Identical beers tasting very different

[Brightonman]

I have been buying Leo Strong 8 from Makro Pattaya recently but in a box of 12 big bottles 2 or 3 have been exploding when opening. The beer will shoot out like sparkling wine but you just never know which bottle is going to do it! I'm still buying it because I like the taste. 

 

I started drinking Greene King when my brother used to take me to The Old Crown when I was 14. My first beer was mild and something (black?/brown?) and later switched to IPA, which was a good swilling beer! Anyone who says that Thai beer is anything similar has no taste buds.

 

Used to go to many beer festivals and loved the different tastes.

 

The IPA type cans you get here cost 100 or 130 baht but often taste old but still worth it sometimes.

 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Brightonman
extra info

[bbabythai]

DO YOU HAVE COVID INFECTION//////

[Brightonman]

Just now, bbabythai said:

DO YOU HAVE COVID INFECTION//////

No! I have had 2 doses of Sinopharm. Do you? And why do you ask?

[mahtin]

No immunity to nostalgia.

[fulhamster]

4 hours ago, rwill said:

Both light and heat will damage beer.  For bottled beer the darker the glass the better.

Is that why Chang changed from brown bottles to green ??

[Crossy]

3 hours ago, DBath said:

As an American running a project for Oracle Corp. back in the day up in the Lakes District, near Carnforth, most everyone on the team would go to the pub and sit and have 2-3 pints during lunch - man those were the days! I like beer anyways, especially Boddington’s. 

 

Been there, got the t-shirt. By far the best code is written on a Friday afternoon after the developers have had a bit of "lubrication".

 

Being in the rail industry means lunchtime drinking is well off the cards now although rail chaps are still expected to drink like fish after working hours. I do try to keep the tradition alive ???? 

[DBath]

6 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Been there, got the t-shirt. By far the best code is written on a Friday afternoon after the developers have had a bit of "lubrication".

 

Being in the rail industry means lunchtime drinking is well off the cards now although rail chaps are still expected to drink like fish after working hours. I do try to keep the tradition alive ???? 

One afternoon around 2:00 the finance controller and I stepped away for a few pints. At the time I could keep pace with any American when it came to beer consumption. Imagine my surprise (not to mention the bruising to my ego) when I’d only finished 1/4 of my mug and my client was already pouring his next one. 

 

Even when I picked up the pace significantly, he still “left me in the dust” as they say. ????

[QPRFC]

There's a huge counterfeit market for beer. The Chinese have mega factories. 

The most difficult mainstream bottle to counterfeit apparently is Heineken and they will buy and recycle. The other bottles they just produce themselves! 

So try to avoid buying beer from shops with Chinese connections! 

[Stupooey]

On 8/21/2021 at 6:23 PM, Sparktrader said:

After 3 beers same same. Cold beer is cold beer.

Of course, because the cold destroys the flavour. Beer served at the correct temperature (57F/14C for British bitter) is a completely different ball game.

[Stupooey]

9 hours ago, digbeth said:

It used to be well known amongst certain circles that Leo from certain terroir has particular taste, you can check this on the label on the bottle/can to see where it's made or the production no. on the unopened box in case where you can't see the label, there's multiple plant dotted around the country

the general concensus is Leo from Khonkaen is best, seconded by Nakhon Pathom and Pathum Thani 

 

it's probably down to the water source

 

if it taste off it could have been shaked or stored or transported in the heat for too long

Just been to check my current Leo bottles/case, but can't see any brewery (factory?) Identification. Perhaps it's hidden in the barcode. I do remember though that, back in the days when Leo was just a twinkle in someone's eyes, Beer Singha did have either Bangkok, Pathum Thani or Khon Kaen printed on the label, identifying which of their then three breweries had produced the beer. I seem to remember that at the time Pathum Thani was the favoured tipple.

 

[Stupooey]

9 hours ago, theoldgit said:

 

I really miss my Shepherd Neame beer from Kent, especially Bishops Finger available in Sainsbury at £1.20 but I've never seen here, used to see Spitfire in Villa and Gourmet but have seen for some years.

 

I occasionally treat myself to a bottle or two of London Pride at £4.75, as opposed to £5.50 for a four pack back in the UK.

 

I've had Old Speckled Hen on draft in the British Club and in a bar in Udon Thani, quite partial to that, but only occasionally available in cans here in Hua Hin.

 

 

As a Man of Kent I was weaned on Shepherd Neame, but then spent much of my life in West London, where Fuller's became my regular tipple, although I've yet to find it here. A couple of years ago, Makro in Hua Hin had bottles of Fuller's Pride at B110. I bought just four, in case it was old stock or counterfeit, but when I realised it was the real deal (or as real as you can get in a bottle) I went back for more,. Naturally they had sold out!

[Stupooey]

9 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

No Fokker comes close?

The Bottle of Britain!

[3NUMBAS]

water from a different part of the river chaophrya

[Farma]

Storage plays a big part.

 

Many years ago in Malaysia we were supplied duty free anchor and VB.

 

The VB came by shipping container from Oz and it wasn't unusual for a few cartons to be off. It was explained that heat in the container turned the beer. 

[Sparktrader]

1 hour ago, Stupooey said:

Of course, because the cold destroys the flavour. Beer served at the correct temperature (57F/14C for British bitter) is a completely different ball game.

Enhances the flavour. Heat destroys the flavour.

[theoldgit]

40 minutes ago, Stupooey said:

As a Man of Kent I was weaned on Shepherd Neame, but then spent much of my life in West London, where Fuller's became my regular tipple, although I've yet to find it here. A couple of years ago, Makro in Hua Hin had bottles of Fuller's Pride at B110. I bought just four, in case it was old stock or counterfeit, but when I realised it was the real deal (or as real as you can get in a bottle) I went back for more,. Naturally they had sold out!

Is this what you meant, Villa Hua Hin, B215 now though.

[Sparktrader]

Beer goes off above 13c celsius. Lagers should be 5 to 8 degrees. Ales 8 to 12.

 

 

[digbeth]

1 hour ago, Farma said:

Storage plays a big part.

 

Many years ago in Malaysia we were supplied duty free anchor and VB.

 

The VB came by shipping container from Oz and it wasn't unusual for a few cartons to be off. It was explained that heat in the container turned the beer. 

VB? how can you tell it was off

/sorry

[Sparktrader]

7 hours ago, Brightonman said:

I have been buying Leo Strong 8 from Makro Pattaya recently but in a box of 12 big bottles 2 or 3 have been exploding when opening. The beer will shoot out like sparkling wine but you just never know which bottle is going to do it! I'm still buying it because I like the taste. 

 

I started drinking Greene King when my brother used to take me to The Old Crown when I was 14. My first beer was mild and something (black?/brown?) and later switched to IPA, which was a good swilling beer! Anyone who says that Thai beer is anything similar has no taste buds.

 

Used to go to many beer festivals and loved the different tastes.

 

The IPA type cans you get here cost 100 or 130 baht but often taste old but still worth it sometimes.

 

 

Shaking beer causes it to explode

[Sparktrader]

1 minute ago, digbeth said:

VB? how can you tell it was off

/sorry

5555

Yes its not very good

Ok on tap but bottles not good

[patman30]

On 8/21/2021 at 3:19 PM, Captain Monday said:

Old Chang used to be incredibly inconsistent. The new not so much maybe it is more heat resistant.

When I was in Patong in July I saw people cleaning out a bar, They were washing off the dust and grime from beer bottles. How many  months cooking in the heat... Bars down there closed still

The good ol' days when chang was literally a lottery beer
with minimum 6.4%
some days drinking would be cheaper than others if you got a lucky batch

[Stupooey]

9 hours ago, DBath said:

May be only slightly off topic, but this thread really brings back memories for me….

As an American running a project for Oracle Corp. back in the day up in the Lakes District, near Carnforth, most everyone on the team would go to the pub and sit and have 2-3 pints during lunch - man those were the days! I like beer anyways, especially Boddington’s. 
 

Many years later on a big project in Philly, PA I and my boss, who is a Brit, found this great pub near the south side where they had trivia every Tue and they also had Boddy’s on tap. We became fixtures there and many late evenings. 
 

Great memories…

Interesting you should mention Boddington's. I used to drink it a lot when I was a student in Manchester between 1969 and 1972, but was always disappointed when I could not find any out of term time. The reason, I discovered, was that the brewery reckoned the beer 'didn't travel', so they refused to take it more than 30 miles from Manchester. Some time later they were taken over by the giant Whitbreads, who of course had no such qualms about maintaining the quality of the product, so its availability became ubiquitous, including evidently Philadelphia PA, which last time I looked at a map was definitely more than 30 miles from Manchester! Boddies was never the same again, even though it was still being produced at Strangeways until 2005.

[Stupooey]

1 hour ago, theoldgit said:

Is this what you meant, Villa Hua Hin, B215 now though.

That's the one. Better on draught though. Regrettably the B110 was a one-off special offer, so far as I know.

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

In America it seems to be the other way around. Despite different brands, mass-market beers tend to taste the same.

[rwill]

9 hours ago, fulhamster said:

14 hours ago, rwill said:

Both light and heat will damage beer.  For bottled beer the darker the glass the better.

Is that why Chang changed from brown bottles to green ??

For the sake of the beer they should have stayed with the brown bottles.  My guess is they wanted to look more like Heineken.

[DBath]

2 hours ago, Stupooey said:

Interesting you should mention Boddington's. I used to drink it a lot when I was a student in Manchester between 1969 and 1972, but was always disappointed when I could not find any out of term time. The reason, I discovered, was that the brewery reckoned the beer 'didn't travel', so they refused to take it more than 30 miles from Manchester. Some time later they were taken over by the giant Whitbreads, who of course had no such qualms about maintaining the quality of the product, so its availability became ubiquitous, including evidently Philadelphia PA, which last time I looked at a map was definitely more than 30 miles from Manchester! Boddies was never the same again, even though it was still being produced at Strangeways until 2005.

Very interesting, I didn't know that. And yes, Philly is definitely more than 30 miles from there! I was there in 1998, then in London for a spell around 2003, so it has been a while ago. I sure enjoyed my time there and the Lakes District was very pretty. 

[Brightonman]

3 hours ago, Sparktrader said:

Shaking beer causes it to explode. But who shakes beer? My wife brings it straight from the fridge with no shaking. 3 out of 12 bottles are like fountains