Will be going to Bali in the next week or so, first time, and after doing a few evenings of research had some questions that remain unanswered.

-Perhaps above all else, a huge priority, what is the situation with beer? I have actually lived and worked in Jakarta, it was a few years ago, so I well know Indonesian beer, Bintang is fine, tho sometimes you'd like a breather and seeing as I do enjoy the odd glass of craft beer or Belgian or ale, I have noticed that none of the restaurants and bars feature Bali Stark or the Storm beers, which were by far the nicest beers available in Jakarta. Are these beers just not available in Bali? Seems strange that no one seems to feature Bali Stark in Bali itself, I often encountered it in Jakarta a few years ago. I also notice that there have been some posts around the internet that suggest Storm Brewery has gone tits up, but no one has made any definitive statement that Storm is indeed kaput, just simply people saying that they don't see it anywhere any more.

-Second, is it essential to reserve a room in advance? I have already booked a room for the first few nights in Seminyak, but will be going to Ubud and then Permuteran up in the northwest near the Mejangan Island national park and then back to Kuta/Seminyak for the last few days. It will be September for the whole trip, so I was thinking it therefor may not be essential, tho perhaps I'm mistaken. But I was wondering if perhaps it isn't much different from Thailand where you can can just roll into most tourist towns during the off season and get something acceptable without any reservations locking you into a vacation schedule.

-Last question, some people seem to suggest that you will unavoidably get some kind of stomach problem from the food. I have lived in Southeast Asia for well over a decade and rarely have any problem at all. Out of habit I am fussy and on alert whenever I eat out for dodgy food stalls/restaurants, so I was wondering if Bali is similar, if you are vigilant and take care to eat from places that appear to be clean and conscientious can you avoid what some say is the inevitable Bali belly?

That's it, thanks in advance for any good advice and the usual fun and amusing complaints about my rambling 19th century wind bag writing style! See ya in Bali!

I,ve not seen any of the Stark beers in kuta nor Ubud (which is odd as it is available in solo at the moment).

Don,t worry about booking rooms in advance, there's a real glut in most parts of Bali IMO.

If you haven,t been to lombok then I would spend some time there if I were you - W and S Lombok are fantastic and preferable to Bali.

Have a great trip.

Yes, Lombok has long been on my list. I am interested in doing some snorkelling as I am fairly on undersea life. I know that Lombok has some places, but it seemed Menjangan in Northwest Bali trumped say the Gilis for that, looks quieter and somewhat less commercialized than the Gillis.

If you like quiet and under-commercialized then you need to have at look at Kuta S Lombok. Fantastic beaches and seas with virtually no-one there

Bali, yuk.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into it as far as the coral reefs and all that are concerned as well as ease of accessibility, don't have a lot of time, but sounds fantastic otherwise, thanks so much for the tip, much appreciated!