The 1981 San Miguel Beermen season was the seventh season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
Summary
Under new coach Tommy Manotoc, replacing Edgardo Ocampo, who transferred to Toyota Super Diesels at the beginning of the year. The beermen bring in two returning imports for the Open Conference; Aaron James and James Robinson, both former U-Tex Wranglers under Manotoc, James was part of the champion team from last season while Robinson played for U-Tex in 1979. San Miguel won their first three games of the season before suffering its first setback at the hands of Toyota Super Diesels on March 26. The beermen finish with a 6-3 won-loss card at the first round of eliminations, after losing their first assignment in the second round against Tefilin, the beermen won eight in a row and tied U-Tex Wranglers at first place with 14 wins and 4 losses. In the semifinal round, San Miguel dropped their first two games against Crispa and Toyota before nipping U-Tex, 99-98 on July 7, for their first and only win in the semifinals. The beermen lost to U-Tex in five games in their series for third place.
San Miguel won only two of their 9 games in the elimination round of the Reinforced Filipino Conference, one game better than St.George Whiskies' 1-8 won-loss card. Import Bobby Turner was replace by Ron Roberson, who led the beermen to their second victory by scoring 65 points in a 142-141 win over top-seeded Toyota on October 6. San Miguel was among the four teams that didn't advance in the round of six.