Beerlao = The New Pabst/Corona (Maureen Ogle)

Beerlao = The New Pabst/Corona

Psssttt!

Yeah, you. The person who jumped on the Corona/Pabst beerwagon. (*1)

Wanna try the next hip beer?

*1: Or, if you're an old hipster, the person who jumped on the St.Pauli Girl/Heineken bandwagon waaaaaaaaaaay back in the day.

Posted by Maureen Ogle on July 30, 2008 3:03 PM | Permalink

Comments (8)

Charlie Papazian:

Actually I had this beer when in Laos. It is remarkably good. A nice crisp pilsener in the German style made with a proportion of rice to lighten it up for that lattitude. It doesn't need a lime.

Posted by Charlie Papazian | July 31, 2008 5:07 PM

Posted on July 31, 2008 17:07

Maureen:

Charlie, not sure if you'll be back again to read this -- but I'm guessing you traveled to China at some point in the 1980s?

Which means you also got to drink some great local brew there.

I spent a month in China in 1987 and drank a nearly bewildering array of local beers.

Delicious! And I'm betting that every one of them included rice as an adjunct.

Sadly, but not suprisingly, those local beers have all but disappeared. When I visited again in 2000, I found nothing but Heineken (or, as the locals calls it, Chinaken) and Budweiser.

As for Beerlao itself, I have no doubt it's a good beer. I was just hugely amused by the totally matter-of-fact, in-your-face "we want to make this the next Corona" attitude.

It's impossible for me not to be amused: I watched my friends succumb to the whole St. Pauli Girl/Heineken mania of the 1970s.

It was totally crap beer (nearly always skunky) but BY GOD, they were hipper than the dweebs still drinking Pabst!

Posted by Maureen | August 1, 2008 4:18 PM

Posted on August 1, 2008 16:18

Ken Stutz:

I am new to blogs but I saw your comments on Beerlao which I distribute in Northern California. I would like to see if working togteher we could create a blog buzz about thebeer and stage a cultural event

Posted by Ken Stutz | August 2, 2008 2:13 AM

Posted on August 2, 2008 02:13

Charlie Papazian:

I led a beer tour through China in 1999. With the People to People organization. Beijing-Quingdao-Shanghia-Hong Kong in 9 days.
We came across a few hole in the wall microbreweries and "brewpubs" though more aptly called "brewnoodles." When fresh were good. The high end hotel, Kempinski?? served liters of house brewed Paulaner. A welcome treat to the 12 cents a liter street beer most accessible. Quingdao actually made very excellent beer. HK we visited a microbrewery or two.

Posted by Charlie Papazian | August 6, 2008 7:41 PM

Posted on August 6, 2008 19:41

Jeff Renner:

My brother-in-law works part time in Laos doing work with an unexploded ordinance NGO. (Interesting journal at http://www.everestinfo.org/laos2/ )

He brought back a few fresh Beerlaos a few years ago, and I agree with Charlie - it's very good pilsner. Maybe what Bud was like 100 years ago?

He also brought me a Beerlao t-shirt, which is now well faded. I'll bet the marketeers are now selling pre-faded t-shirts to the hipsters so they look like they were ahead of the curve!

Posted by Jeff Renner | August 13, 2008 3:57 PM

Posted on August 13, 2008 15:57

Jeff:

I live in Minnesota and would like to buy some Beer Lao. Anyone know where I can purchase?

Posted by Jeff | September 11, 2008 11:22 PM

Posted on September 11, 2008 23:22

Maureen:

Try here:
http://www.beer-lao.com/distributions.php

Although it looks like for now, the beer is only available in a handful of states -- and Minnesota isn't one of them.

Posted by Maureen | September 12, 2008 1:11 AM

Posted on September 12, 2008 01:11

Many K.: