The Global Search for Greatness – Part III (Asia)

Asia. It’s tropical. It’s hot, humid and sticky. As is the weather…

Asia to me is the land of the cold, crisp (and often bland) lager. There are some highlights amongst the shockers. Maybe it’s the imagery of sitting at the end of a day, beer in hand, spicy hot food laid out in front of you. It’s hotter than hell and the beer goes down faster than a South American soccer player staging for a free.

It just works.

Take the same beer and drink it here in Australia, especially in the cooler months and it just doesn’t work the same. In fact a lot of it tastes like beer flavoured water.

Not unlike the UK and Europe, there is something to be said about most Asian countries, and here are the main highlights searching for beer greatness!

Singapore

Rather western in a lot of ways ol Singapore. It’s a good place to start when visiting Asia as it isn’t too ‘hard’ coming from Australia. In terms of beer, it’s the home of Tiger Beer so at least in Singapore you can drink the ‘flagship beer of South East Asia’ and actually feel like a local.

It’s not a bad drop Tiger and the new interactive brewery at Vivo City is well worth a look even though it is a little childish in its appeal. As much as I enjoyed having ‘beer’ bubbles poured all over me, and the video of how the ingredients in beer come together to ferment was boarding on porn, but it is a hoot. Hang on porn isn’t childish. Always get that wrong.

Malaysia / Thailand

Malaysia? Being about 60% Muslim the domestic beer options are limited. There’s Anchor I guess. Hmmm, did I mention Tiger? Yep, Tiger goes down just fine in Malaysia.

Thailand is a different story. Thailand understands beer a bit more and their two ‘big brand beers’ are pretty good lagers – Chang and Singha.

The biggest challenge with Chang and Singha is deciding which to drink when out eating/drinking. They are quite similar in taste and are pretty darn cheap. Therefore this becomes a simple cost issue. If Singha is 10c cheaper, then Singha it is! Unless of course Chang is having a ‘drink 3 jugs and get a free beer glass’ promotion. Yep, I suddenly really, really need that glass…

Vietnam

Oh Vietnam. Many may not realise it unless they have actually been, but what a beer drinking haven! I don’t have the stats, and I can’t be arsed Googling it right now (hey you’re not paying me to do this), but there must be more breweries in Vietnam than all other South East Asian countries! And boy the locals sure enjoy the drop.

Beer is linked to the region in Vietnam, so much so there’s a heap of rivalries depending on which part of the country you are in. For instance there’s Bia Hanoi, Saigon / 333, Halida, Hue and Biere Larue to name a few (yes! That rhymed). Depending where you are in Vietnam will depend on the beer that dominates the local drinking market.

However Vietnam has something special, something that I cannot compare to any other country. Maybe that’s a huge tick in the box for ‘beer greatness’. Yes, I’m talking about Bia Hoi…

Bia Hoi roughly translates to ‘fresh beer’ and is delivered (fresh) to stalls, markets and eateries on a daily basis. A dude on a motorbike pulls up and drops off plastic jugs of the beer (supplied by local brewers) or if slightly more sophisticated, fills up the seller’s small tank which has a rudimentary garden hose connected to it to then fill glasses throughout the day and night. Brilliant. The beer itself is cold, crisp and refreshing. In reality it tastes like good home brew, but boy it’s cheap.

If you see a sign promoting ‘bia hoi’, simply grab a small plastic stool, sit down and enjoy. Just don’t ask to use their toilets. If you can, hold until you’re back in the hotel. Oh boy…

Hong Kong

Nothing really to see here, move along.

Much like the city itself, which was once a hotpot of multiculturalism and foreign influences, it is becoming more and more ‘China-ised’ (that’s a word right?), which also means the quality of ‘local beer’ is pretty average. Talk about watery brews. Think Tsingtao and worse. Much, much worse. Though it is cheap, so you gotta weigh that up. I guess people don’t really go to Hong Kong for the beer, so I should maybe stop talking about it here…!

Japan

If any country in Asia deserved its own blog, it’s Japan. A wonderfully mystic place full of tradition, culture, ceremony and modernism. Is that a contradiction? Good cos Japan is a country of contradictions! But the food is magnificent and the beers are consistently good!

We all know the big brand beers like Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo. All of them are also very good lagers for big brewery staples. The surprise however are the microbreweries emerging in Japan and the complex beers available from some of them such as Hitachino Nest. Who would have thought stouts and red ales from Asia could be quite so good!

However Japan takes convenience to a new level. This is best seen at train stations and via the brilliance of the Japanese vending machine. Nothing is more efficient than the Japanese rail network (you hear that Metro?) and the daily ritual of businessmen boarding trains during the day to get to meetings and the like is a sight to be seen. Especially when most board with their takeaway sushi in one hand and a can of beer in the other. Not to be outdone we made sure we grabbed a beer for a number of train journeys across the country.

The point of this?

How many countries actually sell beer on every train platform as well as via the ladies pushing the ‘snacks and beer’ trolley through the carriage? You missed them both? Well maybe try the vending machine at the end of each carriage! Brilliant.

Full credit to the Japanese though. Didn’t see one drunk person or underage drinker during the whole time! Brilliant (yeah I know, I said that).

Speaking of vending machines. Fark me. Vending machines are on every street corner selling all sorts of handy items ranging from men's ties, underwear, memory cards, all sorts of gadgets, soft drinks (of course) and beer!. Oh boy! You can grab a Sapporo without even speaking to someone! Yippie! And like I said, not a drunk to be seen…(I don’t count).

Finally, what may rank as the greatest brewery tour my wife and I have ever done is the Kirin Brewery in Yokohama. The brewery tour itself is pretty standard stuff, the shop is excellent, the numerous free beers at the end rocks, but the fact it is done entirely in Japanese is an amazing experience! And it’s all about the experience right?

Brewery Note – If in Tokyo and tempted to visit the Asahi Beer Hall expecting some sort of brewery experience (or even a shop) forget it! Take a photo of the amazingly designed building and move on! Nothing more than a high rise for staff and a very small restaurant. Get your arse to Kirin Brewery instead! Or if you really want to experience a Japanese beer hall, try the Sapporo Lion Beer Hall in Tokyo’s Ginza District. That bad boy rocks…

So what is beer greatness? There are some great beers out there. Hundreds of them. Actually make that thousands. When you have an awesome beer and it becomes ‘your beer’ for a period of time – is that greatness? Maybe. When that happens to me I tend to think ‘hmmm, that’s a nice beer’. But I always want to move on to another in case I’m missing out on another great beer that I haven’t yet tried.

I tend to consider beer greatness to be something closer to the overall beer drinking experience. Maybe it’s the company whilst drinking, or even better, the uniqueness of the experience. The food perhaps? The location? The occasion? And for that I would consider two beer drinking experiences in Asia as achieving beer greatness, and that is Bia Hoi in Vietnam and the convenience and accessibility of beer in Japan.

Bloody awesome!

That’s it folks! However a month long trip to the US is less than 2 months away so stayed tuned for ‘The Global Search for Greatness – Part IV (US)’.

Till then,

Cheers!…Prost!...Salute!...Kampai!