Manila Beer Brewmasters

The Manila Beer Brewmasters were a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) from 1984-1986. It was formed after Basic Holdings, Inc., a company controlled by Lucio Tan, acquired the PBA franchise of Delta Motor Corporation, owner of league pioneer Toyota. The team was named after the brands of Asia Brewery, Inc., another Tan company - Beer Hausen (1984) and Manila Beer (1985-1986).

Beer Hausen acquired seven Toyota players, except for Robert Jaworski, Francis Arnaiz, Arnie Tuadles, Chito Loyzaga and Abe King. Jaworski refused to be a part of the new team, describing the sale as a 'farce,' and that players should not be sold "por kilo" ("lock, stock and barrel"). Beer Hausen intended to make Ramon Fernandez its franchise player with Jaworski relegated in the background.

With four players refusing to join Beer Hausen, then-PBA president Carlos "Honeyboy" Palanca III offered to take in Jaworski and Arnaiz to his team, Gilbey's Gin, while Tuadles and Loyzaga joined Great Taste and Abe King joined Gold Eagle Beer. This marked the beginning of the Jaworski-Fernandez rivalry and directly contributed at being the cornerstone in making the Gins arguably the most popular team in Philippine basketball history with Jaworski at the forefront.

In the team's inaugural season, Ramon Fernandez had a year of more than 20 triple-double performances and won his second MVP and led his team to a runner-up finish in the 1984 PBA Second All-Filipino Conference, losing to Great Taste via three-game sweep.

The following year, the ballclub was renamed Manila Beer and they bolstered their lineup through the acquisition of Crispa players Atoy Co, Yoyoy Villamin and Matthew Gaston. On October 1, 1985, three weeks into the Third Conference, Fernandez was traded to Tanduay for Abet Guidaben. Manila Beer made it to the finals for the second time in the 1985 PBA Reinforced Conference but were swept in four games in the best of seven series against guest team Northern Consolidated (NCC).

The year 1986 saw the Brewmasters having a new coach in national team mentor Joe Lipa. Manila Beer failed to make past eliminations and Lipa was replace by Tito Eduque in the following conference. The Brewmasters were powered by imports Michael Young and Harold Keeling in the Third Conference and went all the way to the finals and placed second to Ginebra San Miguel, which had the super import tandem of Billy Ray Bates and Michael Hackett.

In January 1987, the franchise announces its disbandment from the league. ^[1] The Lucio Tan group would return to the PBA in 1999 with the second incarnation of Tanduay.

Players

See also

• Tanduay Rhum Makers
• Stag Pale Pilseners
• Cossack Blue Spirits
• Cobra Energy Drink Iron Men
• Boracay Rum Waves/Tanduay Light Rhum Masters

References