12 hours ago, Lite Beer said:

Used to be a great beer but is now totally undrinkable.

Did you also notice that the bottles are smaller than they used to be.

 

Smaller bottles, lower strength and tastes awful but the price keeps going up.

Try Cheers Extra. 6%

 

Seconded. The red can. Go for it. Or order some strong brews from Wishbeer. They have an incredible choice and deliver. A bit pricey, but it's real beer instead of the overpriced piss you get from local producers.

Cheers Extra used to be 7.3% when it first came out, like most Thai beers the price goes up and the alcoholic volume goes down.

 

If you can afford  it beer Lao dark it good as is kaiserdorm dark(Tesco). It is sad that you can go to Thailand's neighbors and get far superior beers, personally my favorites are Cambodia's black panther and ABC stout.

 

Chang has been going downhill for years, if you stop drinking it for a few months, then go back to it all you can taste is a mix of chemicals and sugar.

9 hours ago, bluesofa said:

While not defending drink-driving in any way, isn't the reason a lot of the population in this region seem to get drunk easily is due to their lactose intolerance - not tending to have dairy products in their diet?

I'm sure someone better informed will put me straight if I've got that wrong.

 

Not to do with lactose  intolerance,my theory is diet ,most Thai's drink after work ,but what have they had to eat during the day ,a couple  bowls of rice, with some chili  sauce , not enough bulk to soak  up any alcohol ,as the average working Thai will drink  Lao-Khow at 35 %, or Hong Tong, normally  with something to eat, it is a recipe  for getting drunk quickly ,and then he has to drive home ,say no more . 

It seems clear now there is a market for better quality beer.  Instead of satisfying it Chang, owned by one of the richest companies in Thailand, have tried to squeeze out legitimate competition from the craft brewers.

In my town the Department of Disease Control have been trying to stop the promotion of alcohol again.  They might be more relaxed if a better product was being sold.

6 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

Have you tried U Beer , cheaper than Chang or Leo ( in Lotus ) and goes down better . Well I think so , try it with a slice of lime , there yer go lager and lime , trust me.

Sorry, tried it and dont like it.....too sweet for me. Actually, my favourite beer is Archaa when it is good because it is the least sweet. But it is very inconsistent and sometimes, when there is a bad batch, it tastes a bit rancid. At the moment, if I can get it I like Singha Light, but very few bars/restaurants sell it.

14 hours ago, Nowisee said:

No more local thai "beer" for me until they allow the making and selling of craft beer.  I save my money for real farangland craft beers.  

My favourite is Duval, 2 of them and you get a nice relaxing feeling and a good nights sleep.

,,

Edited December 23, 20178 yr by Arth

Seems to me that most any beer has a detractor or two. That Red can of Cheers is fine; wish it came in a bottle. 

1 hour ago, IAMHERE said:

Seems to me that most any beer has a detractor or two. That Red can of Cheers is fine; wish it came in a bottle. 

 

Yes. Very strange that the weaker blue Cheers does, but not the red. I'd love to know the logic and reasoning behind that. If there is any.

8 minutes ago, Bangkok Barry said:

 

Yes. Very strange that the weaker blue Cheers does, but not the red. I'd love to know the logic and reasoning behind that. If there is any.

 

Red Cheers does indeed come in bottles , very hard to find though

I saw one in a shop in Chiang rai , went to buy one a few days later and they had all gone

Seen them, but didnt manage to drink one

On 12/23/2017 at 10:24 AM, VocalNeal said:

I believe the "original" Chang was 6.5% . Then there was Chang Export at 5% And Chang Gold? at ??. 

 

They consolidated/changed recipe back to Carlsberg, for the export market, and now only have Chang Classic at 5.2% 

 

It is not as sweet as some Thai beers so a bit more European or Pilsner-like in taste. 

 

I still drink Tiger as Chang for me still has a stigma of beer euphemistically known as "award-winning" meaning cheap piss. [ i have a hang over as last night I drank 6 award winners] 

Tiger for me as well,for the 'local bought beers',or is it Singapore,still 'local',Chang is the only one that gave me a headache after only a few bottles.

This cerainly shows how we all like different brews.  I like U beer ( some here don't ) as it goes down easily , I find Chang sticks in my throat as if it doesn't want to head south.

Not surprising as in England if there was a brewery strike and the pub only sold bottled lager I would go home or elsewhere . Hicks Special Draught only available in Cornwall , ah a beer to enjoy , I don't miss much not being back to the mother lode in 12 years but HSD .

Come on Phil most other things here are better. Pull yerself together man !

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

 

Red Cheers does indeed come in bottles , very hard to find though

I saw one in a shop in Chiang rai , went to buy one a few days later and they had all gone

Seen them, but didnt manage to drink one

I've never heard of or tried this Cheers.  I will try to find some.  As a matter of interest, does the black can contain a dark beer and if not, does anyone know of a Thailand brewed dark ale?  Beer Lao dark is great, but starting to get expensive and of course it's from Laos, not Thailand. 

6 minutes ago, mikosan said:

I've never heard of or tried this Cheers.  I will try to find some.  As a matter of interest, does the black can contain a dark beer and if not, does anyone know of a Thailand brewed dark ale?  Beer Lao dark is great, but starting to get expensive and of course it's from Laos, not Thailand. 

Having a tall Leo on ice as I speak, ahhhh the simple life........

Leo. The only beer that tastes worse than Chang. 

1 minute ago, Lite Beer said:

Leo. The only beer that tastes worse than Chang. 

OK not a big drinker but when i do i prefer to drink a couple of bottles of strong beer, to get me to sleep and to avoid having to go for a Jimmy Riddle in the night.
 
But on my return to Thailand this time it seems someone has managed to get Chang down to 5% alc content.
 
Is this some forced govt initiative or have Thais turned into shandy drinking vegetarians w###### like men in southern England?
 
 

Not hard to see why you stay in and limit yourself to 2 small Changs, you're obviously a danger to yourself in bars


Sent from my [device_name] using http://Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

banjoe, well said, I’m still waiting to hear what’s wrong with men from southern England and vegetarians.

5 hours ago, Paul Laycock1 said:

banjoe, well said, I’m still waiting to hear what’s wrong with men from southern England and vegetarians.

Nothing whatsoever if they voted baboon in POTY 2017...

Having my first Chang in a good while. I've tasted better piss. Used to love the stuff but now it is bland and far too weak. They won't be getting my custom again.

On 12/23/2017 at 4:46 AM, jacko45k said:

That was the problem, they didn't really have a handle on it but it exceeded 5%!

I find modern Chang Classic a bit bland... but of course the price is good!

I remember reading years ago that someone tested various bottles of Singha and found that the ABV varied between 5% and 9% (not sure if those figures are correct, but it was somewhere around there) depending on the batch. How much truth there is in that I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me. They don't seem to be big on QC in Thailand.

baboon, never tasted piss like you so can’t compare it to Chang.

12 minutes ago, Paul Laycock1 said:

baboon, never tasted piss like you so can’t compare it to Chang.

Feel free to take my word for it...

39 minutes ago, nisakiman said:

I remember reading years ago that someone tested various bottles of Singha and found that the ABV varied between 5% and 9% (not sure if those figures are correct, but it was somewhere around there) depending on the batch. How much truth there is in that I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me. They don't seem to be big on QC in Thailand.

What you've said rings a bell with me too.

 

Twenty-five years ago in the UK we used to cook and sell Thai food in pubs, just as it was starting to become popular. We also sold to the landlord boxes of Singha on sale-or-return as an additional income for the Thai-night.

IIRC there was a company somewhere near Slough that had the monopoly on importing Beer Singha and Mekhong Whiskey. If we ordered I think 20 boxes at a time, they would deliver free to anywhere in the UK.

 

There were regular customers who commented the same, regarding the variation in strength.

Edited December 24, 20178 yr by bluesofa
misprit

40 minutes ago, nisakiman said:

I remember reading years ago that someone tested various bottles of Singha and found that the ABV varied between 5% and 9% (not sure if those figures are correct, but it was somewhere around there) depending on the batch. How much truth there is in that I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me. They don't seem to be big on QC in Thailand.

I heard that that was with Chang, it was unregulated .

That is why they had to invent Chang Export, to make sure that they were 5 % and not above

I thought Chang before was 6% and they also went from 33 to 32 cl.

Just now, joskeshake said:

I thought Chang before was 6% and they also went from 33 to 32 cl.

Oh, has the small bottle size been reduced too? I wasn't aware of that.

OK not a big drinker but when i do i prefer to drink a couple of bottles of strong beer, to get me to sleep and to avoid having to go for a Jimmy Riddle in the night.
 
But on my return to Thailand this time it seems someone has managed to get Chang down to 5% alc content.
 
Is this some forced govt initiative or have Thais turned into shandy drinking vegetarians w###### like men in southern England?
 
 

It was 5.5% before the recent reduction to 5% about a year ago.

Sent from my SM-G610F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

The disgusting taste used to be almost worth it for the strength and value . Now the stuff is even more disgusting , vomit at the thought , weak and expensive .

And like Singha, the bottles have become smaller.