Beer Culture in Vietnam and Laos: Where to go for the best flavor

Beer forms part of the culture in many nations and is associated with a lot of social traditions. The beer culture in Vietnam is an integral part of living in this country. Drinking beer in daily meals or on special occasions is a remark for the personality of the banquet of the majority of Vietnamese people. And when referring to Laos, you may think of the pagodas and pagodas, and other spiritual attractions. Besides, just like Vietnamese cuisine; Laos food & beverage is also quite diverse, bringing unique characteristics of the land. It can be said that beer is a pride of the Lao people. Beer culture in Vietnam and Laos: similarities & where to go for the best flavor – let’s find out!

Beer Culture in Vietnam

Vietnamese people have many unique ways to enjoy beer and they highlight the best of beer culture in Vietnam. This is an interesting thing to discover and experience on your tours to Vietnam.

Ice Beer

First of all, you should know that the Vietnamese often drink beer with ice. (I know this is a rather frugal way of thinking compared to the West, which usually savors cool beer from the fridge). The waiters will bring you glasses full of ice without you asking or not as a chance for you to try it. You will love to drink beer like this! If not, you can learn how to drink beer faster before the ice in the glass dissolves.

Social Beer

Community-oriented character is one of Vietnamese beer culture highlights

Another great thing about beer drinking culture in Vietnam is the social aspect. The beer-drinking culture here is community-oriented, more about sharing. People here often order a lot of beer, as if for people to “bath in beer” always.

Business Beer

There are some traditional businessmen often discuss work or close a contract on the drinking table. The negotiating table deals are more likely to terminated than in the meeting room. Therefore, if you are doing business in Vietnam, you should consider trying this form.

Vietnamese Types of Beer

Fresh Beer (Draught Beer)

This is the most popular beer with the locals. Brewed every day in local breweries, it has no preservatives and is the cheapest and purest Vietnamese beer. You can find this type of beer at any pubs, restaurants, stores, etc. in Vietnam with a price of only $0.5/ cup.

Craft Beer

Trying Vietnamese craft beer will bring you such a special flavor that you cannot find anywhere else

Vietnamese young people are extremely fond of enjoying the intoxicating taste of charming and unique beer lines.

Currently, the Vietnamese domestic lager beer market has not been delineated in taste, considering only the lightness and bitterness. Particularly with craft beer, the situation seems better. Because this kind of beer is picky and most young people have gout or long-time beer connoisseurs. They prefer to discover new things and tend to spend a lot of time sipping. This is a potential market segment in the beer industry in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Beer Brands

Vietnam has dozens of local brewers, some of which you’ll find at bars or on their menus:

333 beer

333 beer is a light beer with an alcohol content of 5.3%. This is probably the cheapest of the domestic brewers, with a price of about $0.5. Previously the company was named “33”, but after 1975, the government added another 3 to its name to distinguish it from colonial beer. Ordering a 333 bottle of beer in Vietnam is very easy – just say “a bottle of a tortoise” will be brought to you.

Saigon beer

Saigon Export Beer

It has 3 types:

• Green Saigon is the cheapest. This beer has a light taste and an alcohol content of only 4.3%.
• Saigon Export Beer (also known as Saigon Red Beer), as the name suggests, high quality for export, although the taste is stronger, not everyone likes it!
• Saigon Special: With a 4.9% alcohol content, Saigon Special has the strongest alcohol content and has the sweetest taste of any type, more than Red and Green Saigon beer. Prices range from $0.6 to $0.9.

Hanoi beer

Hanoi Beer

This favorable beverage is made in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. This beer has a very reasonable price of $0.9. It is light green and has a slightly sweet taste, with 5.1% alcohol content.

Huda beer

This beer is from Central Vietnam, tastes similar to Heineken beer. Their price is almost the same as the price of 333 beer.

Craft Beer

In Hanoi

Craft Beer in Vietnam began to develop from around 2014 in Saigon, created by brewmaster experts who are foreigners living in Vietnam, who are familiar with the rich Craft Beer culture. Up to this point, several Hanoi craft beer brands have begun to join this playground with many impressive beers.

Compared to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi craft beer is less bitter and suits the taste of Vietnamese people, while retaining the unique aroma. There are beers designed for the summer only, characterized by low alcohol, a slight aroma of bananas, passion fruit, or light grass, which is great for drinking on hot days. There are also smoky (Smoked Ale) types suitable for outdoor barbecues. For winter beers, Belgian beers dominate, because of their sweetness, the aroma of malt, caramel or a hint of spice, and the most typical feature is the high alcohol content.

In Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon is home to a range of excellent craft beer brands such as Pasteur Street Brewing Company, Winking Seal, East West Brewing Company and Fuzzy Logic. Up to now, the Saigon craft beer industry is on the strong development, with over 10 brands and about 30 types of craft beer being produced regularly.

Due to the hot climate all year round, Saigon’s craft beer has a bitter taste, the beer must be very cold with the alcohol content not too high, creating a sense of lightness, refreshment, and no fatigue when enjoying. Floral scent tends to light, imaginative like jasmine, fresh fruit scent with mild sourness, cool, etc.

They produce unique beers by combining traditional methods and indigenous ingredients to create a new flavor for beer. Some beer flavors can be mentioned such as passion fruit beer, cocoa flavor beer, even coffee-flavored beer. For these craft beers, be prepared to pay a little more, around $3.5 – $5. And trust me, they are worth it!

Where to Go for The Best Flavor of Vietnamese Beer?

Some foreigners enjoying Hanoi beer in Ta Hien Beer Street, Hanoi

In Hanoi

• Ta Hien Beer Street, Old Quarter Area, Hanoi
• Craft Beer Pub: 26 Hang Buom Street, Hanoi
• Vuvuzela Beer Club:

– Ho Guom Plaza Center, 110 Tran Phu Street, Hanoi

– Sunrise Building, 91 Tran Thai Tong Street, Hanoi

– No. 1 Thai Ha Street, Hanoi

– No. 8 Trang Thi Street, Hanoi

• New Phinx Beer Bar: No. 2 Lang Ha Street, Hanoi
• Sidewalk Beer & Grill: 199D Nghi Tam Street, Hanoi
• CheersBeer: 98 Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Hanoi
• Cowboy Texas Beer Club: 235 Le Duc Tho Street, Hanoi

In Ho Chi Minh City

• Malt Saigon:

– Malt Bar: No. 46 – 48 Mac Thi Buoi, District 1, HMCC

– Malt South: 35 Nguyen Luong Bang, District 7, HCMC

• Rooster Beers: 240 Bui Vien Walking Street, District 1, HCMC
• Rehab Station: 27/6 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1, HCMC
• Rogue Saigon: 13 Pasteur Street, District 1, HCMC

Beer Culture in Laos

Beerlao – Asia’s Best Local Beer

Beerlao – Asia’s best local beer

This famous and unique beer (since 1973) is the national capital of the Land of Million Elephants. At first, it was born in a beer company with a market share of 99% of the beer market in Laos, owned by the state of Laos and Carlsberg. With that market share, Lao beer can be found anywhere in Laos, whether in small toad bars or restaurants and bars. This is a great success of a beer brand in one country, compared to the richness and diversity of different beer brands in neighboring countries such as Vietnam, Thailand and other countries in the world.

Best Way to Enjoy

With its characteristic aroma, Beerlao is better served and retains more flavor when chilled, rather than with ice. However, with high concentrations, it is still advisable to drink beer with ice if the visitor’s drinking capacity is not good.

When coming to Laos, tourists prefer to sit on the banks of the Mekong River to drink Beerlao, enjoy freshly grilled Mekong fish, watch the calm currents of the river and admire the natural scenery.

It is perfect to drink Beerlao by the bank of Mekong River and share some stories with your friends

Beer Festival

In Laos, the most prominent feature is the national cultural festivals, the most typical is the water festival. In these festivals, in addition to high community parties with frantic dance, Beerlao is also an indispensable drink for both men and women. Most Lao women can drink beer just as well as men when participating in parties or festivals, the people who bring beer to invite are female, not men. Having attended many festive parties, it can be said that it is the day when people dance and sing, splash water on each other if it is a water festival, and drink beer throughout the day, even to the next day.

Laos Types of Beer

Beerlao

This is the mutual name of some types of beer such as Beerlao Dark, Beerlao Gold; produced by Lao Brewery Company, based in Vientiane, Laos. This beer is made from locally grown jasmine fragrant rice; hops and yeast imported from Germany.

Beerlao was born in 1973 and has become the leading beer brand in Laos. The brand accounts for more than 98% of the beer market in Laos. You will see Beerlao’s presence everywhere in Laos from toad bars, sidewalks to 5-star luxury restaurants. Beerlao has now been exported to 13 countries worldwide.

Beerlao Lager Beer

This is a soft, light beer suitable for both women and women with its distinctive flavor and aroma and amber-yellow color. It can be used to suit a variety of foods but is especially delicious with baked goods that are traditional dishes of Laos.

Beerlao Dark Lager

Beerlao White Lager

The products of this elegant beer are packed in a small 500ml design that is luxurious, polite, economical, convenient for transportation and given as a gift. Therefore, this is one of the product branches with high consumption power in the export market.

Nam Khong Beer

This beer was launched in Laos as the second local beer brand in 2008. Namkhong Beer has been awarded the Gold Quality Award in 2011 and 2013 at the Monde Selection, International Institute for Quality Selections founded in Brussels, the capital of Belgium

LaneXang Beer

It is brewed with high-quality ingredients to provide a strong yet powerfully refreshing and rewarding beer. This famous brand is a premium beer that deserves a special occasion. It’s made by the best brewers in Laos using natural ingredients, including Khao Kai Noy rice.

Patitoh Mango Pale Ale

This is the very first craft beer in Laos with a very special flavor that you cannot find anywhere else. It is a good idea to come and try the product of one of the first craft breweries here on your Laos tour.

Where to Go for The Best Flavor of Laos Beer?

• Any pubs, bars, stores, restaurants or shops in every city of Laos
• Khop Chai Deu Food Garden: Rue Setthathirath, Vientiane, Laos
• Food Markets across the Mekong River

Similarities of Beer Culture and Industry in Vietnam and Laos

1. Each of Vietnamese and Laos beer is not only a spirit of national pride but also providing intrinsic values ​​in taste, health, and nutrition.

2. Raw materials for beer yeast & quality: from local rice, jasmine, fresh fruits, etc.

A fresh apple beer glass

3. Thanks to the similarity in flavor, in Vietnam, Beerlao is becoming more and more popular and has appeared in some restaurants in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh, Nghe An.

4. Both Vietnamese and Laos beer offer drinkers a riot of fantastic products with a very reasonable range of prices, from only $1/ item (glass, cup, can, bottle).

5. The passion for craft beer:

Vietnam and Laos are two countries that have a particular fondness for beer, coupled with the abundance of ingredients. Moreover, the craft beer industry in these two nations has been strongly increasing with various creative beer brands and flavors.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see the common point between the passion for craft beers with special flavors and diverse, inspired styles in Vietnam and Laos.

6. Plentiful and high-quality human resources:

Both craft beer and regular beer are made from four basic ingredients: water, hops, malt and yeast. However, if regular beer is made only with the basic ingredients, craft beer is transformed meticulously by adding other ingredients.

Besides ingredients, labor is another important factor that has a significant impact on beer quality. Vietnam and Laos are two agricultural developing countries with long-lasting hard-working traditions. As a result, human resources in these countries are active, energetic and diligent.

Discover more:

• Vietnamese Coffee: Where to go for the best flavor
• Top Delicious Vietnamese Seafood to Savor
• Best Ecotourism Destinations in Vietnam
• Essential Things to Know Before Travelling to Vietnam
• Things to Know Before Traveling to Laos
• Laos Festivals and Holidays