British Real Ale Lovers - Happy Christmas from Villa Market

[draftvader]

Young's Double Chocolate

Young's London Gold

Young's London Special

- Wishbeer, Villa (rarely) and Tops (not all)

The Villas around my area of Sukhumvit seem to pretty regularly stock the three Young's bottles you mention above. I haven't had any problem buying those when I've wanted them.

And, it's also worth distinguishing between the regular Tops and the higher end Central Markets or Gourmet Markets (whatever they're called) at places like CentralWorld, Central Chidlom and Emporium in BKK. The latter tend to have a much broader selection including Young's offerings than the run-of-the-mill Tops -- even though they're owned by the same conglomerate.

I rarely find anything new or of interest at the various regular Tops markets around my home.

Curiously that is the only Villa I've seen them at regularly. They appeared in my local Villa once but I never saw them again (I only shop in Villa for beer because I'm not rich ).

[BestBitterPhuket]

I have just compiled a list of British Beers that I have seen/purchased here over the past 18 months. It is outstanding actually and this is only going to get better If anybody knows of anything I have missed then let me know. These have been available from Wishbeer, Villa and Tops.

Bateman's Victory Ale

Bateman's Dark Lordee

Bateman's Combined Harvest

Bateman's XXXB

Bateman's Mocha

Bateman's B Bock

Bateman's Vintage 2013

- Villa

Belhaven St Andrew's

Belhaven Robert Burns

- Wishbeer (haven't seen them in a while)

Brewdog Punk IPA

Brewdog Dead Pony Pale Ale

Brewdog 5am Saint

Brewdog Brixton Porter

Brewdog Libertine Black

Brewdog Hardcore IPA

Brewdog Dog B

- Wishbeer and Tops (not all)

Courage Imperial Russian Stout

- Wishbeer and Tops

Fuller's IPA

Fuller's ESB

Fuller's London Pride

Fuller's London Porter

Fuller's Honey Dew

Fuller's Vintage Ale

- Wishbeer and Tops

Greene King Abbot Reserve

Greene King Hen's Tooth

Greene King IPA

Greene King Old Golden Hen

Greene King Ruddles County

- Wishbeer

Hook Norton Hooky Gold

Hook Norton Flagship

Hook Norton Haymaker

Hook Norton Twelve Days

Hook Norton Old Hooky

- Villa

McEwan's Amber

McEwan's Signature

McEwan's IPA

- Wishbeer and Tops

Meantime IPA

Meantime London Porter

Meantime Coffee Porter

Meantime Chocolate Porter

Meantime Yakima Red

- Villa

Sambrooke's Wandle

Sambrooke's Powerhouse Porter

Sambrooke's Junction

- Villa and Tops

Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger

Shepherd Neame Spitfire

- Tops

St Austell's Proper Job

St Austell's Admiral Ale

St Austell's Tribute

St Austell's 1913

- Villa and Tops

Theakston XB

Theakston Old Peculiar

- Villa

Titanic Iceberg

Titanic White Star

Titanic Stout

Titanic Captain Smith

- Villa

Wadworth's Bishop's Tipple

Wadworth's Horizon

Wadworth's Henry's IPA

Wadworth's 6X

Wadworth's Swordfish

Wadworth's Beer Kitchen Espresso Stout

Wadworth's Beer Kitchen Wheat Beer

Wadworth's Beer Kitchen Orange Peel

- Villa

Well's Bombardier

Well's Waggle Dance

Well's Burning Gold

Well's IPA

Well's Banana Bread

- Wishbeer and Tops (not all)

Wychwood Hobgoblin

Wychwood Scarecrow

Wychwood King Goblin

Wychwood Ginger Bread

Wychwood Imperial Red

Wychwood Black Wych

Wychwood Dr Thirsty

Wychwood Hobgoblin Gold

Wychwood Bah Humbug

- Wishbeer and Tops (not all)

Young's Double Chocolate

Young's London Gold

Young's London Special

- Wishbeer, Villa (rarely) and Tops (not all)

82 British Beers in 18 months. For those that can't be bothered to count you could have sampled 1 unique British beer per week for the past 18 months. With most the bottle being 500ml and the average price being around B185 that is £3.70 per pint. I have been drinking British beer at £3.70 per pint in wonderful tropical locations whilst my friends back in Blighty are drinking their beer for the same price huddled around in the cold, damp and dark.

Not such bad value if you look at it like that.

Let's hope that list is at 160 beers by December 2016!!!

Excellent list! Here are a few more:

- Brain's SA Smooth (bought as "takeaway" from pubs in Phuket)

- Brain's Black (bought as takeaway from pubs in Phuket)

- Fuller's Old Winter Ale (Wish)

- Fuller's Imperial Stout (Wish)

- Greene King Abbott (Whish and Big C)

- Greene King Suffolk Springer (can't remember)

- GK/Morland's Old Speckled Hen (Wish and Big C)

- GK/Morland's Old Crafty Hen (Wish?? and Big C??)

- Sheperd Neame Double Stout (tops)

- Murphy's Stout (tops and Supercheap)

BUT what happened to Bass, Marston's and Boddington? Heard about Boddington being available "everywhere" in the old days. I have been told that a few years ago they were selling Marston's Pedigree at 95bht per can at Makro. I have never seen it, but at that price I would buy hundreds. And finally, a friend of mine used to sell Bass on tap in his pub a few years ago.

[BestBitterPhuket]

Some of the HK bounty

Edited March 7, 2015 by BestBitterPhuket

[BestBitterPhuket]

Tasting update:

Tasted the following "new" beers this weekend:

- Titanic Iceberg (Nice and light! Refreshing)

- Titanic White Star (a very nice golden ale, that tastes like Old Golden Hen, but better)

- Theakston XB - (A classic and beautiful premium bitter. Very British)

- Theakston Hogsheads Bitter (good classic bitter. Reminded me of Courage Director)

- Bateman's Combined Harvest ( interesting award winning beer. Good, but not quite my favourite)

- Bateman's B Bock (interesting take on a German Bock beer)

- Bateman's Vintage Ale (Excellent!! A classic at 7.5%! It must be served at (British) room temperature. Can be stored for years)

- Meantime Yakina Red (so refreshing and tasting! Loved this!)

- Meantime Coffee Porter ( I didn't like this, but I may be alone on that. Reminded me of the very highly regarded Hitachino Expresso Stout. Not my style of beer)

- Atwater Voodo Vator(abv 9% and an oddity picked up from USA. Doppel bock style. Surprisingly smooth and good)

[draftvader]

We did drink the Meantime IPA on Saturday. It was a VERY high quality beer. A little too sweet at first but once my taste buds got round that I started to pick up on the other flavours. Bottle notes say with strong cheese or curries. Sadly I was already cooking "a non-curry" dinner at the time of opening but we did have some Chiang Rai Tomme and Carr's Cheese Biscuits. YES! Next time I buy this I will have cooked a Dum Paneer Kali Mirch with home-baked Naan. It will be perfect!

[BestBitterPhuket]

I can't wait to try the Meantime IPA, but it's not a session ale you sit down with on a Wednesday. Definately a weekend thing.

With the latest addition of beers, my closest Villa Market has over 50 British beers on offer! It is staggering. Better than anything I have seen in Singapore, Malaysia or Hong Kong! When I first visited this supermarket two years ago, they had none. All they had was some terrible Coopers beers, a few German and Belgian Chimays.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Stopped by the Central Food Hall supermarkets at Central Chidlom and CentralWorld in BKK the other day, and they're having a promotion this month on imported products from the UK, including an expanded selection of beers.

Noticed some labels that I don't normally see here. Dunno if they're any good or not, but they're certainly colorful, and out of the ordinary.

And then some old favorites in the non-UK category:

Edited March 12, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[draftvader]

Nice to see. I noticed replenished stocks in TOPS, Central Chaeng Wattana today. Guess they're stocking up for Songkran.

The "colourful" bottles are the Wychwood brewery. I have always had an aversion to the Wychwood brewery though I have to admit to liking the Hobgoblin. These are all also available through Wishbeer.

[BestBitterPhuket]

Wow! I should move to Bkk! I don't like all the Wychwood beers, but I like the Hobgoblin and I think I can recall that Blackwych was a good stout. King goblin I will probably like, but the only Wychwood beer I would really like to try again is the winter ale, Bah Humbug.

[draftvader]

The King Goblin is the one I have the biggest problem with. Just too sweet and not enough of the flavours I favour. Don't worry about leaving your beach-side boozing base. Wishbeer have them all

[BestBitterPhuket]

The King Goblin is the one I have the biggest problem with. Just too sweet and not enough of the flavours I favour. Don't worry about leaving your beach-side boozing base. Wishbeer have them all

Can a beer be too sweet? Mostly not, for me that is. I have twelve bottles of Kasteel Donket maturing at home. This is an 11% abv Belgian beer (a so called quadruppel) that tastes like caramelized sugar in liquid form, but it is a very balanced and well made beer still. At 11% the taste of alcohol should be very evident, but it's not, as it is masterfully balanced out. It scores 95/100 at www.ratebeer.com and 100/100 at beeradvocate.com, and is considered world class. Bought at Big C for 167bht a bottle.

You just created quite a bit of interest for the Wychwood King Goblin and I will visit Central today to see if I am in luck.

Edited March 13, 2015 by BestBitterPhuket

[draftvader]

That's wonderful. Beer for all tastes...in Thailand. These are good times.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

As I mentioned in my original post above, at least for this month, it appears the Wychwood beers in Central are part of their limited time "Imports from the UK" promotion for various products throughout the stores that's due to end in another week or so. So if anyone's interested in any of them, now's the time to get them.

Remains to be seen whether any of those will be added to their ongoing beer stock inventories.

Some months back, the Central outlets around BKK had pretty good stocks of items like Spitfire Ale, Wells Bombardier, and Bishop's Finger Ale, among others. But on my most recent visits, none of those were on the shelves at my local Centrals.

One of the other items I noticed, but didn't snap a photo of, was an interesting looking Hitachino Valentine's Day special edition bottle that, if I recall correctly, was labeled on the back as a stout or chocolate stout???

I'm not wedded to any of these, except for perhaps Young's Chocolate Stout. So it's nice to have a rotating selection of things I haven't tried before.

[BestBitterPhuket]

I went to Central in Phuket to take part in the British Food Fair there, only not to find any. All I could find was some posters advertising the fair, a few brochures and the regular offerings marked with British flags for a change. They did put on a UK beer promotion though. They moved some of their usual beers (Fuller's, Courage and St Austell) from the usual spot on the shelf, to a separate box near a UK Food Fair poster. What humbug is that!!

To my delight, I visited a second Villa Market in Phuket, and I found two new beers that Draftvader can add to his list. Theakston Hogsheads bitter and Theakston Masham Glory. The hogsheads I bought in Hong Kong already and tasted. The Mash Glory is new today and will be poured into my Theakston pint glass. I can't wait!

[draftvader]

I went to Central in Phuket to take part in the British Food Fair there, only not to find any. All I could find was some posters advertising the fair, a few brochures and the regular offerings marked with British flags for a change. They did put on a UK beer promotion though. They moved some of their usual beers (Fuller's, Courage and St Austell) from the usual spot on the shelf, to a separate box near a UK Food Fair poster. What humbug is that!!

To my delight, I visited a second Villa Market in Phuket, and I found two new beers that Draftvader can add to his list. Theakston Hogsheads bitter and Theakston Masham Glory. The hogsheads I bought in Hong Kong already and tasted. The Mash Glory is new today and will be poured into my Theakston pint glass. I can't wait!

On the list. Thank you.

We weren't going to drink this week-end due to diet restrictions (in short we're in Blighty for 6 weeks this summer and I'm 10kg overweight...I figured that I lose 7kg, gain 2 in England and have 5 to lose on our return). However the sad news that Terry Pratchett died had myself and the wife agreeing that we should raise a glass or 2 in his name.

Meantime Makima Red - Nice. Not the greatest value here. Good enough that if I see it in Blighty I will definitely have a pint of it!

Bateman's Dark Lord - I'm not a ruby fan but this thing is nice. I prefer the XXXB but I'm not complaining about this one at all.

Titanic White Star....to come with dinner.

These are good choices from Villa!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I went to Central in Phuket to take part in the British Food Fair there, only not to find any. All I could find was some posters advertising the fair, a few brochures and the regular offerings marked with British flags for a change. They did put on a UK beer promotion though. They moved some of their usual beers (Fuller's, Courage and St Austell) from the usual spot on the shelf, to a separate box near a UK Food Fair poster. What humbug is that!!

Sorry to hear that! I would have expected their Phuket branch to roughly parallel their BKK branches, especially when it comes to alcoholic beverages... But, I guess not!

Chidlom had the same kind of separate table/display set up for their UK beers. So oddly, they had their stock divided up into three different places in the store: some in the cooler section, some on the regular beer shelves section, and some in the UK beers promotional table... But at least, they actually had some new/different UK beers on offer.

I snapped a photo of the table display...but did it quickly so the label legibility isn't that good:

BTW, the other day at CentralWorld, as regards UK food apart from the beers issue, they had a couple special displays/tables set up outside near the movie theater area selling things like fresh baked scones, jarred jams and baked meat pies. I stopped to chat with the meat pies table folks, and it turned out they were being made/offered by some supplier in BKK.

Edited March 13, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[draftvader]

I went to Central in Phuket to take part in the British Food Fair there, only not to find any. All I could find was some posters advertising the fair, a few brochures and the regular offerings marked with British flags for a change. They did put on a UK beer promotion though. They moved some of their usual beers (Fuller's, Courage and St Austell) from the usual spot on the shelf, to a separate box near a UK Food Fair poster. What humbug is that!!

Sorry to hear that! I would have expected their Phuket branch to roughly parallel their BKK branches, especially when it comes to alcoholic beverages... But, I guess not!

Chidlom had the same kind of separate table/display set up for their UK beers. So oddly, they had their stock divided up into three different places in the store: some in the cooler section, some on the regular beer shelves section, and some in the UK beers promotional table... But at least, they actually had some new/different UK beers on offer.

I snapped a photo of the table display...but did it quickly so the label legibility isn't that good:

Central Chidlom.jpg

BTW, the other day at CentralWorld, as regards UK food apart from the beers issue, they had a couple special displays/tables set up outside near the movie theater area selling things like fresh baked scones, jarred jams and baked meat pies. I stopped to chat with the meat pies table folks, and it turned out they were being made/offered by some supplier in BKK.

Brewdog 5am Saint

Brewdog Punk IPA

Wychwood Scarecrow

Brothers (Cider)

Bottom

More Brewdog

Fuller's London Pride

Wychwood Hobgoblin

More Brothers Cider

Thank you for that report. All available from Wishbeer and Central Food Halls most of the time. I'm just gutted that my local Central doesn't have Brewdog or any US beers.

Anyway, much appreciated, Keep up the spotting. That's how we find the new stuff

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

FWIW, I can't recall ever before seeing any of the abovementioned Wychwood bottles (Scarecrow, King Goblin, Ginger Beard, Black Wych) at my BKK Centrals (specifically CentralWorld and Central Chidlom)... They have pretty distinctive labels, so I'm thinking I would have remembered if I'd seen them before. Have they had them before??

BTW, just curious... why do folks here keep referring to the one bottle as Hobgoblin... From my photo, it pretty clearly looks like KING Goblin...

Edited March 13, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[draftvader]

FWIW, I can't recall ever before seeing any of the abovementioned Wychwood bottles (Scarecrow, King Goblin, Ginger Beard, Black Wych) at my BKK Centrals (specifically CentralWorld and Central Chidlom)... They have pretty distinctive labels, so I'm thinking I would have remembered if I'd seen them before. Have they had them before??

BTW, just curious... why do folks here keep referring to the one bottle as Hobgoblin... From my photo, it pretty clearly looks like KING Goblin...

My local Central has been stocking Wychwood for nearly a year. Confusion over King Goblin vs Hobgoblin. Both are same brewery. Hobgoblin is a gold label and King is a silver label. I can't make out much more from your image but thought the label was gold.

Nonetheless I am gutted I can't get Punk IPA locally!

[draftvader]

FWIW, I can't recall ever before seeing any of the abovementioned Wychwood bottles (Scarecrow, King Goblin, Ginger Beard, Black Wych) at my BKK Centrals (specifically CentralWorld and Central Chidlom)... They have pretty distinctive labels, so I'm thinking I would have remembered if I'd seen them before. Have they had them before??

BTW, just curious... why do folks here keep referring to the one bottle as Hobgoblin... From my photo, it pretty clearly looks like KING Goblin...

I now realise why you say that. The photos on a previous post were completely clear. The photo I was commenting on (on my phone) was incredibly blurry (or was that the Dark Lord I had yesterday?).

[BestBitterPhuket]

FWIW, I can't recall ever before seeing any of the abovementioned Wychwood bottles (Scarecrow, King Goblin, Ginger Beard, Black Wych) at my BKK Centrals (specifically CentralWorld and Central Chidlom)... They have pretty distinctive labels, so I'm thinking I would have remembered if I'd seen them before. Have they had them before??

BTW, just curious... why do folks here keep referring to the one bottle as Hobgoblin... From my photo, it pretty clearly looks like KING Goblin...

My local Central has been stocking Wychwood for nearly a year. Confusion over King Goblin vs Hobgoblin. Both are same brewery. Hobgoblin is a gold label and King is a silver label. I can't make out much more from your image but thought the label was gold.

Nonetheless I am gutted I can't get Punk IPA locally!

I have had Brewdog Punk IPA on tap several times in Thonglor, BKK. Edited March 14, 2015 by BestBitterPhuket

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Nonetheless I am gutted I can't get Punk IPA locally!

Just a thought and a possible suggestion.... I had a quite interesting experience at Central Chidlom the other day that may be relevant.

I went there looking for a frozen food item that they'd regularly stocked in the past, but hadn't had any for the past several weeks. I'd talked to the counter service staff several times, and the best they could offer was to say, come back next time.

But on this visit, I happened to chance into the actual store manager, who heard what I was trying to do. And, to my surprise, he promptly had his staff check stock on their computer for OTHER Centrals and discovered they had a bunch of the item I was looking for at their Thong Lor store.

Then, to my even greater surprise, he asked if I could wait an hour, and I said yes. So he arranged to have a messenger deliver a half dozen pieces of the item I was looking for from the Thong Lor store to the Central Chidlom store wait I waited having a drink in their cafe. In talking, he said they'd always be willing to do that if another store has the item in stock. No extra charge.

So, while I don't know for certain that the same approach would work with beer, it might be worth contacting your local Central store manager and seeing if they have a willingness to transfer the stock from another Central that has it for you. Chidlom had lots of Punk IPA on hand the other day.

PS - But I will note, it took running into/chatting with the store manager to get that offer. None of the regular peon staff at their service counter had ever made that offer to me, in any of my prior conversations with them.

[draftvader]

Nonetheless I am gutted I can't get Punk IPA locally!

Just a thought and a possible suggestion.... I had a quite interesting experience at Central Chidlom the other day that may be relevant.

I went there looking for a frozen food item that they'd regularly stocked in the past, but hadn't had any for the past several weeks. I'd talked to the counter service staff several times, and the best they could offer was to say, come back next time.

But on this visit, I happened to chance into the actual store manager, who heard what I was trying to do. And, to my surprise, he promptly had his staff check stock on their computer for OTHER Centrals and discovered they had a bunch of the item I was looking for at their Thong Lor store.

Then, to my even greater surprise, he asked if I could wait an hour, and I said yes. So he arranged to have a messenger deliver a half dozen pieces of the item I was looking for from the Thong Lor store to the Central Chidlom store wait I waited having a drink in their cafe. In talking, he said they'd always be willing to do that if another store has the item in stock. No extra charge.

So, while I don't know for certain that the same approach would work with beer, it might be worth contacting your local Central store manager and seeing if they have a willingness to transfer the stock from another Central that has it for you. Chidlom had lots of Punk IPA on hand the other day.

PS - But I will note, it took running into/chatting with the store manager to get that offer. None of the regular peon staff at their service counter had ever made that offer to me, in any of my prior conversations with them.

I love the fact that we're discussing HOW to get a specific beer to a specific branch. 2 years ago this was inconceivable. Awesome time to be "stuck" in Thailand!

[draftvader]

Titanic White Star.....OOOOHH BABY! I'll be doing that again. Like a more refined St Austell's Tribute!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I went to Central in Phuket to take part in the British Food Fair there, only not to find any. All I could find was some posters advertising the fair, a few brochures and the regular offerings marked with British flags for a change.

For the BKK folks, and perhaps beyond, I was doing some desk cleaning today and found the flyers for the British pies seller that I had ran into at Central World last week during the UK promotion there.

I'm an American, so it doesn't mean anything special to me. But the business was The London Pie, billing themselves as Bangkok's Finest Artisan British Pie Maker. Facebook address at ID thelondonpie. They also have an address in the Chong Nonsi area on Soi Sathupradit 19.

[draftvader]

I went to Central in Phuket to take part in the British Food Fair there, only not to find any. All I could find was some posters advertising the fair, a few brochures and the regular offerings marked with British flags for a change.

For the BKK folks, and perhaps beyond, I was doing some desk cleaning today and found the flyers for the British pies seller that I had ran into at Central World last week during the UK promotion there.

I'm an American, so it doesn't mean anything special to me. But the business was The London Pie, billing themselves as Bangkok's Finest Artisan British Pie Maker. Facebook address at ID thelondonpie. They also have an address in the Chong Nonsi area on Soi Sathupradit 19.

There are a couple of decent pie makers in BKK but I'll always welcome more Thank you

[BestBitterPhuket]

Titanic White Star.....OOOOHH BABY! I'll be doing that again. Like a more refined St Austell's Tribute!

I enjoyed all the Titanic beers. The name put me off at first, but I am glad I tried all four offered. They were all good. Had the stout yesterday. Beautiful! Sweet and smoky. Had it after a couple of Oakham beers. Very enjoyable. The titanic white star was very good too.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Stopped by the Villa Suk Soi 11 location yesterday and found their current imported beer lineup to be pretty poor and missing most of the items mentioned recently here in this thread.

I saw only two Theakston offerings:

And a bunch of Batemans offerings, of which I picked a Mocha Beer (sorry for the fuzzy image):

The other Batemans on the shelf included XXXB Pale Ale, Dark Lord Dark Ruby Beer, a Harvest Multigrain Beer, and I think one called Victory Ale

-- all priced at 199b per bottle.

Edited March 17, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I meant to add above...

In the budget imports category, relatively speaking, my local Villa now does seem to be carrying the Kingdom beers from Cambodia on an ongoing basis, which sit (not literally) alongside Beer Laos. They showed up some months back, and seem to be persevering.

[BestBitterPhuket]

I love Bateman's Victory Ale, but what is better is Bateman's Vintage Ale. I must confess I bought all the bottles of the Vintage Ale in two Villa markets in Phuket, 8 bottles in total. This can be kept to mature for a few years or enjoyed now. Maybe not as good as Fuller's Vintage Ale, but 239bht is much more likable than Fuller's 490bht per bottle.