What Bangkok beer people are drinking this week
When the rain falls hard on a humdrum town, have a beer.
This week has hit me with the intensity of a lunch rush in the business district. Work has been relentless, and so has the rain.
After spending hours staring at a blinking cursor on my computer screen and willing words onto documents, I decided to go for a run yesterday evening. As I was lacing up my shoes, the rain came. It rained and kept raining.
It’s usually like this in September in Thailand. The clouds open like the bull gates in Pamplona, releasing their contents in a great rush that can pummel you for hours.
Instead of running, I did the only other rational thing I could: I cracked open a beer, a Mahanakhon white IPA, and sat on my balcony listening to the sound of rain spreading like a gray crescendo.
Rainy season can be a drag. It’s a Friday night and you want to meet your friends for a drink, you’re trying to hail a taxi, you’re racing to get to the train before hundreds of other office workers at 6pm—this is inevitably when the deluge begins.
Fortunately, there’s beer and its cathartic effects.1
Work will flow more than it ebbs, and the rain will ruin your plans. At the end of days or weeks like these, you can always reach for your favorite bottle or can—or something new—and let life do as it will.
As rainy season reaches its soggy peak, I asked a handful of friends, most of whom are industry folks, what they’re drinking. Here’s what we’ll all be cracking open tonight.
Spoiler: there are a lot of new beers you’ll want to track down for yourself.
Sarawut “Bo” Muangsong, Eight Days a Week Homebar and 12 Plato
Super Shy, Bo’s New England pale ale
This is my beer, made with new hops from New Zealand. If you listen to music mixes on YouTube or Spotify, I think you’ll notice that girl supergroups are very popular right now. I decided to name this beer after a popular song by New Jeans [a K-pop mega-group] that came out around the same time I released it.
When it’s a really rainy week, why not have a good beer and chill out to New Jeans?
Albert Bergado, Bootleggers sales manager and New Jeans stan
Also Super Shy
I’m going for SUPER SHY, because New Jeans. I’ll be braving the rain to get me some of that Eight Days A Week Brewing!2
The Craft Beer Maniac
AleSmith’s West Coast IPA
I’m a mega hop head with a preference for West Coast IPAs. Whenever I see AleSmith’s IPA in the fridge, I never hesitate to grab it. Unbelievably good stuff!
Rerk, graphic designer at Beervana Thailand
Prairie Artisan Ales Thai Delight Treat
Image courtesy of Beervana Thailand
A beer I absolutely can’t miss this week is Prairie Artisan Ales’ Thai Delight Treat, a mango sticky rice-inspired sour ale.
As a Thai person, I have mixed feelings of jealousy and excitement. Mango sticky rice is undeniably a flagship Thai dessert, but unfortunately, we can’t brew a beer inspired by our local flavors due to legal restrictions.
Nevertheless, I am incredibly thrilled to taste this beer because mango sticky rice is my favorite dessert. I can’t wait to experience it in liquid form!
Clif, current editor of the Bangkok Beer Guide
An Oktoberfest / märzen
I love the style and I’m rather nerdy about it. I’ll be looking for a Thai märzen if I can find one. If not, G’s German Restaurant in Silom has a Weinestephaner with my name on it.3
Ben Dickins, beer obsessive
Pomona Island Witchi Tai To
As a sucker for sours, it’s no surprise that I was seriously excited when the latest Pomona Island drop was filled with the stuff. After sampling them at a Mikkeller Ekkamai tap takeover, I had to grab a few cans of the passion fruit gose, Witchi Tai To, for some rainy day indulgence.
Me (hi, I’m the problem)
Maalstroom Megacosm
Image courtesy of Maalstroom Brewing via Facebook
Based in Chiang Dao, a totally underrated town an hour north of Chiang Mai, a Dutch brewer named Eelke and his wife run a bar called Mikrokosmos. They serve impeccable homebrewed beer here and have since 2015. Not to get too confusing, but their brand is called Maalstroom, and the beer they release in cans is always a treat.
Megacosm is the latest—a double IPA brewed with American and Australian hops, promising tropical fruit notes and heaps of flavor. I’ve had a can on layaway, if you will, at Duke of Beerington since it was released last week, and I can’t wait to taste it.
If you want to get your hands on one before they sell out, I suggest contacting The Fat Cow, which always gets Maalstroom beer when it’s released.
This is science, by the way. I just finished the book “Drunk” by the philosopher Edward Slingerland. Read it and you’ll agree.
To Albert’s chagrin, Bo recommended this beer shortly after he did. I’m leaving both in here because I’m pretty sure it’s a great beer and two recs are better than one.
Two things: 1) bookmark the Bangkok Beer Guide, because it’s absolutely essential for beer fans in Bangkok; 2) if anyone knows of a Thai märzen, let us know about it!