What Beer Is Local?

[soloman]

I am returning for another of my frequent visits to Bangkok, and one thing I have not yet got straight in my mind is - "which are the 'local' beers" . I know that they will tell me in whatever bar I am in which beers are covered by the price of their 'local' beers - the term especially being used for 'Happy Hour'. I assume some beers are imported and some brewed locally under licence, but isn't Chang their only truly 'local' beer?

[DP25]

Chang, Singha, and Leo are the most common local beers you'll find, and Heineken and Tiger are brewed in Thailand under license. There's also less common local beers like Archa or Federbrau.

[fred2007]

I know this is not the topic but don't like to open another one about beers

Every time I go to malaysia I drink Royal Stout in cans I believe it is made by

Carlsberg or Heinicken but I have never seem to find it here in Thailand

(I live in the sticks but we have Macro,Tesco,Lotus and Tops.

So my question is can I buy it here and where

[Kf6vci]

SAN MIGUEL a) Pale Pilsen and Light is brewed in 12000 Pathumthani. My wife works there...

[madjbs]

Not 100% local though as it is brewed under license.

The only 100% local ones I can think of are:

Singha

Chang

Leo

Archa

Cheers

Isaan

Phuket Beer

Federbrau

[babuhavas]

german beers like paulaner,budwiser,edinger etc...

and also strong bow,cider,guiness,kilkinne are not on happy hour price

rest all you can enjoy

[DavidOxon]

we have a German microbrewery here in CNX . . . so that has to be local

David

[babuhavas]

we have a German microbrewery here in CNX . . . so that has to be local

David

but david i think they will still charge premium,it cant be same price as thai beer.

is it in happy hour?

[FarangForce5]

I know this is not the topic but don't like to open another one about beers

Every time I go to malaysia I drink Royal Stout in cans I believe it is made by

Carlsberg or Heinicken but I have never seem to find it here in Thailand

(I live in the sticks but we have Macro,Tesco,Lotus and Tops.

So my question is can I buy it here and where

I haven't seen Royal Stout in Thailand, I'm sure I'd remember if I did since I love stouts and make sure to try them out whenever I discover one here. I'm also curious if it is in fact sold at any bars here in BKK, so if anyone knows the answer to this then let us know!

[madjbs]

german beers like paulaner,budwiser,edinger etc...

and also strong bow,cider,guiness,kilkinne are not on happy hour price

rest all you can enjoy

None of those are truly local, either brewed under license or imported.

And Budweiser is an American beer, not German.

[shalimar]

When an establishment states local beers in regards to happy hours they generally mean all beers that are brewed in Thailanad and hence are not subject to an import tax. This is discernable by the fact that they will not have an import sticker on the bottle. Below are all examples of this.

Heineken

Tiger/Light

San Miguel/Light

[anothertorres]

And Budweiser is an American beer, not German.

actually, Budweiser is owned by InBev now

[madjbs]

When an establishment states local beers in regards to happy hours they generally mean all beers that are brewed in Thailanad and hence are not subject to an import tax. This is discernable by the fact that they will not have an import sticker on the bottle. Below are all examples of this.

Heineken

Tiger/Light

San Miguel/Light

Yes, but if you read the OP carefully it would appear to me that he wanted to know which brands were Thai, not just where it was brewed.

[madjbs]

And Budweiser is an American beer, not German.

actually, Budweiser is owned by InBev now

But, it is still an American style lager.

[britmaveric]

True Bud (Budvar) is actually Czech, good stuff unlike that yank sh*te!

[thesunset75]

Time for a beer.....Cheers !!!

Whatever beer is always nice to have onessss

[mrtoad]

Phuket Beer

Makes me feel ill just looking at it.

[mahtin]

Phuket Beer

Makes me feel ill just looking at it.

If that's you in the avatar, then you must have fallen in a vat of it when you were little

[pattaya_girl]

I use to drink the Chang Beer, but my partner converted me to Leo Beer nowadays - I love it.

BTW are the bottles in this little picture Leo Bottles ? They look like it

This thread has made me very thirsty now.

[jfchandler]

I believe the OP was asking for a cultural translation, as in, when a bar says "local beers" are on sale for happy hour specials, which brands would fall into that category...

Obviously, it would be the native Thai brand beers such as Singha, Chang and Leo, as well as non-Thai brands that are licensed/brewed here such as San Miguel and Heineken. Most of the names have been mentioned above.

For purposes of answering his question, I think it's irrelevant about what entity owns a particular brand.

Some bars include both local and locally licensed beers in their happy hour rosters. But some limit them to particular brands, usually some combination of Singha, Heineken, Chang and/or Tiger. In contrast, Leo is certainly a local beer, but I rarely see it listed as a happy hour offering at farang-oriented pubs around BKK.

So all the "local" brands that a particular pub stocks may be part of their happy hour. But that doesn't mean any particular pub will stock ALL the local Thai brands of beer.

[soloman]

I believe the OP was asking for a cultural translation, as in, when a bar says "local beers" are on sale for happy hour specials, which brands would fall into that category...

...........................

Yep that is pretty much what I was driving at, tho all of the advice is interesting.

Thanks to all. Solo-man

[Briggsy]

All Carlsberg beers are unavailable in Thailand, I believe. Word has it there was an acrimonious fallout with Thai Beverage, the brewers of Chang.

[DavidOxon]

And Budweiser is an American beer, not German.

actually, Budweiser is owned by InBev now

But, it is still an American style lager.

What's an American style lager?

Wiki says :

The American lager style is categorized by a light-gold or straw color, moderate alcohol content (4-6% abv), and muted to nonexistent hop character (carried to an extreme in dry beer). Malt flavor is generally rather light, with a very light-bodied mouth feel. Due to their extremely light body and flavor, combined with a distinct lack of character, modern American-style lagers are sometimes criticized as being bland or watery.

'nuff said

David

[Heng]

Kind of like the way Sony makes American style televisions.

[PoorSucker]

we have a German microbrewery here in CNX . . . so that has to be local

David

but david i think they will still charge premium,it cant be same price as thai beer.

is it in happy hour?

Thai price, best beer made in Thailand.

Wanted to have it here on Samui, but there's a tax for exporting it to another province.

[mizzi39]

Well this thread just about covered all of the Thai local beers. Asahi (Japan) is brewed under license in KK and puts the rest to shame as far as I'm concerned, but everyone has their own taste. Leo for me if i cannot get anything else. I have a good contact in the sticks who has been importing BeerLao so i am sticking to that for as long as it is available.

[astral]

Does it really matter where it is made??

Surely the taste is the thing, for the first few anyway.

[britmaveric]

Might add Beer Lao to the happy hr mix!

[mahtin]

OICURMT- ode to a beer bottle

[justcruisin]

Not 100% local though as it is brewed under license.

The only 100% local ones I can think of are:

Singha

Chang

Leo

Archa

Cheers

Isaan

Phuket Beer

Federbrau

+ 1 more Red Horse,made in Thai,not a bad drop but around 6%