I bought a beer in small shop that sells during the day. Smelled and tasted bad.  I am sure there is difference from the beer at the Big Corner Shop. I am not sure but it smelled like menthol alcohol, could be preservatives or it was just really old beer.  There is often drunks in front of this shop, so she sells a lot. She also sell some white moonshine stuff, i noticed. Not hard to imagine the same supply might sell fake stuff.   I am thinking this is serious and widespread problem in Thailand. I won't be buying beer from anywhere other than the Big Name Shops now.  What's your opinion?

2 minutes ago, Don Chance said:

I bought a beer in small shop that sells during the day. Smelled and tasted bad.  I am sure there is difference from the beer at the Big Corner Shop. I am not sure but it smelled like menthol alcohol, could be preservatives or it was just really old beer.  There is often drunks in front of this shop, so she sells a lot. She also sell some white moonshine stuff, i noticed. Not hard to imagine the same supply might sell fake stuff.   I am thinking this is serious and widespread problem in Thailand. I won't be buying beer from anywhere other than the Big Name Shops now.  What's your opinion?

What kind of bottle or container was it in? 

This type of thing always worries me. I bought a Cannabis drink once and it tasted very strange. I later found out they added cough syrup to it. It may have contained something like that, which many locals want.

 

 

15 minutes ago, davb said:

What kind of bottle or container was it in? 

This type of thing always worries me. I bought a Cannabis drink once and it tasted very strange. I later found out they added cough syrup to it. It may have contained something like that, which many locals want.

 

It looked like a normal can of beer, one of the top 3, i won't mention the name.  i should say counterfeit beer.

Probably just expired and old can smell like A..

I've never had a problem with bottles or canned beer, draft beer in agogos can vary, also slops get reused sometimes...

As bbk says probably an old one that has been at the bottom of their storage for a year or two. Had it happen to me at my regular shop.

There are several reasons why a beer could taste bad:

 

Past best before date

Damaged container

Skunked i.e. a bottle exposed to u.v. light

Beer contamination during bottling process

 

to name but a few.

 

With craft beers it could just be a batch change or re-formulation giving a different mouthfeel. But with more commerciaiised beers the taste should be pretty consistent.

 

If it smells bad I wouldn't risk tasting it.

 

On 8/26/2025 at 4:27 PM, scubascuba3 said:

 also slops get reused sometimes...

So does the draft beer!

Probably normal Leo then, they did make excellent beers Calypso, Yelllow submarine and Galaxy but Thai no like, too good.

On 8/26/2025 at 3:03 PM, Don Chance said:

I bought a beer in small shop that sells during the day. Smelled and tasted bad.  I am sure there is difference from the beer at the Big Corner Shop. I am not sure but it smelled like menthol alcohol, could be preservatives or it was just really old beer.  There is often drunks in front of this shop, so she sells a lot. She also sell some white moonshine stuff, i noticed. Not hard to imagine the same supply might sell fake stuff.   I am thinking this is serious and widespread problem in Thailand. I won't be buying beer from anywhere other than the Big Name Shops now.  What's your opinion?

Menthol Beer???

maybe  they had left it out in the sun for awhile

On 8/26/2025 at 3:03 PM, Don Chance said:

I bought a beer in small shop that sells during the day. Smelled and tasted bad.  I am sure there is difference from the beer at the Big Corner Shop. I am not sure but it smelled like menthol alcohol, could be preservatives or it was just really old beer.  There is often drunks in front of this shop, so she sells a lot. She also sell some white moonshine stuff, i noticed. Not hard to imagine the same supply might sell fake stuff.   I am thinking this is serious and widespread problem in Thailand. I won't be buying beer from anywhere other than the Big Name Shops now.  What's your opinion?

Quite common especially with large bottles to taste funny and even more so from mom and pop stores old stock or left in the sun . But the beer is still generally safe to drink and is not fake.

2 hours ago, ujayujay said:

Menthol Beer???

Helps with sore throats  

3 hours ago, proton said:

Probably normal Leo then, they did make excellent beers Calypso, Yelllow submarine and Galaxy but Thai no like, too good.

 

Those were actually good, but the alcohol advertising restrictions prevented the company from doing promotions that would have helped them become better known. Just trying to figure out which hops were used in each variety took quite a lot of Googling...