well.

It means that we can brew beer whenever we feel like it but now there are limitations. However, we are now limited to brew only 30 litres per household per month. Unlike previously, we can brew as much as we want but we are limited to 30 litres per single brew, that is the fermenter cannot be more than 30 litres but you can brew like 10 times per month. As usual, home brew is only for personal consumption, not for sale. So you can’t sell it to your friends, but you can share it with them. That’s what home brew is all about - sharing your fine beers!

What is also interesting is that we can now brew wines and other fermented liquors. You can’t do distilled ones like Vodka. So if you want to make mead, wine, cider, sake and so on, go ahead as you can do it legally! No worries about some police officer knocking at your door in the middle of the night demanding to see what you have brewed. You can brew anything! This is certainly good news as I am interested in making cider from Apple Juice. I have found a recipe which is very easy to follow and I have all the necessary equipment to make it. So, this is good timing!

I have the email and pasted below is the message in it.

No Licence Needed for Home-Brew of Beer and Liquors

I am pleased to inform you that with the enactment of the Customs Home-Brewing of Fermented liquors)(Exemption) Order 2008 comes into peration on 4th April 2008, there is no need for an individual to apply or a licence from the Singapore Customs for brewing of beer, stout, orter, ale and other liquors (including samsu, wine etc), subject to the following conditions:

a) the person shall be 18 years old and above;
b) the manufacture of liquors shall be by fermentation and not by distillation;
c) the amount of liquor manufactured shall not exceed —

(i) in relation to beer, including stout, porter and ale, 30
litres per household of the person per month; and
(ii) in relation to any other fermented liquor, 30
litres in total for all such liquors per household of the
person per month;
d) the liquor made shall be used for personal consumption and not for sale; and
e) the brewing activities do not create nuisance to the public or degrade the environment.

2 Our record shows that you are issued with a licence for home-brewing of beer. Consequent to the enactment of the Customs (Home-Brewing of fermented liquors)(Exemption) Order 2008, the licence is therefore withdrawn, as there is no need for such a licence. Please destroy the licence. Please be informed that there is no refund of the licence fee in accordance to one of the conditions for the issuance of the licence which states that no refund of licence fee will be made for revocation or withdrawal of licence.

3 Please contact the undersigned at 63552093 if you have questions or wish to seek clarification on the matter.

Yours sincerely

Yeo Soon Heng
Senior Revenue Control Officer
Revenue Control Branch
for Director -General of Singapore Customs

There are 2 online home brew stores in Singapore, namely iBrew and Home Brew. Do visit them for more information on home brewing.