Beer Lao

[DILLIGAD]

The price is different when it comes by longtail 

Mine came in a Leo box (seriously)!

It was 3 years ago.

 

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[transam]

Last week over the boarder I paid 38bht for large BL, but sadly the hotel l was in charged 45bht for a small BL, so l will not be staying there in the future..

[natway09]

Alcohol & cigarette taxes are unaffected by any ASEAN agreement . Each country still charges the same duties

[natway09]

Thailand does not make any beer,,, they are all Lagers

[Air Smiles]

1 minute ago, natway09 said:

Thailand does not make any beer,,, they are all Lagers

 

Lager is a type of beer.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Air Smiles said:

 

Lager is a type of beer.

Correct...Chang and Archa clearly state beer on their labels...

[Bangkok Barry]

2 hours ago, Durio said:

I am familiar with that beer having had it in Laos and Vietnam on several trips.  I agree it is nice.  Put I can buy a box of quality premium beer (on special )  for 2/3 of that price.  I am in Australia and am STUNNED to learn that the beer is that price. 

It's imported. But yes, beer is ridiculously overpriced in Thailand. Two of the richest men in Thailand own the two near-monopoly breweries. Independent brewers have been forbidden by law to produce or have been forced out of the market in the past, but that does appear to be changing now.

[wump]

You guys are being taken for a ride. Why is Carlsberg 72 Baht a big bottle (so I assume just over 700 a carton) and Beerlao twice the price when they are both imported from ASEAN countries? Think about it.

[SunsetT]

4 hours ago, Randell said:

Yes somehow Beer lao has priced it self right out of the market. Yes it's great beer but the price is ridiculous. 

Only in Thailand. It is still cheap as chips in Laos! It is Thai import duty and taxes that make it expensive here.

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, natway09 said:

Alcohol & cigarette taxes are unaffected by any ASEAN agreement . Each country still charges the same duties

 

AFTA CEPT exempts alcohol, but the ASEAN ministers agreed to set the rate for alcohol to 5% back in 2002 but it did not became fully effective until 2015.

[SunsetT]

4 hours ago, Durio said:

It makes no sense to me at all given how close Issan region is to Laos.  I understand why a quality beer from Belgium or Germany is expensive in Thailand but I really do not understand the pricing at all.  Is Thai beer really that bad?  

BL is good and consistently good. Thai lager is also good but I find it to be mostly a bit sweeter tasting and also less consistent in quality. The exception in taste I find, and the nearest to BL in being less sweet is, believe it or not, the humble Archaa beer which I am happily supping now as I write this. It is, however, notoriously inconsistent, and not by the bottle, but by the batch. The taste of a bad batch has a slightly rancid edge to it. So when a bad batch arrives in town I stop drinking it in favour or the quite palatable but sweeter taste of Leo. I try Archaa again after about a month as it always eventually returns to its top notch dry taste. The new 4.5% Singha Light also comes close to BL I think but hardly anyone sells it!

 

I also have a theory about BeerLao: Ive been coming to Thailand and doing border runs to Laos for 11yrs now and I reckon that BL was originally indeed quite special and superior. But I reckon that when they introduced BL Gold they re-labeled the original BL as BL Gold and introduced an inferior brew as BL which is still good but not as good as it used to be. And if correct, a very shrewd marketing move. Chang and Singha did similar in Thailand in a different way introducing Archaa and the s h i t e U beer.

[DILLIGAD]

BL is good and consistently good. Thai lager is also good but I find it to be mostly a bit sweeter tasting and also less consistent in quality. The exception in taste I find, and the nearest to BL in being less sweet is, believe it or not, the humble Archaa beer which I am happily supping now as I write this. It is, however, notoriously inconsistent, and not by the bottle, but by the batch. The taste of a bad batch has a slightly rancid edge to it. So when a bad batch arrives in town I stop drinking it in favour or the quite palatable but sweeter taste of Leo. I try Archaa again after about a month as it always eventually returns to its top notch dry taste. The new 4.5% Singha Light also comes close to BL I think but hardly anyone sells it!
 
I also have a theory about BeerLao: Ive been coming to Thailand and doing border runs to Laos for 11yrs now and I reckon that BL was originally indeed quite special and superior. But I reckon that when they introduced BL Gold they re-labeled the original BL as BL Gold and introduced an inferior brew as BL which is still good but not as good as it used to be. And if correct, a very shrewd marketing move. Chang and Singha did similar in Thailand in a different way introducing Archaa and the s h i t e U beer.

In my opinion there is a valid reason why ‘Archa’ has a horse as a logo!
‘Nuf said!


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[transam]

11 hours ago, SunsetT said:

BL is good and consistently good. Thai lager is also good but I find it to be mostly a bit sweeter tasting and also less consistent in quality. The exception in taste I find, and the nearest to BL in being less sweet is, believe it or not, the humble Archaa beer which I am happily supping now as I write this. It is, however, notoriously inconsistent, and not by the bottle, but by the batch. The taste of a bad batch has a slightly rancid edge to it. So when a bad batch arrives in town I stop drinking it in favour or the quite palatable but sweeter taste of Leo. I try Archaa again after about a month as it always eventually returns to its top notch dry taste. The new 4.5% Singha Light also comes close to BL I think but hardly anyone sells it!

 

I also have a theory about BeerLao: Ive been coming to Thailand and doing border runs to Laos for 11yrs now and I reckon that BL was originally indeed quite special and superior. But I reckon that when they introduced BL Gold they re-labeled the original BL as BL Gold and introduced an inferior brew as BL which is still good but not as good as it used to be. And if correct, a very shrewd marketing move. Chang and Singha did similar in Thailand in a different way introducing Archaa and the s h i t e U beer.

I too now drink Archa, don't like Leo and Chang gives me a hangover...I thoroughly enjoy a few pints of BL when in Lao...

[Briggsy]

17 hours ago, Randell said:

Prem-r I wasn't trying to argue I totally agree that ultimately its Thai taxes that are doing it but the price still seem out of sync with other imports that's all I ment but thanks for the current price in Lao

I don't think it is mainly taxes. You need to look at who is distributing Beer Lao in Thailand. It has now been available in 7-11 and all the main supermarkets for years. The distributor will either be Singha Corporation or Thai Beverage or possibly Thai Asia Pacific Brewery (aka Heineken joint venture).

 

They will only distribute it at a price that does not challenge the status quo and also at a tidy profit for themselves.

 

Without a distribution agreement, Beer Lao would be unavailable. Nobody would stock it and the Big 3 would stop it being imported.

 

So, who is the distributor and importer?

[SunsetT]

1 hour ago, DILLIGAD said:

In my opinion there is a valid reason why ‘Archa’ has a horse as a logo!
‘Nuf said!


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So horse p i s s tastes that good eh? Maybe I'll stop buying beer and buy a horse.......lol.

[SunsetT]

1 hour ago, transam said:

I too now drink Archa, don't like Leo and Chang gives me a hangover...I thoroughly enjoy a few pints of BL when in Lao...

When it's good, Archaa takes some beating.

[vogie]

Anything tastes good after drinking thai beer. Beer Lao is ok, not good but ok. Do they sell it on draught in Laos?

[kamalabob2]

I am a fan of Dark Beer Lao. It is not difficult to obtain in Buriram when your friends put effort into ordering 5 cases every month at Makro. 

[starky]

On 07/02/2018 at 4:17 PM, gwynt said:

It's not Beer Lao that is out pricing it's self it is the Thai taxes. (Beer Monopolies)

Begs the question what happened to all the ASEAN free trade agreements

[DILLIGAD]

Begs the question what happened to all the ASEAN free trade agreements

Jobs for the boys.
Maybe they are all the ‘inactive posts’ that keep being banded around.


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[ubonjoe]

13 minutes ago, starky said:

Begs the question what happened to all the ASEAN free trade agreements

The agreement only covers import duties.

Once inside the country it is the same excise taxes and VAT that is added it onto domestic beers.

[mick220675]

I struggle to understand the tax on beers in Thailand, but it is clear that one of the Thai company's need to start making a decent beer.

 

This week I was in Cambodia, I could still get 5 cans of 8% black panther for 100 baht. Beer Lao dark is nice but not as nice as the Cambodian dark beers.

 

It can not be impossible for a Thai brewer to make a decent beer when there neighbours are producing vastly superior beers. Instead the Thai brewers think its a good idea to make a strawberry beer. If Cambodians and the people of Laos want and are willing to buy a good beer then Thais would buy a decent beer.

 

Come on Thailand give use a decent beer (at a competitive price).

 

 

 

 

[transam]

3 minutes ago, mick220675 said:

I struggle to understand the tax on beers in Thailand, but it is clear that one of the Thai company's need to start making a decent beer.

 

This week I was in Cambodia, I could still get 5 cans of 8% black panther for 100 baht. Beer Lao dark is nice but not as nice as the Cambodian dark beers.

 

It can not be impossible for a Thai brewer to make a decent beer when there neighbours are producing vastly superior beers. Instead the Thai brewers think its a good idea to make a strawberry beer. If Cambodians and the people of Laos want and are willing to buy a good beer then Thais would buy a decent beer.

 

Come on Thailand give use a decent beer (at a competitive price).

 

 

 

 

Perhaps Thai taste buds are different from a farangs, so the beers in LOS are up Thai folks street..When I see and smell what Thai folk eat l could be right..

[mick220675]

2 minutes ago, transam said:

Perhaps Thai taste buds are different from a farangs, so the beers in LOS are up Thai folks street..When I see and smell what Thai folk eat l could be right..

Maybe you are right, but if you you think the Thai food is bad try visiting a Cambodian village for your lunch. Maybe that's why they need stronger tasting beer, to cover up the taste of the spiders.

 

I live in a border village and many of the locals do like the Cambodian beers, especially the price.

 

Recently Cheers has introduced rice-berry beer that is darker in colour with a less sweet taste than the average Thai beer. So maybe in time they may start to offer a beer like to beer Lao dark.

[DILLIGAD]

Perhaps Thai taste buds are different from a farangs, so the beers in LOS are up Thai folks street..When I see and smell what Thai folk eat l could be right..

I often think their taste buds have been ‘burnt out’. Same as the sweets/pastries, they all taste like lard to me!


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[starky]

16 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The agreement only covers import duties.

Once inside the country it is the same excise taxes and VAT that is added it onto domestic beers.

Yes understood but would that not then mean that a case of beer Lao minus the import duties but having the same taxes as other locally produced beers, should not cost anymore to purchase wholesale than Leo, Singha or Chang.

[Morch]

3 hours ago, transam said:

Perhaps Thai taste buds are different from a farangs, so the beers in LOS are up Thai folks street..When I see and smell what Thai folk eat l could be right..

 

 

The beer drinkers in my Thai family used to looking down their noses when it came to Beer Lao, pretty much without ever tasting it. Guess it was one of them Thai/Laos superiority/inferiority things. A few years down the line, and with experience (and travel abroad for some) and nowadays its one of my standing chores to supply a box or two for family gatherings. Same thing with Beer Lao Dark, which is now a favorite.

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Morch said:

 

 

The beer drinkers in my Thai family used to looking down their noses when it came to Beer Lao, pretty much without ever tasting it. Guess it was one of them Thai/Laos superiority/inferiority things. A few years down the line, and with experience (and travel abroad for some) and nowadays its one of my standing chores to supply a box or two for family gatherings. Same thing with Beer Lao Dark, which is now a favorite.

If we are out Mrs.Trans frowns if I want an Archa beer...You know the reason...

[vogie]

1 minute ago, transam said:

If we are out Mrs.Trans frowns if I want an Archa beer...You know the reason...

Because it tastes like gnats pee? ?

[transam]

5 minutes ago, vogie said:

Because it tastes like gnats pee? ?

To be totally honest, all beer in LOS does....BL to me is a breath of fresh air though no substitute for a glass of warm English Real Ale....