LeVeL33 has incredible views over Marina Bay in Singapore.
LeVeL33
Singapore’s LeVeL33 has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the highest microbrewery in a building. Located on the 33rd floor of Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1, the brewery was recognized on December 10, 2024, with its official certificate being delivered in March 2025, although the process began months before.
“It is a tedious process,” said Martin Bem, founder and managing director of LeVeL33 on a video call. That process began in August 2024 and involved expert witnesses and supplying plans for the original building construction, which was completed in 2010, from the building authority in Singapore.
“It is a nice achievement to give ourselves a little bit of birthday present with this achievement,” said Bem. LeVeL33 is an original tenant of the building and has been operating for 15 years. The brewery has been at this height all along, but Bem thought the official Guinness recognition would be a fun acknowledgement to celebrate the brewery’s anniversary.
LeVeL33 has been officially recognized by Guinness World Records
LeVeL33
Sky High Ambition
Bem has had a long career in hospitaility. “I started in Bavaria. I was already in the beer industry,” said Bem. Bem works with Germany’s Paulaner Brauerei in Singapore and had a prior, successful Bavarian-inspired concept restaurant in Singapore.
“So I always wanted to do a microbrewery,” said Bem. “I really wanted to have our own homemade, home brewed beer, unfiltered, and unpasteurized because obviously it’s a completely different product. And I think quality-wise, it’s different from the commercial beers. But I also love my wines and I love my food.”
“So I thought, it’s a new concept to have homemade beer, but really good, food and a nice wine list,” said Bem. “I was looking for a very particular location. I was scouting the market with a real estate broker from Singapore and then when I saw the model of Marina Bay Financial Centre, I immediately looked at the penthouse and asked the landlord what they were planning to do there. And it was still up for grabs.”
Given the iconic location and the commercial possibilities for the space, the landlord held a tender process. Bem and his team were the everything winning bidder. LeVeL33 has occupied the space since Day One.
“I signed the lease before I knew how we could bring the brew house up,” says Bem. “I knew that the service lifts were too small. We explored helicopter, but the Marina Bay is a no-fly zone. That was out of the question.”
Ground-based cranes would not reach high enough—LeVeL33 is 149.321 meters high (489 feet, 10 inches). At the end of the day, a portion of the building’s façade had to be removed so that a modular crane could be installed on the 33rd floor to hoist all of the brewery equipment up.
That brewing equipment consists of a 1,000-liter (over 8-barrels) brewery with 2,000-liter fermenters (over 16-barrels). Special stainless-steel beams needed to be installed, along with a stainless steel plate that distributes the weight of the brewery and liquid over a greater area. Given the height of the brewery, a high-pressure water tank was also installed; the building’s regular plumbing would not suffice.
High Level Dining Experience
LeVeL33’s brewery is no mere showpiece. All beer served is brewed on site. Even packaging occurs on site.
Those beers are five regular offerings ranging from blonde ale to stout, available on draught and in cans for takeaway. The brewery also makes seasonal beers and, in line with the elevated dining experience expected from a restaurant in the heart of Singapore’s financial district, offers Brut Beer a beer brewed with the same yeast as the Champagne Barons de Rothschild and with second fermentation in a bottle, like champagne.
As for Bem’s affinity for wine, “We have only wines with less than 5,000 cases of production.” That wine list from small producers is 12 pages long, while an extensive list of other beverages and cocktails, not including the beer, adds six more pages to the menu.
As would be expected from a restaurant of this caliber, the food is high end, with many including beer ingredients or beer itself. Where possible, the brewery and restaurant uses organic ingredients.
Singapore is a well-known destination for food and restaurants. But LeVeL33 takes dining to new heights.
