Sam and Chris in Thailand

A couple folks wanted to know more about the cheap beer I referred to in my earlier review of Bangkok beers. So I took some time to give them a try. Same rules as before - local beers you can find in the local 7-11. But this time, the price point was much lower - starting at about $.50 USD a can, and going down (oh yes, significantly down) from there.

In order of tasting:

1. Archa beer - some research I did said that Archa means "horse" in Thai, but not in the dictionaries I saw. Because of the picture on the can, let's go with the horse theory. Archa is brewed by Thai Beverages, which is based in Thailand, and so qualifies as 'local'. It's also the same brewery that brews 'Beer Chang' - the articles I saw said Archa was their 'light' beer.

Archa started out tasting like, well, like Bud Light. On continuing to sip, it gets a bit metallic, but that might just be from the can. By the end, you feel the kick - Archa is 5.4% ABV. Conclusion: Bud Light with more kick. At 19 baht a can (at most - a single can from 7-11 is probably not the cheapest way to buy it), a bargain. Given my expectations - not bad.

2. Cheers beer - drinking a double can of Cheers will have you thinking - yup, it's beer. I kept thinking of Old Milwaukee when I was drinking it. There's nothing wrong with Old Milwaukee, it's just your standard beer. You won't remember anything about drinking it except 'I was drinking beer'. No problem with that. I will say I didn't taste the 5.0% ABV (for those of you keeping score at home, Old Milwaukee is not 5.0% ABV)

Cheers is made by Asia Pacific Brewery, which you might recall is the same (Malaysian) brewery that makes Tiger beer. It's like an SAT logic question: Singha:Leo as Tiger:?? (answer: Cheers). Sam asked if it was named after the TV show. A good question. Next time I'm in Malaysia, I'll ask around.

[here might be a good place to mention that I've had a couple folks contact me to mention a few somewhat less than enthusiastically complimentary reviews some of these Thai beers [and I'm talking about the 'expensive' Thai beers from the first post, not these less expensive brews] have garnered on some beer review sites. To those reviews, I answer: nuts. In my opinion, a beer drinker should should approach beers like Jesus approaches people - all are welcome. No room for beer snobbery in my world. Now, there are some beers that one might prefer, or prefer in certain situations over others, but to say a beer is completely undrinkable - in this age of mass manufacture, that's pretty unlikely. And anyhow, I don't think they serve those in the local 7-11]

3. SiamSato - truth be told, this one sort of scared me. I wasn't sure if it was the label totally in Thai except for the name, or the 8.0% ABV, or the fact that it only came in a 640 ml (two can) bottle and no other form (smaller bottle and no can), or the fact that it had a little white paper taped over the top of it (as if to say - break this seal at your own peril - and don't say we didn't warn you!). Or the fact that Sato was the name of the guy in Karate Kid 2 that breaks trees with his hands and wanted to literally kill poor Mr. Miyagi -- perhaps this was a Thai kickboxing version of that Sato? But truth be told, I was intimidated.

So opened it up, took a whiff, wrinkled my nose, and poured some into a glass. It poured clear. Surprise! It's rice wine! And boy, is it sweet. My research seems to say that it's meant to be drunk with ice - presumably to water the sweetness. It might make a decent mixer as well. But drinking it straight, as a beer - not sure about that. It seems more like a wine (like a liebfraumilch) it might not be too bad to drink, but it's not great to drink when you're expecting to drink beer. Apparently some folks in Thailand brew it themselves, like so:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sato_(rice_wine)

the recipe that site gives reads like making sake, which was the other thing it reminded me of (though so much sweeter than sake, which has typically been dry when I've tasted it).

I'm not going to badmouth the Sato, other than to say - this isn't the forum to give it a fair try. On the plus side, it definitely gave me the 'wow, I wasn't expecting that' experience I was looking for with this trial of the bottom shelves of the 7-11 beer cooler. Googling SiamSato gave much more interesting articles and discussion threads to read than anything else I tried tonight, though. And now I'm really tempted to try brewing a batch of Sato myself! You know, when in Thailand...

4. Leo - pretty much how I expected - a lighter version of Singha. Which is predictable, as Beer Leo is brewed by the maker of Singha to be a lighter version of Singha. 5.0% ABV, and, like Singha, not bad at all. The leopard on the label looks distinctively not fearsome, however, so jeers for that. But other than the label, no issues with Leo.

So there we have it - the cheapest beer you can buy at 7-11 ain't so bad at all. Three cheers for cheap Thai beer!