The old drinks of the region were rice wines such as tuak, lihing and tapai, made above all in Borneo, and palm toddy; beer came with the British. The press of the Straits Settlements, mostly Singapore's, advertised bottled beer in 1851, Salt's pale ale from Burton in 1852 and Guinness and Barclay Perkins porter in 1877. Lager followed from about 1875: Danish Carlsberg and Tuborg in 1877, Frankfort Brewing's Pilsener in 1889, St. Pauli Girl in 1895 and Japanese Asahi in 1904. Germany sent the Straits Settlements 258,000 gallons of beer in 1896 and Britain 264,000; by 1924 Britain held 36 per cent of a market worth 675,000 Straits dollars, with Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark behind it.

Brewing began across the causeway. Malayan Breweries was set up in Singapore in 1931 by Fraser & Neave and Heineken and began production in 1932 with Tiger; the Archipelago Brewery's Anchor followed in 1933, and Malayan Breweries bought Archipelago in 1941. Its Malayan subsidiary, incorporated in 1959, opened its first Malayan brewery in 1962 at Sungei Besi, Kuala Lumpur, to brew Anchor and Tiger locally. Guinness Malaysia was incorporated in 1964; its Sungei Way brewery in Petaling Jaya brewed the first Guinness Stout on 9 August 1965 and was opened on 19 March 1966 by the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia was incorporated in December 1969. Its brewery at Shah Alam, which the company calls the first it built in Asia, was completed in 1971 and sold its first locally brewed Carlsberg in 1972. In 1989 Guinness Malaysia and Malayan Breweries (Malaya) merged as Guinness Anchor Berhad; a new lager line at Sungei Way started in 1991 and by March 1992 the Sungei Besi brewery had closed. In 2005 the government said no more brewing licences would be issued, yet in 2007 Napex Corporation of Klang was licensed as a third brewer; Jaz beer came out that year, and Beer Asia lists Legend, Stärker and Brewmaster among its beers. Heineken took over Diageo's stake in the holding company GAPL in October 2015, and on 21 April 2016 Guinness Anchor Berhad became Heineken Malaysia Berhad.

Craft beer is recent: bars importing it opened in the Klang Valley from 2009, and the first local craft breweries came in 2022-2023. 1602 Craft Beer in Sarawak began brewing in mid-2022 and opened officially in February 2023, PaperKite of Kuala Lumpur had opened by early February 2023, and Leyd Brewing of Sibu had launched by April 2023. It is often said that PaperKite was the first Malaysian craft brewery, but no source confirms it, as 1602 was already brewing in 2022. Zebrew and, since late 2024, Hornbeer also brew in Sarawak, and in June 2025 Leyd put out what is reported to be the first Malaysian canned craft beer.

Carlsberg Malaysia, 51 per cent owned by the Carlsberg Group, completed a RM200 million transformation of the Shah Alam brewery in 2022 and 2024; since 1 January 2024 it brews Sapporo Premium Beer under licence, and in July 2026 it said a new Carlsberg-Sapporo venture would make the licence perpetual. For 2025 it reported a net profit of RM375.6 million on revenue of RM2.3 billion. Heineken Malaysia opened Brewhouse 3 at Sungei Way on 31 October 2023, began canning Guinness Draught locally in 2024 and is to help supply Singapore when Heineken ends large-scale brewing there by 2027. Alcohol is sold to non-Muslims, with a buying age of 21.