Budweiser will maybe soon be a better beer

**Texpat** · 28-06-2008, 07:04 PM

America has thousands of excellent microbrews and small label beers.

My favorite is Fat Tire. If you think the US only makes a handful of weak, cheap beers, you're sadly mistaken. And inBev (the Brazilian-Belgian Co.) was just told to stuff their $65 billion offer for a third-rate pissy-gulp American company.

Pearl Beer, from Texas, is far worse than Bud, too.

**friscofrankie** · 28-06-2008, 07:42 PM

Fat tire is good beer I never it saw it in the Bay Area but when in Phoenix I spent my off hours in a pub drinking fat tire by the case. damn good stuff.

Budweiser is shit beer. Growing up in the US I hated beer. My dad drank Busch Bavarian and later, Budweiser. I drank Whiskey I drank Wine But I would tell you I didn't like beer. I found a few import lager I would drink out of Europe but by that time I had it in my head I didn't like "Beer" Along came the " American Beer Renaissance" with Ales and the dark lagers, I drank my first Negro Modelo around that time. I found out I liked beer. Dark lagers with flavors a dark roasted barley and Ales with a bouquet of hops in each bottle I not only began to like beer, I loved beer.

One good thing about growing up in the US I never got that 6 or 12 beer a day habit, that many have over the years, simply because the majority of the beer in the US in the 60s & 70s was shit. They tell me it was different before WWII, beer was crafted and brewed for flavor and punch. The need for mass produced everything during that war fucked a lot of things up, beer was just one of them.

Today, the quality of beer in the US needs no shot in the arm. A Belgian company investing in a large American brewery will have little or no impact. The variety and quality of beers inthe USA is second to none; local breweries, imported beers heel even Anheuser-Busch, makers of Bud have already bought several regional breweries, without changing the quality of the brew, long before the belgians come along.
Take a look at the beers offered by the company.
Anheuser-Busch - Beer Brands

There might be a drop in price for some of hte beers that were once imported that perhaps might get made in the USA now. Hate to see how some of the above beers may suffer actually when The Belgians come to town.

Down at the bottom of hte above site is just about the finest beer in the country IMO; Ballard Bitter (pale ale). It was made at the Redhook brewery in Seattle, WA. When I fist discovered it, in the mid-eighties, you could only get it in the Puget Sound area. Strictly local stuff, it is was what I missed most of about leaving the area to go home.

After A-B began distribution of Redhook ESB I was delighted to find "Ballard Bitter" occasionally chalked up on the board of my favorite basement pub in Berkeley and would be there every night til supplies ran out. Sausage pie and Ballard Bitter in front of a sidewalk level window.

I'd be more impressed if that Belgian company bought into Boon Rawd maybe we could get at least one decent locally made brew here. Buying into AB is simply two international companies coming together to reduce overhead & increase profits; it will have very little impact the variety, or quality, of US beers.

**gdk** · 28-06-2008, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by Texpat

America has thousands of excellent microbrews and small label beers.

My favorite is Fat Tire. If you think the US only makes a handful of weak, cheap beers, you're sadly mistaken. And inBev (the Brazilian-Belgian Co.) was just told to stuff their $65 billion offer for a third-rate pissy-gulp American company.

Pearl Beer, from Texas, is far worse than Bud, too.

SORRY INBEV IS BELGIAN

**Jet Gorgon** · 29-06-2008, 08:26 AM

^ Based in Belgium, but InBev is the merger of Belgium's Interbrew and Brazil's Ambev, making the world's largest brewer. The CEO is Brazilian.

**Marmite the Dog** · 29-06-2008, 02:11 PM

^^^ & ^^^^

Good posts from the Merkin tag-team.

Nearly every mass produced beer from any country is awful shite, and it's always left to the small producers to brew beers of quality. The problem with Thailand is that the law prevents small producers producing small volume beers which is available to buy outside of the premises it is brewed on. Until that law is changed, we're stuck with the current range of piss (unless you live in my fridge

).

**Texpat** · 29-06-2008, 02:17 PM

Interesting. Are there any microbreweries in Bangkok that brew (and sell) their own -- on premises?

**Marmite the Dog** · 29-06-2008, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Texpat

Are there any microbreweries in Bangkok that brew (and sell) their own -- on premises?

Yes, a few.

The Londoner, Tawan Deng and another one in Ransit are the ones I'm aware of. Mostly its generic 'German' beer. There's a hotel in Hua Hin that does it's own beer too (there's a thread on here in the travel section about it somewhere).

**Boon Mee** · 29-06-2008, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Begbie

What is this Budweiser ? I only know the famous American beer Buttwiper.

Heh...never heard of the King of Beers?

**melvbot** · 29-06-2008, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by Texpat

America has thousands of excellent microbrews and small label beers.

Its the same in the UK, we have some godawful pooves lager called Carling Black Label thats supposed to be no.1, bloody horrible stuff like the Budweiser of England. There are lots of breweries in England turning out some nice beer/ale with weird names like Bishops Finger, Old Speckled Hen and Spitfire to name a few. Sadly this stuff rarely gets exported like the good American ones don't. With the American wine industry being as good as it is I'd love to try some of the local beers.
Im not even sure if Carling is English to be honest, probably bought out by johnny foreigner years ago.

**Marmite the Dog** · 29-06-2008, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by melvbot

Sadly this stuff rarely gets exported like the good American ones don't.

Cask ales can't be experted very successfully here, hence all the Bitters are keg and carbonated. Most US beers are keg and could be exported ok.

I used to import the Old Speckled Hen and the coolers were a bitch to set up which meant customers would get a lot of inconsistency. Boddingtons actually employed a guy full time to travel the world setting up their coolers as it was so tricky.

**melvbot** · 29-06-2008, 03:53 PM

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by melvbot

Sadly this stuff rarely gets exported like the good American ones don't.

Cask ales can't be experted very successfully here, hence all the Bitters are keg and carbonated. Most US beers are keg and could be exported ok.

I used to import the Old Speckled Hen and the coolers were a bitch to set up which meant customers would get a lot of inconsistency. Boddingtons actually employed a guy full time to travel the world setting up their coolers as it was so tricky.

Speckled etc are in the supermarkets bottled. Suppose its not cheap to import crates of bottles though.

**Marmite the Dog** · 29-06-2008, 04:02 PM

Originally Posted by melvbot

Speckled etc are in the supermarkets bottled. Suppose its not cheap to import crates of bottles though.

I looked into importing Greene King bottled beers and I simply didn't have enough capital to do it, as the margins were very tight, and that was taking the risk that Thai C&E would play ball, which was far from guaranteed, so I decided not to do it.

I then looked into brewing a real ale here, but I would have had to have an even bigger investment to reach the minimum allowed production. The only way to get round that would be to brew it in Cambodia and import it from there, again provided the C&E guys were not complete kunts.

**Texpat** · 29-06-2008, 04:05 PM

Knowing what little I do of Thai men in positions of authority -- I would never take that risk.

**Begbie** · 29-06-2008, 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by melvbot

Speckled etc are in the supermarkets bottled. Suppose its not cheap to import crates of bottles though.

I looked into importing Greene King bottled beers and I simply didn't have enough capital to do it, as the margins were very tight, and that was taking the risk that Thai C&E would play ball, which was far from guaranteed, so I decided not to do it.

I then looked into brewing a real ale here, but I would have had to have an even bigger investment to reach the minimum allowed production. The only way to get round that would be to brew it in Cambodia and import it from there, again provided the C&E guys were not complete kunts.

My understanding was that microbreweries are only allowed to sell "on the premises". Which of course is just to protect Singh and Chang from competition.

The thai german brewery in Chiang Mai used to do some really good brews.

**Marmite the Dog** · 29-06-2008, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by Begbie

My understanding was that microbreweries are only allowed to sell "on the premises". Which of course is just to protect Singh and Chang from competition.

That's right, but some do take the risk and brew for other 'micro-breweries'.

Originally Posted by Begbie

The thai german brewery in Chiang Mai used to do some really good brews.

Used to? I went to one in CM with Noony last September. Has it closed?

**Begbie** · 29-06-2008, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by Begbie

The thai german brewery in Chiang Mai used to do some really good brews.

Used to? I went to one in CM with Noony last September. Has it closed?

It's only my past tense, the last time I crossed the threshold was about four years ago. Carabou concert if I recall correctly.

**jaiyenyen** · 29-06-2008, 04:45 PM

Bishops Finger and Spitfire are both made by Shepherd & Neame, Faversham, Kent.
The ad's for Spitfire were always being banned, apparently because they upset the Yeramans.
Wonderful beers though.

**Fabian** · 29-06-2008, 09:56 PM

Originally Posted by Marmite the Dog

Originally Posted by Texpat

Are there any microbreweries in Bangkok that brew (and sell) their own -- on premises?

Yes, a few.

The Londoner, Tawan Deng and another one in Ransit are the ones I'm aware of. Mostly its generic 'German' beer. There's a hotel in Hua Hin that does it's own beer too (there's a thread on here in the travel section about it somewhere).

The beer at Londoner was quite good. I know the taste is too german for you but maybe that's why I like it.

The one at Rangsit (german beer hall) makes good beer too but it is not really pub like but more what thais consider as a pub.

**dobella** · 29-06-2008, 10:20 PM

excellent thread.
i am pretty sure that 50% of the guys that drink beer in Thailand would pay
a premium price to get a real ale product.
i drink speckled hen/guiness on tap to get off the local stuff but it really
is no better.
marmite has done the figures and it looks like we are stuck with the 'shite
of your choice' local.
well done for the effort though, maybe one day......

**darksider** · 29-06-2008, 11:26 PM

Spitfire ads here

Do not open if you are German

Or French

**Fabian** · 30-06-2008, 03:51 AM

Originally Posted by darksider

Spitfire ads here

Do not open if you are German

Or French

Why not? Some of them are quite funny.

**barbaro** · 30-06-2008, 10:41 PM

Budweiser: complete crap.

Rice beer. Water beer.

Now they're where I'm at: lousy beer at import prices.

I hope bud fails. I think it may fail where I'm at.

**Jet Gorgon** · 01-07-2008, 12:01 PM

^ You just hate Cindy McCain.

**AntRobertson** · 01-07-2008, 12:15 PM

Budweiser's one of those things from the US that ended up to be a disappointment for me.

Growing up you'd see it in movies, read about it in books, and see the ads in US magazines. I always thought: 'Great! Can't wait to try that!!'. Eventually I did and it was shite.

Another disappointment in a similar vein was Oreo cookies. And that family of sea-monkeys. They looked nothing like the ad in the comic! They didn't even look like monkeys for chrissakes!

**Jet Gorgon** · 01-07-2008, 01:37 PM

^ Bet you even got sucked into trying Marlboros so you could pretend you were a cowboy.

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