Laos/Vietnam/Malaysia Beer Roundup

Given the high temperatures during our trip, beer ended up playing a pretty important role, and with the variety we encountered (and naturally sampled), we thought it deserved a standalone post and would be fitting closure for this round.

While we unfortunately lack tasting notes for each one, we can safely say that there was a fairly wide quality range. Local brews, especially in Vietnam (where each city seems to boast at least one), unfortunately failed to win us over. Even in a landscape of other pale lagers, they came across watered down and lacking depth, though Huda (from Hue) and Larue (from Hoi An) were better than the rest. Beerlao was another notable exception and a justifiable source of national pride (apparently commanding a 99% of the home market). This might be down to their German-trained female brewmaster Sivilay Lasachack.

Otherwise, the imports took the day, especially one American lager that we came across in Saigon. Without further adieu, here's the brews in order of appearance. Thanks for reading and happy travels!

The only local brew we could actually find on draught



We noticed a strong push for San Miguel, leaning heavily on their Hong Kong/Macao heritage to take on Tiger in the region
Seemingly the only national Vietnamese beer


Interesting... a local beer in a Muslim state