We met up with Leo and Jay

One of our favourite parts of running Druggists is getting to know the makers of the products we offer. On 4 Dec, the founders/ brewers of Taiwan Head Brewery (TWHB) dropped by, literally with a hard-shell trolley luggage stuffed full of bottles, shirts, caps and more - pretty close to what I would expect from Santa if I ever behaved good.

TWHB started as a gypsy brewery in 2015 (also the year we first tasted their beer in Tamsui, a port town outside of Taipei) and did well enough to build their own brewery few years after. Today, the brewery shares its space with a small community of artisanal producers, including Taiwan’s only cheese maker.

What makes TWHB different? Majority of craft brewers in Taiwan primarily brew IPAs, undisputedly the most popular beer style in the craft beer world. And so it would have been easy for Leo and Jay to follow and do the same. In their hearts however, that didn’t feel right. There was no “Taiwan” in doing so. Hops and malts aren’t native to Taiwan, but it was a land rich with other agriculture - tea, fruits, flowers and coffee. Beers with Taiwanese fruits, flowers and tea thus seeded the distinct identity of Taiwan Head Brewery - patriotism in a bottle.

If you’re curious to taste these beers straight from the tanks, a visit to their brewery comes highly recommended on your next trip to Taiwan.

Chimay Blue

As the year moves into the colder (rainy) months, our beer list gets an update. This year, we thought it would be fitting to pour what was a originally brewed as a Christmas beer in Belgium - this is a beer best described as luscious with notes of dark fruits and caramel-chocolate.

Debuting on tap in Druggists in mid-Dec 2026. Swing by for a taste of this Trappist Quadruple.

Before 2026.

The last few weeks of every year are usually spent looking back. Not nostalgically — more clinically. What we tried. What stuck. What quietly fell apart. The imbalance is always there. More failures than successes.

Over time, that stopped bothering us. Failures accumulate in useful ways. Like layers of flavour, they build depth even when they don’t stand out on their own.

After more than a decade of running Druggists, the problems haven’t become fewer. They’ve simply changed shape. Which makes framing — not fixing — the real work. If a problem keeps repeating, perhaps it’s asking to be seen differently.

This video explores further.