Lifestyle

Cambrew remains a leading light of the Cambodian beer market thanks to its clever strategy of creating brews that are targeted to different socioeconomic segments.

Like many people I have often found myself wondering what a German style beer brewed in Thailand by a Philipino beer monopoly would taste like?

As soon as I heard that Beer Lao Dum had arrived in the bars of Bangkok I revised travels plans I had to allow me a day (and night) in the City of Angels so I could try the darker, stronger sister of Beer Lao.

Singha plunges into cheap-beer market.

Iceberg Lager Beer has recently made its debut.

It is only in this tiny and remote Communist country that you can drink Beerlao fresh from a beer tap.

Phnom Penh has its first homegrown beer.

Cambodian expats have been abuzz about the origins of their much favoured tipple, Anchor.

Rightfully described as the "Number one stout in the world" it should be of no surprise to any beer drinker that Guinness is the number one stout in Asia as well. There are two types of Guinness available in South East Asia.

Phuket finally has a decent source of beer

It is often easy to complain about the lack of diversity in the Thai beer market, and even easier to be complacent about most farang's premium beer of choice - Heineken.

Beer in Thailand has long been overshadowed by that of the beer of its neighbouring countries. However because of tight import laws and heavy taxation there has been little competition for the low to mid priced beers. With the advent of ASEAN agreements and various Free Trade Agreements things are beginning to change and markets are starting to be opened up.

Introduced to the market at the same time as San Miguel I have to say that this beer is slightly disappointing. There have been other light beers introduced by Singha and Chang (and no doubt there are more planned by other brewers) so I feel that this beer will only take away from the impact that San Miguel Pale Pilsen should have.

San Miguel, the unofficial National Beer of the Philippines, has now been on Thailand's beer shelves for several months in farang populated areas such as Phuket, Samui, Bangkok and Pattaya and is proving to be a popular brew.

Chang and Singha's battle for alcoholic supremacy continues with the competitive launch of light beers from each company within weeks of each other. While Singha Light is at least in the same price range of Singha for some reason Chang Light is nearly 15 baht more for a 640ml bottle.