About Critical Drinking

You like beer. You like travel. You’ve come to the right place.

Critical Drinking covers Bangkok’s rapidly evolving beer scene in-depth. News, reviews, taste tests, Q&As, roundups, essays, feature stories: it’s all here. There might even be a giveaway or two.

While Bangkok and beer take the limelight, Critical Drinking also looks further afield with its coverage. You’ll find beer- and booze-fueled stories that span Thailand and beyond, plus the occasional feature about spirits, cocktail bars, or nightlife trends.

What kinds of stories are we talking about?

Plenty! Every Thursday, Critical Drinking will publish a new story. Here are some examples of what you might find.

• Roundups of Bangkok’s best bars for sour beers, stouts, and more

• Deep dives into why your beer costs so much, what contract brewing in Southeast Asia really entails, and more

• Unpacking the inspiration behind awesome can art

• Professional beer people blind-taste local IPAs and pick their favorites

• Reviews of the latest bar and brewing equipment

• News about upcoming releases and events

Who the hell are you, though?

Okay, yeah, so I’m Craig. I’ve lived in Bangkok a long time. Long enough to have been here before IPAs were readily available.

I’ve covered the city’s drinking culture quite often for my day jobs and side hustles. I used to edit BK, Bangkok’s longest-running lifestyle magazine, and I was the food and drink editor for Time Out Hong Kong for a while. In my free time—or whenever I get burned out and quit my job to freelance—I’ve written about beer, booze, and drinking around the world for Oct.co (RIP), All About Beer (also RIP), Craftbeer.com, the Nikkei Asia Review, beaucoup in-flight magazines, and many other outlets.

Writing for other publications has generally allowed me to provide a big-picture view of beer and drinking culture in Asia, but it hasn’t always let me go very deep. With Critical Drinking, I hope to make up for gaps in my coverage over the years.

This platform aims to give voice to industry workers, provide deeper insights into beer, brewing, and nightlife, and make it all more accessible to outsiders.

Why does this matter now?

Over the past 12 years (and counting), I’ve witnessed Bangkok’s drinking culture evolve in ways few would have expected. Especially its beer scene.

But the growth hasn’t been limited to this city alone. Beer geeks and would-be small business owners in the booze industry are everywhere across Asia today, and they’re approaching their craft with a fearless energy I haven’t seen elsewhere.

“Fearless” is the keyword when it comes to Thailand, in particular. Homebrewing is illegal, and it’s very, very difficult to open a brewery. People keep doing it, though, and the products they’re making are getting better each year.

It’s an exciting time for anyone who sees value—social, economic, or otherwise—in beer and nightlife. But nudging the industry forward requires support, interest, and even constructive criticism from consumers. That’s where Critical Drinking comes in.

Now, enough of my spiel. Let’s get started!