To nurse, sip or chug.

That will be the dilemma facing festival-goers at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre when Asia's largest beer festival, featuring more than 500 varieties of beers and ciders, opens to the public today from 6pm.

Visitors will get to enjoy the widest-ever offering to date in the nine years of Beerfest Asia till Sunday.

This includes sampling, or chugging, more than 100 new labels, including the Czech Republic's Krusovice Imperial and Germany's Erdinger Sommerweisse.

For the first time too, the festival will hold beer workshops.

Across four days, various brew masters and brand ambassadors will introduce beer lovers to the nuances of various brews. These experts will also teach participants how to brew beer at home.

The 45-minute workshops will be free for pass holders, but require registration. The workshops can hold only 50 people each, so sign up if you have yet to do so.

Festival-goers can also look forward to 30 live music acts, including local and international DJs Brendon P, Zig Zach, Haan, Shigeki and Stephen Day, and home-grown groups The Day Trippers and Raw Earth, as well as tribute bands like Hysteria (Def Leppard).

There will also be Beerfest Asia's first beer yoga - never mind the belly - as well as various games, such as electronic beer pong, to add to the fun.

Said festival director Ian Lim: "Beerfest Asia will be a brand new experience. With its large spread of new activities, food and, of course, beer, it is set to be refreshing and unforgettable."

Information and tickets, which can also be bought at the door, can be found at http://www.beerfestasia.com/