Vietnamese Beer Review
There are 329 beer producers in Vietnam. Sara and I would love to try all of them but we don’t have the time or the liver to spare.
Beer brand popularity widely varies from province to province. This is because there are so many breweries and the cheapest, and freshest, beer is often the one made by the closest brewery.
Huda (Hue, 4.7%, 450ml, 10,000 dong/$0.50)
Ryan: A pretty clean taste. Easy to drink. Who da man? Huda da man! 6
Sara: It’s good — not too strong. I wouldn’t buy it if it weren’t cheap and plentiful here. I think the volume of the bottle is ideal. You can really taste that Danish technology. 7
Festival (Hue, 4.5%, 330ml, 10,000 dong/$0.50)
Ryan: A nice flavor to it. There’s a very slight fruit zing followed up by a heady aftertaste. It’s like a festival in my mouth! Not really but that should be their slogan. 6
Sara: A malty taste, but not too malty. A mild malty flavor. Mmmmm-malty. 8
Larue Export (Ho Chi Minh City, 4.5%, 355ml, 10,000 dong/$0.50)
Sara: I like the shape of the bottle and the tiger is BA (bad ass). Oh, and the beer is… (takes a swig). Interesting – coffee undertones. 9
Ryan: It’s easy to take down 3 or 4 or 10 of these and not experience a single bad taste in your mouth. A good option in Vietnam. 6
BGI (My Tho, 4.5%, 355ml, 10,000dong/$0.50)
Sara: Tasteless. Bland. It’s working though. I see things floating in it – is that normal? A dirty beer. Mnnaaah! 3
Ryan: This old man, he drank beer, and when he drank it he drank BGI. If you’re not over 60 and an alcoholic then you are going to look out-of-place drinking this one. They can’t even afford a label for Christ’s sake! 4
333 Export (Ho Chi Minh City, 5.3%, 330ml, 13,000dong/$0.62)
Ryan: A great beer for a Friday night after work. It’s a clean taste despite having a bit more alcohol than your normal brew. Plus, the name is fun to say in Vietnamese – “Bia ba ba ba!” 6
Sara: It almost tastes like a premium Czech pilsner. More body than other Vietnamese beers. Ba + Ba + Ba = 9
Louisiane Witbier (Nha Trang, 4.8%, 330ml, 40,000dong/$1.90)
Sara: Fresh and smooth. Fruity wheat taste. An excellent witbier. Worth every penny. 10
Ryan: The perfect beer for hot Vietnam. It’s thirst-quneching and refreshing. Microbrewery is the greatest “micro” (Micromachines are a distant second). 9
Louisiane Crystal Ale (Nha Trang, 4.8%, 330ml, 40,000dong/$1.90)
Ryan: How can anything compete with the freshness that a microbrewery provides? A gorgeous citrus undertone puts this beer over the top (turns hat backwards). 9
Sara: The taste blows my mind AND my taste buds. Almost a pepper-y coriander-y taste that comes out through your nose after you swallow. 9
Zorok (Mỹ Phước, 5%, 330ml, 10,000dong/$0.50)
Sara: A bit more kick than the traditional Vietnamese beers but it’s bland. That’s about it – there’s no flavour. 2
Ryan: A typical lager. Nothing special. It reminds me of Budweiser or Canadian. As far as I’m concerned, Zorok can go back to its home planet. 5
DaiViet (Thai Binh, 5.2%, 330ml, 10,000dong/$0.50)
Sara: Another bland, watery Vietnamese beer. At least this one has more alcohol. There’s an initial taste of a lager, but there’s nothing to back it up – no substance. 3
Ryan: Thank god the beer is cheap here. Not much to this one. Nothing horrible about it but it lacks something… That something is taste. 5
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City, 4.3%, 330ml, 10,000dong/$0.50)
Ryan: Not a bad option but it’s far from great. I just read that Heineken’s third largest market is Vietnam. That makes total sense when you drink the local beer and taste its blandness. Saigon is no different. 5
Sara: Saigon is my beer of choice when in Vietnam (and when 333 is not available). It’s cheap and plentiful. The Saigon Green is far better than the Saigon Red (even though Saigon Red is export quality!). Overall, Saigon beer is like an old friend that is always there when you need them. 7
May 27, 2012 @ 1:10 pm
I would have never thought that Vietnam would have such a vibrant beer culture, especially with a strong microbrew scene. I wonder if the French/Americans brought forth their tastes in beer to which the Vietnamese flocked to, or was it strong marketing by media/global beer giants that spurred its proliferation. And maybe Vietnam has always had a beer culture and I am just projecting my Western-centric viewpoint of tradiational brewerying locales. So many questions that I need to anwser.