Tiger Beer roars and pours in Laos

My first Laotian beer update is not about the national brew but the new foreign arrival from Singapore.

Last month Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) announced that their domestic operations in the Lao Peoples Democratic Republic would be brewing Tiger Beer before the end of the year.

While Tiger has been available as a high-end, premium import in the country for over a decade APB decided that the market was now mature enough to support a brewery that competes with the excellent, but somewhat monopolistic, Beerlao.

APB prefers to brew domestically rather than rely on imports and now has operations in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and China as well as many other countries around the globe.

Good Morning Vientiane

My long awaited reconnaissance mission to Laos took place recently and has provided me with enough Communist beer related stories to fill this blog for at least a month.

More to come shortly…

Beer Lao Draft on the Mekong

“Bia Sot” and “Nam Kawn” (“Fresh Beer” and “Ice”) are the two things you have to be able to say if you are to enjoy a trip in the People’s Democratic Republic of Laos.

It is only in this tiny and remote Communist country that you can drink Beerlao fresh from a beer tap.

When I arrived in Vientiane the first thing I did after checking into my hotel was go out and order a pitcher of this golden nectar at a nearby bar overlooking the Mekong.

The taste of Beerlao Draft renders any notion of canned or bottled beer completely obsolete.

The beer tastes amazingly pure and fresh thanks to the close proximity of the Beerlao brewery.

The picture says it all really…