some thais would probably buy a shit sandwich if you told them it was twice the price of a subway.

There are an inordinate number of Westerners that also fit into this category.

some thais would probably buy a shit sandwich if you told them it was twice the price of a subway.

There are an inordinate number of Westerners that also fit into this category.

Very true AND we all know what a subway is!

frog subway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subway_%28underpass%29

Leo can be had for 44B in Tops supermarket, and I do.

To put the record straight - Scottish & Newcastle in the UK were bought out by Heineken & Carlsberg. In the takeover Heineken acquired the ownership of the following brands: John Smiths, Newcastle Brown Ale, Strongbow and Bulmers. They immediately advised the importers to Thailand that the Thai market was of no intrest to them and cancelled the contract without notice. I can also confirm that Newcastle Brown ale on draught was never imported here.

I'm not sure I understand your comment below...

Are you saying Heineken didn't want to import other now-company-owned brands to Thailand, so those other brands that they now owned wouldn't compete with their own namesake brand?

Or are you saying Heineken isn't interested in Thailand, period? The latter would make no sense, given that Heineken is probably the most prominent non-Thai brand served here.

In the takeover Heineken acquired the ownership of the following brands: John Smiths, Newcastle Brown Ale, Strongbow and Bulmers. They immediately advised the importers to Thailand that the Thai market was of no intrest to them and cancelled the contract without notice.

To put the record straight - Scottish & Newcastle in the UK were bought out by Heineken & Carlsberg. In the takeover Heineken acquired the ownership of the following brands: John Smiths, Newcastle Brown Ale, Strongbow and Bulmers. They immediately advised the importers to Thailand that the Thai market was of no intrest to them and cancelled the contract without notice. I can also confirm that Newcastle Brown ale on draught was never imported here.

Grey imports? I can't imagine imagining Newcastle Brown on draft - especially for the first pint of the evening. Maybe from the same supplier as for River Valley Road, Sing. Probably not the same as Kincardine, Ontario,.,,

Anyway, "never" is a pretty strong word. I prefer "Not yet, as far as I recall..." - a good riposte for affectionate ladyboys, if ever there was one...

SC

Given the choice between Leo and Singha, from my experience the Americans tend to favor Leo and the UK/Aussies seem to like Singha. Wonder why that is?

If I'm just drinking beer, I like Leo. If I'm having beer with a meal, the slightly sweeter taste of Singha hits the spot. I think Chang Draught is pretty good as well, but not so easy to come by in my neck of the woods.

Why is imported beer so expensive? Because of import taxes. I think the import tax on alcohol is 60% ad valorem. The excise taxes on alcohol are also ad valorem. That means that taxes are calculated based on the price of the product rather than the alcohol content. (Most western jurisdictions based alcohol excise taxes on the percentage of alcohol in the product.) The result is that good quality imported wine and beer with moderate alcohol content have a large added tax while cheap distilled spirits, with a high alcohol content, have a small added tax. In other words, the Thai alcohol tax structure encourages the consumption of lao cao and discourages the consumption of beer and wine.

All that ASEAN free trade talk went right by the wayside when it comes to beers from neighbouring countries. Didn't a new excise tax come into play right when the free trade agreement came about? Wonder why that is?

I believe Thailand made a decision to exclude both alcohol and tobacco from FTAs.

There was a separate thread here some months back re the prospect of better, cheaper beer from Australia and some other countries like Laos supposed to be available, because of the removal of alcohol taxes between ASEAN countries as of Jan. 1 2010.

Has that come to pass??? No one's mentioned it here...

Then there was another thread started about the same time about the Thai govt raising the "ceiling on the excise tax" for all alcoholic beverages, as best as I can read the article....

So between the two, how did things pan out???

With the lack of ASEAN imported beers at cheap prices, I'd say the beer monopoly got their way.

With the lack of ASEAN imported beers at cheap prices, I'd say the beer monopoly got their way.

Indeed, an interesting alliance between local brewers and anti-alcohol moralists.

Too bad for us moderate drinkers who would enjoy an imported beer or wine now and then.

Shouldn't then, people start complaining to the ASEAN companies being affected by the non-compliance of the rules? (I want to buy your beer at promised prices, but I can't!) Maybe some bad press locally/internationally would make it happen?

Or perhaps a larger player affected (Foster's? Oz is included in this right?) could complain to their government, who in turn could sanction Thailand for not following the ASEAN agreement?

I just import my wine and beer for personal use. Much cheaper and better than local garbage or Villa rotgut wine