Beer store event features musicians, artists

A long one of the region’s oldest streets is a store that retails hundreds of craft beer brands and flavors from across the globe, aiming to offer locals and tourists another option when purchasing alcohol.

Beer Temple, located along the streets of Rua Nossa de Senhora Ampario, just kicked off its first event featuring performances of local artists and a sharing session with an artist from Taiwan.

The store also launched four kinds of “Hong Kong Whistle” craft beers at its premises last night, accompanied by live music and an arcade game.

“The concept that we want to bring to Macau is the different tastes of beer [as it] has a lot of variations and concepts,” said Tif Chan, marketing manager of Number 55 Co, a company that leases stores along the area.

“We really appreciate the traditional culture of this place so we want to embed modern ideas to this old place and see what we can bring to the people,” Chan added.

The street has undergone revitalization in 2015 in a bid to offer a creative hub for the locals and tourists.

Before the street underwent a revamp, the retail shops only focused on handcrafted items and creative-related items.

Beer Temple also invited Beto Ritchie, a local musician and a member of local band “Turtle Giant.”

According to Ritchie, such activities are needed in the region to offer a variety of entertainment to the residents.

“It’s not many times that we have the opportunity to do this and have people come to a place like this that serves beer from all over the world,” he remarked.

“I hope there’s many more and that it’s not just a one-time thing or that it becomes really popular and then dies down again,” the singer-musician added.

Meanwhile, organizers are hoping to turn the store into a live music venue, to also provide a platform for local artists to perform.

Duarte Silvério, Planning & Development director of Fomento Predial Kou Fu, a property agent firm that operates some of the art shops in the revamped street, also stressed that the beer store was to bring something different to residents.

“We’re not trying to do anything too chic […] Our biggest aim is to try to organize more events like this one,” he shared.

“Let’s see how it goes. This area was an area that even though we think there’s a lot of potential, it’s been dead for a very long time,” Silvério concluded. LV