And we're back!
*emerges from the crypt* What's up?
Your author went on holiday. Can you guess where?
Hey folks,
Long time, no talk, eh? I apologize for the radio silence. Sometimes life moves you in unexpected ways. The last few months were full of such movements. A marathon, some marathon projects, a trip to Japan, etc. You get the picture. Things got busy. I got distracted. I stayed home more often.
I don’t want this project to die on the vine, though. As instructed by one of the best advisors I’ve ever had instructed, I plan to publish “1.5 posts” per week. Of course, next week is Songkran. I’m not a savage. I intend to celebrate the holiday.1 So I’ll underperform next week. After that? Full steam ahead.
As I revive this dormant drinking newsletter, I’m going to start with a layup: some fun new beer bars that have opened recently, and some interesting beer developments that have happened, too.
Goodbye, exorbitant excise tax! Wait—
For starters, Thailand’s Cabinet waived excise taxes on wine and spirits. Or did it?
Savvy consumers received the news with surprise. Dead-inside consumers, importers, and business owners greeted it with skepticism. Temperance groups got real frumpy about it.
Long story short, the policy seems to have been approved, but no one appears to have benefited from it yet. It’s fair to wonder if anyone ever will.
Thai brewers make legal beer
This space previously featured two Thai brewers as they ventured to make beer the straightforward way: at their facilities in greater Bangkok.
Well, here we are months later, and both 12 Plato and Samata are selling their own Thailand-made beers.
12 Plato has rolled out a handful of new brews, including several iterations of wheats and wits. Every time I’ve visited the microbrewery, it has been packed. Clearly, they’re onto something good.
Samata, meanwhile, is distributing tall boys of its beloved sour beers across Bangkok. You can find them in several bars and bottle shops, including—shameless plug alert—Duke of Beerington. Drop by now for Samata’s Pantone series.
You’ll also find some other new Thai entries to the market at Duke, like Sriracha’s Sriracha Nakorn IPA and Koh Loy West Coast IPA, both of which were excellent the last time I had them.
Oh, and one long-standing bar has its own beer now, too: Hair of the Dog just put its 6.66% Hysteria IPA on tap.
Brewave opens inside… a downtown luxury mall?
The new Brewave. Excellent views, no?
I was as surprised as anyone to discover a craft beer bar inside the renovated Gaysorn Amarin, aka Amarin Plaza, aka that one mall no one ever went to in Ratchaprasong.
After a year-ish of closed-wall renovations, the mall returned with some powerhouse food and beverage figures in tow.
Gaggan Anand—of Gaggan and, later, Gaggan Anand fame—teamed up with Louis Vuitton, of all outlets, to open a food-meets-fashion venture inside the mall.2 Chalee Kader moved his massively underrated Mickey’s Diner to the refurbished mall.
These venues were widely covered. What was not covered was the Brewave branch that opened on the fourth floor.
The new Brewave offers 14 or 15 taps3 of beer to enjoy either inside or out. The patio seating overlooks the BTS and is—for my money—maybe the best new day-drinking spot this city has seen in years.
The beer is pretty good, too. Brewave’s beers—when I was there, they included a pale ale and lemon sour ale—start at THB 150 for a 330ml pour. That’s excellent value. And the lemon sour ale is a great foil for the sultry summer heat we’re currently enduring.
THB 100 pours in the Old Town
Samsen will never be mistaken for a nightlife district, but beer stans have a good excuse to schlep over to the Old Town now.
Newly opened Apron Bar is taking a page from Underdog4 and offering pour-your-own beers from 18 taps, starting at THB 100. We’re not talking big pours, obviously, but it’s a fun concept.
You can bring your own food. If you decide to brave the mean streets of Bangkok during Songkran, you can pick up waterproof disposable cameras, too.
Possibly the worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth.
By which I mean get far, far away from the actual Thai new year celebrations, in particular the water fights, but still log off if possible.
There are queues, and I am just not interested in any of it.
I failed to write down the total, let alone photograph the taps. Bad journalism.
And, as I’ll write about later, certain sake breweries in Japan.