The Death Of Chang Beer.

[mitos]

Red Hourse In Family Mart...I am drinked yet 4 years

[EnglishJohn]

So anyway, because it's lost point 6 of 1% of alcohol and it has 10ml less beer and is 6 baht more expensive than some beer no ones ever heard of, you won't drink it anymore?

I think his point is that it doesn't taste the same any more and he is right.

That 1% alcohol really does make a difference.

I found Horse in the local Tesco a few months back and found I started buying it more and more.

In the UK bottles of budweiser went from 330ml to 300ml (no price change) then from 18 bottle a box to 15. I just noticed the box I got yesterday only has 12.

All in the name of a bit more profit ...

[stephenterry]

Alcohol levels are a myth. Taste is everything. Back in England, Hogshead, a very tasty light quaffing bitter was 3.7% I used to travel around to find the tastiest beers with the least alcohol content (a hobby). What Chang did, by lowering the alcohol content for business reasons, completely failed to appreciate that the taste would change - and not for the better.

Here, without a lot of decent choice, my preferred beers (in order) are Guinness (4.2%), Young's London Special (6.4%), Cheers Extra, Red Can (6%) - and if in Big C watching the green girls in high heels, which makes it more palatable, Draught Chang (5%) from the barrel (not the cans).

Cheapest Guinness in CM at 190 a pint can be obtained at the Red Lion, Night Bazaar area - I am a customer, not connected.

[JCauto]

Some of those are available in LOS:

Careful Hanno! It's probably illegal to post pictures of bottles of beer on the internet because people could be looking at it at a bar/restaurant! You may end up fined millions of baht like that one fellow in Pattaya who seems to be the only other violating that particular law in the LOS...

[nongsangcity]

0.2 down ..yes you can taste the difference sadly......

[mitos]

Red Hourse In Family Mart...I am drinked yet 4 years

Red hourse its sub of San Miguel e.i. its made same factory

[IAMHERE]

Now i am worried ...Transam may become suicidal.... ....and probably a few others....

Hang in there fellas...remember, you loose one thing and gain another...

JD hasn't changed..

JD didn't change this year. Just about ten years since it changed from 86 proof to 80 proof.

[fred Kubasa]

I think it was about 20 years ago and Coke changed their formula with the

NEW COKE and were rewarded with plummeting sales. The NEW COKE lasted about

a month, cost about 40 MILLION dollars to produce & then pull from shelves

so Chang, probably knowing this, decided they would try it with THAINESS !

[duanebigsby]

A waste of time comparing local and imported beers. With travel and storage, the imported beers will be degraded anyway. I've been told by a professional brewer any beer more than three months old has lost 80% of the flavour components. Beer does not age like wine.

Personally, I quite like Thai beers. I would dearly love to know how the gentleman condemning Thai beers arrived at his cat's piss taste comparison, because it suggests an uncomfortable mental image. Or perhaps he has his pussies confused?

Many lagers are designed to age 6 months or more. Thomas Hardy Ale is aged 10 to 15 years. Some beers can age like wine, depends on the process.

[duanebigsby]

Alcohol levels are a myth. Taste is everything. Back in England, Hogshead, a very tasty light quaffing bitter was 3.7% I used to travel around to find the tastiest beers with the least alcohol content (a hobby). What Chang did, by lowering the alcohol content for business reasons, completely failed to appreciate that the taste would change - and not for the better.

Here, without a lot of decent choice, my preferred beers (in order) are Guinness (4.2%), Young's London Special (6.4%), Cheers Extra, Red Can (6%) - and if in Big C watching the green girls in high heels, which makes it more palatable, Draught Chang (5%) from the barrel (not the cans).

Cheapest Guinness in CM at 190 a pint can be obtained at the Red Lion, Night Bazaar area - I am a customer, not connected.

Totally right, alcohol levels are style specific. Many fine English ales are quite low in content. Nobody would tell you a Guinness is a thin tasting beer.

[landslide]

I gave up beer years ago. I'll stick to scotch now. I just wish there was a better selection of single malts easily available here, at a reasonable price. Nothing like the taste of Oban to mellow out your day.

[rgs2001uk]

Bring back Amarit. Probably won't, it's been many years.

Way back in the old days just when Patpong was invented Singha, Amarit, and Krating-Daeng were the only beers available,better than Vietnamese and US beers of those days that we had to live on over the border. Singha was the best,then the other 2 died away, but Amarit came back again with a "natural beer" late 80's if I remember rightly;I liked it but it died too after a year or so.

Amarit was one of the better tasting Thai beers, and was still available early to mid '90s, it was the only draught beer available at the time in Bkk.

Are you sure you dont mean kloster which died away a good few years back.

Another Thai beer not mentioned as of yet, Federbrau, red feather getting harder and harder to find, how many remember this crap, Bia Thai.

Chang, LOL, thats an interesting story.

[Remi080]

Who guy's , calm down , relax and drink LEO. Much better. Chang beer get ya a headache.

[wump]

Cheers Xtra is good stuff and cheap. Alcoholics love it.

Red Horse is really nasty but it's great if you're on a budget. I have drank it and could barely finish a single bottle.

I love Cheers red. It's cheap and get's me drunk. I love it. I must be an alcoholic I guess...

Oh, €1.25 for one (!) 490ml can is very cheap . Let me show you something to compare.

This is the €-price for 20 (!) 500ml bottles of beer brewed according to German purity law, including German beer tax and 19% VAT:

That's 8 Baht per 500ml bottle. If there's one thing that Thai beer is not, then it's being cheap!

Edited June 4, 2015 by wump

[RasiMike]

Personally, I drink Archer with a couple of ice cubes in it..... Mainly because my wife's shop has a steady stream of our Thai mates dropping by and they don't mind 'sharing' a couple of glasses/bottles if the opportunity arises. They are all LEO drinkers and are too upmarket to stoop as low as to drink the poor farang's beer, so I save a fortune.

[buhi]

Have not followed this thread, so excuse me.

I have switched to Chang now it is drinkable with lots of ice cubes.

The lower alcohol content makes it a refreshing drink ; before it gave me an instant hangover.

I do not drink to get rapidly high and prefer a beer that is enjoyable for flavour.

Yes the flavour does not compare to the brews I once had access to and they were never in a bottle.

[Toknarok]

I see only one person has owned up to drinking Archa. A few farangs around here drink it, I suppose because it's cheap.

Yes nothing stays the same in the world of brewing, I see they have just discontinued producing the Darwin Stubbie.

[jacko45k]

Has anyone actually done a blindfold test on whether that 0.2% makes any difference whatsoever?

Still, it always entertains me when people start debating the tastiest Thai beer. It's like a tallest dwarf contest.

Silly boy....... one doesn't need a blindfold test. That is simply done on the walk home, and then see if your clothes are wet in the morning to determine if you fell in the klong or not!

[Fallangpakwan]

Bring back Amarit. Probably won't, it's been many years.

Way back in the old days just when Patpong was invented Singha, Amarit, and Krating-Daeng were the only beers available,better than Vietnamese and US beers of those days that we had to live on over the border. Singha was the best,then the other 2 died away, but Amarit came back again with a "natural beer" late 80's if I remember rightly;I liked it but it died too after a year or so.

Amarit was one of the better tasting Thai beers, and was still available early to mid '90s, it was the only draught beer available at the time in Bkk.

Are you sure you dont mean kloster which died away a good few years back.

Another Thai beer not mentioned as of yet, Federbrau, red feather getting harder and harder to find, how many remember this crap, Bia Thai.

beers-thai-leo.jpg

Chang, LOL, thats an interesting story.

yes! Amarit was GREAT. they actually brought it back for a short spell about 8 years ago, then it disappeared again...

Kloster was okay,but died out fairly quick tho I did hear someone saying they could see it on some shelves just a few years back

[kingalfred]

Go in central shops and see the huge selection of imported european beers at 150-300 baht, small bottles.They sell so few,I have checked some expiry dates (not made dates) and clearly the staff havent. Expired!

[mikiea]

It has lost what was 40.32ml Alcohol for 50 Baht to what is now 36.54 mL for 53 Baht. It is a very significant change.

Wow. If getting the maximum bang for your buck is your major concern, have you considered meths?

ehhh.....no good , you would need seat belts on the bar stools .

[lvr181]

If you want a smooth tasting drink with a reasonable alcoholic kick in it (so you do not have to drink much of it), try Jim Beam Devils Cut.

[suzannegoh]

Go in central shops and see the huge selection of imported european beers at 150-300 baht, small bottles.They sell so few,I have checked some expiry dates (not made dates) and clearly the staff havent. Expired!

The Paulaner and Weihenstephaner is usually pretty fresh at the Rimping supermarkets.

[keithathome]

As a 'beer lover' I always found the taste of Chang Classic rather revolting. Chang Export on the other hand was much more balanced and smooth.

I make my own beer in the YUK and Chang Classic has TASTE, FLAVOUR: if you usually drink lager - ice cold - you won't know what I'm talking about.

[djayz]

I wish I had never read this thread... I hadn't realized they changed the alco. content... I simply assumed I had gotten so used to my dear old companion Chang Classic that it didn't have the same affect on me anymore... now I learn that the b#*$@^&s at the brewery lowered the alco. content! Grrrrt, I hate it when things change.

Anyways, I'm sitting outside on my veranda with my dear old friend beside me... 5.8% or not, I still wouldn't change it for the world.

Cheers!

Edited June 5, 2015 by djayz

[SoiBiker]

I wish I had never read this thread... I hadn't realized they changed the alco. content... I simply assumed I had gotten so used to my dear old companion Chang Classic that it didn't have the same affect on me anymore... now I learn that the b#*$@^&s at the brewery lowered the alco. content! Grrrrt, I hate it when things change.

Anyways, I'm sitting outside on my veranda with my dear old friend beside me... 5.8% or not, I still wouldn't change it for the world.

Cheers!

You're joking, right?

Do people seriously believe that the 0.2% makes much difference? You'd have to drink 30 bottles now to get the effect you used to from 29. Hardly a dramatic change.

[Mooner]

Beer Leo is by far the best beer in the Thai market for a reasonable price. Shame we can't get the big bottles.

Pretty much the same price as a big Leo or Chang though so if I'm only having 2 I'll probably have the latter.

[chrisandsu]

Let me tell you about crap imported beer/cider.....

Moved to the USA from the UK , used to drink stella and strongbow... First off the Americans have ruined stella Artois it tastes like nats piss , as its imported they pay less tax if the alcohol strength is low . Then strongbow became this horrible sweet American nasty cider that should be binned !!! I guess it's a way of controlling the market by turning all imports into pony American tasting water .

[Anthony5]

I wish I had never read this thread... I hadn't realized they changed the alco. content... I simply assumed I had gotten so used to my dear old companion Chang Classic that it didn't have the same affect on me anymore... now I learn that the b#*$@^&s at the brewery lowered the alco. content! Grrrrt, I hate it when things change.

Anyways, I'm sitting outside on my veranda with my dear old friend beside me... 5.8% or not, I still wouldn't change it for the world.

Cheers!

You're joking, right?

Do people seriously believe that the 0.2% makes much difference? You'd have to drink 30 bottles now to get the effect you used to from 29. Hardly a dramatic change.

You're wrong, from 6.4% to 5.8% is a 10% change

[suzannegoh]

Let me tell you about crap imported beer/cider.....

Moved to the USA from the UK , used to drink stella and strongbow... First off the Americans have ruined stella Artois it tastes like nats piss , as its imported they pay less tax if the alcohol strength is low . Then strongbow became this horrible sweet American nasty cider that should be binned !!! I guess it's a way of controlling the market by turning all imports into pony American tasting water .

In the US, it's best to drink the craft beers rather than imports. But then again, if you're someone who thinks that Stella in the UK is good, your taste might be considerably different than that of most craft beer drinkers. Edited June 6, 2015 by suzannegoh