Reed About Beer: Medan, The Gateway into Sumatra (Bintang Pilsner)

Well if we thought we had missed out on some unconventional goings-on over the last two weeks it came back with a vengeance.

It all began with the Air Asia flight from Penang to Medan where we were lucky enough to have a little boy who had an enjoyable time kicking the back of my chair and slapping me on the back of the head. It was actually pretty funny.

Upon arrival at Medan airport incidents just seemed to happen one after the other. First of all we had to pay $25 each for our 30 day visas and not having any money, the Indonesian immigration was happy to let Kate walk through and out of the airport for an ATM. She did return but from that point things got more and more strange. I had no problem clearing passport control unlike Kate. It took her 15 minutes because the officer didn’t believe that she was the person in the picture, and for a split second we actually thought what to do if they don’t let her in. It was looking like some alone holiday time for Reedy with one problem. Bear had all the cash.

Finally into baggage reclaim which was all hustle and bustle. Our bags were off the carousel and lying right next to the exit door to the airport with my flight bag ripped to shit. Taxi drivers and baggage porters were everywhere just what we had hoped for. This is what we love about travelling, and you have got to admit it’s much more interesting to read about.

Once outside the airport we even had to say no thanks more times in thirty seconds than the whole two weeks in Malaysia and the sager continued with some rusty bartering skills for a new type of transport. A becak was a motorbike with a side car and on we climbed while gripping our rucksacks for our short journey to Pondok Wisata Angel Guest House.

We eventually got to our accomodation

Having checked into our room which had Manchester United bedding, no sink and smelt of urine there was no time to waste. We would be leaving Medan tomorrow for Bukit Lawang, so while here we decided to make the most of it and explore.

Planning the sightseeing and check out the 1980's bedspread

We wondered for hours getting lost as always along the way but managed to get everything ticked off before the evening rain came. We even sampled the local lunch of fried chicken and rice. The sights included the great mosque, the water tower, churches, busy hectic streets and a striking Buddhist temple which had amazing Chinese architecture with intriguing statues.

The Great Mosque

Chinese Bhuddist Temple

Inside the Buddhist Temple

Water Tower

Scary Religious Staues or Intriguing

The Grand Palace

Lunch Time-Indonesian Fried Chicken & Rice

What great day to say that we had breakfast in Malaysia and dinner in Indonesia, finally topped off with our first bottle of Bintang Pilsner.

Bintang, Pilsner Lager, Indonesia, 5% Abv

Bintang was founded in 1929 as NV Nederlandsch Indische Bierbrouwerijen. Heineken became the largest shareholder in 1936 and the company’s first brand was Java Bier. The Indonesian government banned the Heineken name and replaced it with the Bir Bintang name. It remained under state control until 1965 and Heineken once again became involved in 1967.

Bintang means star in Indonesian and is Indonesia’s largest brewery. The pilsner style lager is light gold in taste and the fresh malty aroma gives way to a palate with a hoppy bitterness and a dry, hop bitter finish. The liquid is of a reasonable standard and definitely holds the majority market share in Indonesia. In Sumatra Bintang including POS is the only beer brand with any identity, and is available in the UK market place.