Kloster Beer

[joevanwyck]

Do any of you long term expats remember Kloster Beer? It was available at most restaurants and bars in Bangkok. in the 1980's I can't find it anywhere . Thanks.

[dbrenn]

I thought that it disappeared years back. Marketed as a premium beer, it didn't taste like one.

[ratcatcher]

Kloster and this one, are no longer available in Thailand AFAIK.This one was available in some beer bars in the noughties, not available now.

Tastes change and Thai breweries have a stranglehold with local imports being very much more expensive, think Beer Lao.

Brewed next door and better , IMHO, than the local suds. however I have taken a liking to the smoothness of this little lager from Cosmos Brewery, Nonthaburi. Smoother than Leo or Singha. 

[Razzler1973]

Even in the early-ish 90s I remember Kloster being one of the beers, alongside Singha, pre-Chang and Leo, I am sure.

 

I never really drank it tbh but sometimes I do wonder what happened to it

[chickenslegs]

On 6/15/2019 at 3:33 PM, ratcatcher said:

Kloster and this one, are no longer available in Thailand AFAIK.This one was available in some beer bars in the noughties, not available now.

Tastes change and Thai breweries have a stranglehold with local imports being very much more expensive, think Beer Lao.

Brewed next door and better , IMHO, than the local suds. however I have taken a liking to the smoothness of this little lager from Cosmos Brewery, Nonthaburi. Smoother than Leo or Singha. 

Isn't Federbrau one of the Chang lagers?

[ballpoint]

In the late 80's and early 90's you had a choice of Klosters, Singha or Amarit in most parts of Thailand.  Carlsberg came in later in the 90's and broke things up, but they themselves had a fight with their local agent, Chang, who took over the brewery.

[ratcatcher]

8 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

Isn't Federbrau one of the Chang lagers?

Apparently, yes, but IMHO it tastes better than Chang or Leo or Singha, much smoother.

https://yellow.place/en/cosmos-brewery-thailand-co-ltd-wang-noi-thailand

[ratcatcher]

4 minutes ago, ballpoint said:

In the late 80's and early 90's you had a choice of Klosters, Singha or Amarit in most parts of Thailand.  Carlsberg came in later in the 90's and broke things up, but they themselves had a fight with their local agent, Chang, who took over the brewery.

Klosters, Singha or Amarit  or Amstel    

[chickenslegs]

1 minute ago, ratcatcher said:

Apparently, yes, but IMHO it tastes better than Chang or Leo or Singha, much smoother.

https://yellow.place/en/cosmos-brewery-thailand-co-ltd-wang-noi-thailand

I can't disagree with you there. I was just thrown by the mention of Cosmos Brewery - didn't realise it's part of the Chang group.

[ratcatcher]

2 minutes ago, chickenslegs said:

I can't disagree with you there. I was just thrown by the mention of Cosmos Brewery - didn't realise it's part of the Chang group.

Unfortuately, neither did I. I have taken a liking to the odd bottle of Federbrau.  Too bad the beer cartels, Boon Rawd & Thai Bev have basically got the local market locked up.

[LomSak27]

Kloster was the higher priced beer, your other choice being Singha, back in the 80's. Singha and Kloster beer, mekong and soda, were the popular beverages. Sangsom was here just not as popular back then . Kloster was phased out in the 90's  ... why ? maybe some posters can enlighten?!

BTW - AT Siam Square in Bangkok where the "Siam Discovery" building now is, used to be an open area and in the dry season  say November on it was the Kloster beer garden, mid 80's. Nice place & good times.

Strange factoid - you get these old timer threads here on TV, there is one on Old Time Chiang Mai floating around. Kloster beer is notable by its absence, Mekong is mentioned but not all that much ... I wonder when I read these posts, did some of these ot's get there decades mixed up. uh em.  

[Toosetinmyways]

Remember Kloster well.

It was brewed by Thai Amarit Brewery until 2002. I then thought it disappeared but it was then brewed by Inbev. According to Wikipedia and a craft beer website it is still brewed and available in Thailand.

[Boon Mee]

Kloster was the preferred beer ???? to Singha by far back in the day... 

[Deli]

There was Kloster or Singha, Amstwel even hard to get.

Still today Singha is my nbr 1

[ExpatNP]

I heard the trademark owners of Kloster kicked up a fuss when Germany reunited. 

[JRG23]

Yes, remember it well.

25 baht a bottle in the gogos down Patpong. 

Bloody awful beer.

[Bredbury Blue]

It was my preferred beer - I've never liked Beer Singh - until Singh Gold came along.

 

Some ads

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_7QohSLtoU

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1TVnPWQex8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCW5kz6GJfI

 

 

[khunano]

These were the days, when beer and nightlife were better ????

[Bredbury Blue]

[Randell]

You tended to get a lot of skunky Kloster but when it was fresh a it was great and beat the other hands down in my opinion and had the best  saying on  the label or its advertising " Happiness you can drink"

[LomSak27]

5 minutes ago, JRG23 said:

Yes, remember it well.

25 baht a bottle in the gogos down Patpong. 

Bloody awful beer.

Was that in the 1960's?!  

[Orton Rd]

Tapper beer is not bad, 6.5% just over 50 baht a tin

[CGW]

On 6/16/2019 at 9:53 PM, ballpoint said:

n the late 80's and early 90's you had a choice of Klosters, Singha or Amarit in most parts of Thailand.

If I remember correct Sing Gold came along in about 1989, Kloster was not to my taste - it was "Flat" no life at all in it, was popular with the Germans. I drank Amarit before Gold came along, it was IMO the best of a bad bunch, was happy when Heiniken arrived on the market, not that it is a great beer, but could drink more than four without waking up thinking someone had been driving six inch nails into your skull while passed out!

[Bredbury Blue]

Weren't many beer choices available back then in Thailand, were there.

 

Not wishing to derail this Kloster topic, but back then most expats went to Patpong, Nana or Cowboy as there really weren't a lot of options available. I only recall there being a few pubs about - Bobby's Arms and The Toby Jug spring to mind. Then, Delaney's Irish pub opened on Convent Road and people flocked to it, and that was the start of the mass of English/Irish style pubs that sprung up around BKK.

[CGW]

9 minutes ago, Bredbury Blue said:

English/Irish style pubs that sprung up around BKK.

Landmark downstairs and the place on Soi 4 - name escapes me - Jools!? CheckInn99 was ok as well back then, if you wanted to get away from the madness, also Bourbon St.

 

[thecyclist]

Late seventies/early eighties there were only 2 brands of beer available in Thailand :Kloster and Singha :although Kloster was only about 2 Baht more than Singha, 19 Baht versus 17 for a big bottle, it was the choice of the affluent Thais. I think it was in 1985 when both beers went up by 10 Baht:As an avid beer drinker I still remember the traumatizing shock that this 50% increase in the price of my favorite beverage caused. Some time in the eighties for a couple of years there was a newcomer, called Khunpaen, a stronger beer that gave you the hangover of your life, if consumed in larger quantities. 

[sandyf]

On 6/16/2019 at 3:40 PM, Razzler1973 said:

Even in the early-ish 90s I remember Kloster being one of the beers, alongside Singha, pre-Chang and Leo, I am sure.

 

I never really drank it tbh but sometimes I do wonder what happened to it

You could still get Kloster and Singha Gold in Pattaya into the 2000's.

Chang has been around since the mid 90's, long before the Kloster demise. The beer become much better known after the  "castleburg" lost its licence.

[LomSak27]

Just now, thecyclist said:

Late seventies/early eighties there were only 2 brands of beer available in Thailand :Kloster and Singha :although Kloster was only about 2 Baht more than Singha, 19 Baht versus 17 for a big bottle, it was the choice of the affluent Thais. I think it was in 1985 when both beers went up by 10 Baht:As an avid beer drinker I still remember the traumatizing shock that this 50% increase in the price of my favorite beverage caused. Some time in the eighties for a couple of years there was a newcomer, called Khunpaen, a stronger beer that gave you the hangover of your life, if consumed in larger quantities. 

 

Here we go. Maybe this is the 1970's.    Decades can ge confusing, Try again

[Thaidream]

8 hours ago, CGW said:

Landmark downstairs and the place on Soi 4 - name escapes me - Jools!? CheckInn99 was ok as well back then, if you wanted to get away from the madness, also Bourbon St.

Yes = Jools =just down the road from Nana. Checkinn 99 has relocated to Soi 33 and Bourbon St to Soi 63.

 

Anyone remember the days prior to Cowboy and Nana when Phetchaburi Road was where the action was-  The Thai Heaven- where the ladies  wore numbers and you could get  a big Singha or Kloster or you could bring your own bottle and buy set ups.  Closing hours were around 4 AM but if you wanted more there was a place called the Scandanavian that went around the clock

 

Then there is the infamous-  Jack's America Star Bar- made famous in the movie American Gangster   It was on the corner of Soi 55 and Phetchaburi Rd- closed when Jack was finally caught  and extradited to the Us for  heroin trafficking.  Went in only once =tough crowd that didn't take kindly to strangers.

 

As the song goes- one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble..... Pass the Kloster..and remember the times when Thailand was actually fun.

[atyclb]

kloster available but non thailand brewed