A new distribution deal has been worked out that will see Thailand’s excellent Singha beer (pronounced “Sing”) sold now in a variety of outlets in all 50 US states. Details are here.
This is one of my favorite beers, but people tend to either love it or hate it. There is precious little ground in between. I love it myself, but it is rather strong, so if there is a special reason that I need to stay reasonably sober while out, I’ll usually opt for Beer Lao from Laos or Tiger from Singapore. But Singha is my beer for kicking back at home or letting my hair down out in the bars.
There have been persistent nasty rumors for decades that Boon Rawd Brewery, the maker, puts formaldehyde in Singha. It’s not at all true and never has been. Boon Rawd comes out periodically to deny the rumors, but they refuse to go away. Basically someone will drink a couple dozen bottles, wake up the next morning with a raging hangover and figure: “Huh! That formaldehyde story must be true after all.”
Singha used to be 6% alcohol, but they quietly lowered the content to 5% a few years ago. That took a lot of people by surprise, including me, when the change on the label was finally noticed. There are stronger beers here, such as Chang, which is real piss water, and I’ve started hearing the formaldehyde rumor about that one too. None of it is true.
My best friend travels to Thailand about once a year, and he always tells me how much he loved Chang, even though every review of it online seems to use the term “piss” in some capacity, lol. He’s been trying in vain to find it here in Canada, with Thai locals telling him that formaldehyde story (which I laughed at because he was still looking for it in spite of believing them). In truth, apparently Carlsberg owns the brewery and hasn’t managed to up production enough to warrant exporting it, yet. I’m curious to try it for myself, to see just HOW bad it actually is.
We’ve got Chang and Singha at the liquor store where I work. The Singha definitely goes off the shelves quicker, but both have their own dedicated followers. I’ve had Chang, twas okay; now I guess I’ll have to try Singha!
We specialize in microbrews and speciality wines, so it’s pretty cool that Singha’s coming to major distributors. Wonder how the people will like it.
Here in Canada, I’ve had Singha before. Many Thai restaurants here have it. I have not seen it in a liquor store though. It’s a good beer, but honestly, I don’t find it very different from other Asian lagers.
I seriously dislike the stuff, but Chang is something like 8% alcohol content. There used to be a bar in the Nana Plaza red-light area called The Cat House (really), and it was famous for it’s Chang all-you-can-drink special EVERY DAY from 2-8pm for 100 baht. Later shortened to 4-8pm. That’s about US$2.50 or $3. For all you can drink of that rotgut. I’m telling you, it was not a pretty sight come 8pm. Seriously not pretty.
For a slightly higher price, you could also drink all the Singha you wanted, but I always opted to go for the pay-by-the-bottle route, as while it was a nice bar to have a couple of beers in, I really didn’t want to hang around for hours and get drunk. I used to chat with the American owner. He sold the bar at one point. Then it turned out to be like so many tales in Thailand: He wasn’t the owner after all, but rather only the manager, and by the time the folks who “bought” it realized this, he was safely ensconced in Cambodia. Hehehe. Somehow they worked it out, and a Dutchman became the new owner for real, and he kept the all-you-can-drink specials at a slightly higher price, although still dirt cheap. But he has had health problems over the past year requiring surgery back home. Management of the bar went downhill, and they closed recently.
Yes, Chang is made by Carlsberg, I seem to recall. Don’t believe any formaldhyde stories, it’s not true for any beer, at least not in Thailand, and I’d be dubious about elsewhere, too.
I know Singha has been available in some US markets for a while, but now it will be nationwide, including bars and restaurants supposedly. I found it in the store when I lived in Hawaii, but it seemed to taste different. I’ve been assured that was my imagination, though.
Yeah, Singha is what I get whenever I’m out eating Thai. It’s a good, inoffensive, middle-of-the-road lager. I don’t hate it, I don’t love it–it just is, but it goes good with something spicy.
Cool news. I don’t really have a preference among “local” beers, not being much of a beer drinker myself, but Singha is certainly OK in my book. I don’t know if Leo is any good or is considered piss-water like Chang, but it certainly hit the spot one day after tai chi, served in glasses with ice (as most beer is served here) to accompany some sticky rice and grilled pork, all eaten while sitting on plastic lawn chairs off of Soi 11.
Beer Lao, though-- I think that’s our favorite (my husband likes Beer Lao Dark). That particular brew best accompanies a plate of fried river seaweed, consumed at a cafe overlooking the Mekong as the sun goes down over Luang Prabang.
It’s been available in my state as long as I can recall, although not as easy to find as Tsing Tao or Sapporo. It’s one of my favorites and I’m glad more people will be getting exposed to it.
Leo is also brewed by the makers of Singha, Boon Rawd Brewery. It’s positioned specifically to compete with Chang. Leo and Chang are targeted at the poor rural-farmer, urban construction-worker and backpacker markets. I believe you can routinely pick up three large bottles of both beers for 100 baht, a mere pittance. Leo is okay in a pinch.
Beer Lao, from Laos, is a darned good beer. The high quality is belied by the cheap price despite it being an import; shoot, drinking it in Laos itself, it costs almost nothing. In fact, there has been some disgruntlement among Thai authorities at Beer Lao’s success in Thailand, as it is considered scandalous in some quarters that a beer from Laos – low-class Laos of all places! – can do so well against the national brew, Singha. There has been talk of blocking imports of it despite such a move running counter to various free-trade treaties signed among Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) members, including both Thailand and Laos. So far it’s been just empty talk.
Just after 10:30pm over here on this last day of the month, and I’m sitting here drinking some good Singha now. My traditional end-of-the-month beer. Mmmm.
When I lived in Thailand Chang was my beer of choice. Singha was a little too sweet and fruity for my taste, but I would still drink it happily. I would put it in a similar catagory to Heineken or Fosters - not a terrible beer but I can’t see any great reason to export it.
Yeah, Chang is unpopular with a lot of expats and middle-class Thais. Restaurants in Thailand often don’t even serve it. It is only 6.4% alcohol though, Siam Sam not 8%! And the version of Chang sold outside Thailand is only 5% I think (because they don’t add rice for extra carbs -> alcohol content).
One thing about Thai beer is that a lot of people drink it with ice, because Thailand is so hot, and most restaurants don’t have air-con. I think this helps explain why Thai beers are not particularly subtle tasting, along with the strong flavours of Thai food.
I’m pretty sure I remember it being 8%, but I see Wikipedia says 6.4%/5%. I’m not convinced Wikipedia is correct, but I’m not going to run out and buy a bottle to check. I know at least one Canadian who actually prefers the stuff, so it’s true there’s simply no accounting for taste.
A local Irish businessman, when he learned of The Cat House’s all-you-can-drink Chang special, told me: “That ought to be illegal!” This from someone who generally does his darnedest to perpetuate the stereotype of the drunken Irishman.
I’ve never grown fond of the ice-in-the-beer-glass practice myself, but I won’t toss it out if it reaches me that way.
BTW: I have an unopened can of Singha beer from 2003 that I’ve been saving. It’s a special series they ran as a sponsor of the Bangkok leg of the Rolling Stones’ world tour that year. Instead of the Singha logo being on both sides like normal, the logo is on one side and the Rolling Stones ad for the concert covers the other side. However … the concert never took place! The Stones canceled performances in China, Hong Kong and Bangkok, due to the big Sars outbreak in the region at that time. You can see the cancellations on this page. I figure this will probably be worth some money some day … if I can keep refraining from opening it!
In a similar vein, at some point about mid-decade, the shape of the Singha bottles changed. They used to be more squatty but then were changed to a more cylindrical main body with a long, slender neck. I also have an unopened one of those old bottles I’m saving.
I have both of these in front of me now as I type, and both show a 6% alcohol content, proof that Singha used to be 6%. It really took people by surprise when one day someone suddenly noticed the labels now said 5%. I never heard an announcement, nor did anyone I know. They just quietly lowered the alcohol content by one percentage point. I wonder why they would do that. I’ve never come across an explanation for it.
Thatt makes me wonder, too, about Chang. I’m certain I recall a deadly alcohol content in the past. Maybe some sort of government pressure to reduce the content?
I’ve always been of the mindset that if you’re eating foreign food and washing it down with a beer, the beer should be from that country if possible; it’ll go well with the food.
Certainly that’s true of Singha and Thai food. I have no idea what I’d think of Singha by itself.
This business of Singha having reduced it’s alcohol content springing to mind again, I checked the brewery’s Wikipedia entry, which says:
“Beginning in September 2007, a 5.0% (abv) version of Singha Lager has replaced the 6.0% (abv) original version that has earned the Singha name its reputation. This new version, while still brewed in Thailand by Pathmthani Brewery Co., Ltd., proclaims on its labelling to have been brewed under the supervision of Singha Corporation Co., Ltd. instead of Boon Rawd Brewery Co. Ltd. The last known fill date for Singha Lager 6.0% bottles sold in the United States is October 18, 2007.”
The entry misspells Pathumthani Brewery – or Pathum Thani Brewery, as it is more commonly rendered, being in Pathum Thani province to the north of Bangkok – and is seemingly unaware that it is one of Boon Rawd Brewery’s many subsidiaries. But although an acknowledgement, still no explanation. A mystery. I would really like to know why they did this.
Just a small update. Unlike the info for Singha beer I found in my post above, where it corroborates the brewer actually reducing the alcohol content from 6% to 5%, I can find nothing like that for Chang. However, I’ve asked fellow beer drinkers who, like me, were also around when Chang first appeared in Thailand – mid- to late 1990s, I think – and to a man, they remember Chang being 8% and expressed surprise that it is now 6.4%. This is really starting to bug me; I would like to know why the breweries did this. I may actually have to contact them.