Beer in Sri Lanka

As you may have gathered from recent posts (and my Twitter account if you’re following there) I recently returned from a two-week holiday in Sri Lanka. As with most holidays, prior to travelling I did a bit of research on what beer to look out for but information on Sri Lanka was pretty scant. This post from Red Hunt was about the best I could find and is worth a read, although it appears to be a bit out of date now. I thought I’d put together a brief post (I’m reluctant to call it a guide) detailing what I was able to find when I was out there.

Where to buy beer in Sri Lanka

Beer is pretty widely available in restaurants although not always legally. A lot of places don’t list it on the menu but will offer it to you on arrival. On one occasion a waiter hurried around a restaurant I was eating at asking everyone to put their beer bottles under the table! I was also unable to buy beer on Sri Lankan National Day (February 4^th) although again it appeared that not everywhere adhered to the ban. You may also find it difficult to buy beer on or around ‘Poya’ days (full moon) which are celebrated by the Buddhist population.

As in many other countries beer is not sold in supermarkets or small shops, it’s available only in specially licensed premises known as ‘Wine Shops’. These aren’t always that easy to find, when I was walking around towns on foot I rarely came across them but when driving from town to town I seemed to see loads, so it’s quite possible that they’re located on the fringes of settlements.

On the whole it doesn’t seem that the authorities are that keen to promote beer consumption. Carlsberg’s website (owner of Sri Lanka’s biggest brewery) suggests that there is a ban on all forms of advertising for alcohol, even on trade.

How much is beer in Sri Lanka?

Alcohol is fairly cheap, particularly from a Western perspective. Large 625ml bottles would cost little more than approx. £0.80 ($1.30) or so from a wine shop, including the strong beers and stouts, a quite astonishing price when you consider the amount of alcohol in them. Restaurant prices were higher and in some of the smarter or more touristy places you might pay up to £2 or so ($3.30).

Beers available in Sri Lanka

I’ve featured four Sri Lankan beers on this blog in the last week or so and I’ve got a couple more that I brought home with me but I didn’t find it that easy to track stuff down.

Lion Stout

The national brew is Lion Lager, a very reasonable Asian lager typical of its style. You won’t need to try hard to track this down as it is served absolutely everywhere. Also available from the Lion brand is Lion Stout, an absolutely wonderful 8.8% stout that is pretty much as good as any I’ve ever tasted. This is a little bit harder to track down but if you can find a wine shop, they’ll have it. The third Lion brew I spotted on my travels was Lion Strong, an 8.8% lager. I’ve got a small can of this at home which I bought out of curiosity and a post will be along when I’ve drunk it! The Lion Brewery is owned by Carlsberg and it’s also possible to find Carlsberg and Carlsberg Special Brew, should you feel the need. 

Three Coins Lager

The next most popular brand seems to be Three Coins. I tried the Three Coins Lager which was reasonably good, refreshing but not as good as Lion. Three Coins Lager is pretty widely available in restaurants. Three Coins previously produced a range of other beers including a wheat beer but the brewery was acquired by Millers in 2011 and it appears that these are no longer produced. I also picked up a can of Sando Stout (8.8%) which is also brewed by Millers and I’m yet to drink but again, a post will appear soon.

The other lager I managed to try was the Sri Lankan version of Anchor Smooth. As per my post on this lager, versions are brewed across Asia. This isn’t a particularly good beer at all and unless you’re a completest I’d stick to Lion or Three Coins. 

Annoyingly I came across a wine shop on my last night that had the widest range of beers I’d seen on the whole trip but I didn’t have room in my bag for any more (or the desire to carry them). Stupidly I didn’t note the names but there are more beers out there although they are most likely variations on a theme; pale lager, a stout (most likely 8.8% ABV) and strong lager.

To the best of my knowledge there aren’t any microbreweries out there and the beer you’re likely to find will be from one of the three breweries mentioned above, but I’d love to be proved wrong on this so please let me know if you find anything exciting!

Beer locations in Sri Lanka

Actual pointers on where to find beer are always useful, so here are a few places I found that didn’t just sell Lion Lager…

Kandy – The Queens Hotel bar serves Three Coins Lager and Anchor Smooth. This colonial-era hotel is also quite a pleasant way to pass a couple of hours and is of interest historically, there are some old photographs and artefacts on display near the bar.

Ella – There is a licensed bar on the main road towards the north of the village. When I went it was populated entirely by locals despite the large tourist presence. They sold me a Lion Stout to take away and had a variety of other beers available (again I didn’t make a note, sorry!)

Negombo – There are at least three wine shops on the main roads that run alongside the beach (Porutota Road and Lewis Place). They sell different stuff at each one; one place sold Lion stuff exclusively whilst another had everything but (yet again, I didn’t make a note) and this was where I picked up my Sando Stout.