Singapore: Tiger Beer preparing to roll out several new products
Tiger Beer is preparing to roll out several new products over the next one to two years, as the home-grown brand seeks to reinforce its Singapore identity even as large-scale brewing moves out of the Republic, The Business Times reported on June 16.
The upcoming products will be shaped by Tiger’s Singapore-based brand and innovation teams, said SJ Heng, senior director of commerce at Heineken Asia-Pacific, in a recent interview with The Business Times. Heng also oversees the Tiger Beer portfolio.
Her comments come as Tiger Beer maker Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore (APBS) – which is owned by Heineken – undertakes a major restructuring of its Singapore operations. By end-2027, large-scale brewing will shift to established regional breweries in Malaysia and Vietnam.
The move, announced in March, will see APBS scale down brewing operations at its Tuas facility and cut about 130 roles over two years, out of a Singapore workforce of about 540. The site will be redeveloped to support regional logistics and innovation activities, including a pilot brewery.
Since Tiger announced its brewing shift, other long-established food and beverage names have also unveiled similar plans.
In April, Yeo Hiap Seng laid off staff in local can-making roles as it consolidated such manufacturing in Malaysia. Gardenia said in May that its bakery operations would shift to Johor Bahru.
But for a beer long closely associated with Singapore, the shift has raised questions over whether Tiger can remain meaningfully Singaporean if it is no longer brewed here at scale.
Heng pushed back against that view, saying that Tiger’s identity is anchored not only in where it is produced, but also in where the brand is directed, developed and governed.
“The brand is not determined by the postal code of the brewery,” she said. “What’s very important is the brand is led by a Singaporean in Singapore, (who is) holding the pen for the strategic direction and preserving the brand positioning.”
She added that Singapore remains the “heart” and “nerve centre” of Tiger Beer, housing the teams responsible for the brand’s strategic direction, creativity, positioning and innovation road map.
That role will become more important as Tiger looks to develop new products for changing consumer tastes.
The pilot brewery will allow APBS to test ideas on a smaller scale before deciding whether they can be commercialised more widely. Depending on the product, this could include small-batch trials in Singapore to see whether a taste profile works with local consumers.
“The pilot plant is really the key to unlock small-scale experimentation, new flavours (and) more products that younger consumers can discover,” Heng said.
Asked how many new Tiger variants consumers could expect, she said: “You should expect to see… three or four more innovations coming up in the next (one to two years).”
The push comes as drinking habits shift, particularly among younger consumers. Heng said that consumers are “drinking a little bit less, but they want to drink better” – whether through more premium products, new flavours, easier-drinking beers, or low-to-no-alcohol options.
For instance, Tiger Crystal, which Heng described as one of the brand’s key innovations, has benefited from Asia’s food-led drinking culture.
She pointed to internal research showing that 81 per cent of drinking occasions in Asia are “food-led”. This makes lighter and easier-drinking beers – the segment Tiger Crystal is positioned in – more relevant for consumers who want to pair drinks with meals and socialise over longer sessions.
Globally, around half of Tiger’s portfolio is now in the easy-drinking segment, largely made up of Tiger Crystal, while the original Tiger lager accounts for the other half.
But the original lager’s share is expected to decline gradually as consumer preferences shift.
“It will come down,” Heng said. “The data states very clearly that in Asia, particularly, easy drinking is what consumers are gradually shifting towards.”
When asked, Heng said the production shift is not purely a cost-saving exercise, but part of a broader move to improve long-term competitiveness by tapping APBS’ regional supply chain, while focusing Singapore on higher-value functions.
For her, that higher-value role is also the answer to doubts over Tiger’s identity after the brewing shift.
“I sincerely feel that the Singapore role in this is innovation, and it’s really about value creation,” she said.
“We do our best as a country when we drive value creation, when value adding, so I really think (that) this is leveraging the strength of our country.”
16 June, 2026
