panadolsandwich Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Well I'm back in Brisbane for a couple of days before I have to fly back to Berlin. I went into the local grog supermarket - dan murphy's I think it's called. And I couldn't believe it - Beer Lao for 50 bucks a carton. I snapped up all they had - about 5 cartons I think. I called a couple of Japanese escorts - except one of them turned out be a Korean (I speak Korean and Japanese) - I let it go after inveigling a considerable discount - hey let this be a pan-Asian party. I've got this equal opportunity policy you know. How many times have I been around? It depends upon my mood - but at anytime I've got different views on familiar attitudes. Let us do the math. About 65 Baht per bottle - or around $2 - or 15,000 kip if you prefer. That represents good value god damn it! Especially in this land of the great rip off Australia! In no time I set up bar and it was just like Pattaya in many ways - the Japanese girl had these enormous natural tits, but the Korean made up for that in enthusiasm. We frolicked in the pool after and then retired back to the bedroom. Anyhow I highly recommend beer Lao. It is primarily a polished jasmine rice drink, but there has been some clever European intervention with an adjunct of barley and German hops I think. A perfect blend in many ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Someone tried to tell me once that it doesn't give you a hangover but he'd obviously never drank as much of it as I have. The Dark is highly recommended as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Someone tried to tell me once that it doesn't give you a hangover but he'd obviously never drank as much of it as I have. The Dark is highly recommended as well. After getting used to the draft (only available in Laos, AFAIK), I can't drink the bottles...the taste is really quite different. The draft is really nice. And as one backpacker publication once put it, in Laos, Beer Lao is "so cheap it's almost free"... In Bor Pen Nyang bar/restaurant on the Vientiane riverfront (great place to pick up freelancers), you can get a 3 liter tower of Beer Lao draft for 50,000 kip (about 200 baht or $7 US)...the girls will come in groups of 5, each pitch in a little over a dollar, and they're set with drink for the night... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 I remember in Khop Chai Der, the iconic bar on Setthathirath, the locals would come in and get plastic bags full of beer out of the tap to take to parties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panadolsandwich Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Someone tried to tell me once that it doesn't give you a hangover but he'd obviously never drank as much of it as I have. The Dark is highly recommended as well. A friend I went to uni with did Chemical Engineering then went off to work at the XXXX brewery in Milton, Brisbane Australia. Anyhow he explained to me over several cold ones in the factory's little bar - and using a few napkins and beer coasters the reasons why most beer gives you a hangover. It was fairly complex - there was a lot of chemical equations and stuff, but the principles behind it are simple enough - so I'll have a crack at trying to explain it to you. Basically you have something that is a sugar source and you add it to yeast and water = alcohol + carbon dioxide (that fizzy stuff). Now the brewery has to at some point make a call about when to let this process alone and just bottle the beer. Well it turns out that most of the cost to the brewery is in the sugar source and making sure it all converts to alcohol is priority number one. My learned friend showed how that simple equation gets a shit load more complex as the sugar runs down out of the mix - you start to see development of esters and toxins like formaldehyde and all sorts of things like methanol, aceteline etc. Basically poisons. Some breweries particularly tropical ones will then add some type of preservative as kind of the cherry on top - these tend to be the cheaper priced drinks that you should just steer clear of and let the locals drink. It's these poisons that give you the hangover - ethanol (alcohol) is a relatively mild chemical. Formaldehyde however is something you don't want to be fucking with. Basically its the same stuff scientists use to store specimens in glass jars... All the big commercial brewers run this process down as described - however, there are some that don't - and they are usually known as premium beers. Coopers is famous for not doing this (an Australian beer). As far as I can gather neither does beer Lao. As excellent a reason as I can come up with to partake - except if you live in Brisbane I've bought up all supplies - oh I'm so sorry... Ah well who thought it could ever get so complicated? Well it doesn't need to be - ha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panadolsandwich Posted December 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 After getting used to the draft (only available in Laos, AFAIK), I can't drink the bottles...the taste is really quite different. The draft is really nice. And as one backpacker publication once put it, in Laos, Beer Lao is "so cheap it's almost free"... In Bor Pen Nyang bar/restaurant on the Vientiane riverfront (great place to pick up freelancers), you can get a 3 liter tower of Beer Lao draft for 50,000 kip (about 200 baht or $7 US)...the girls will come in groups of 5, each pitch in a little over a dollar, and they're set with drink for the night... Yeah oh well I'm reminded of that place (the nevermind bar). I chatted up this French guy's freelancer once then and he got a bit upset about it - we were speaking Lao. He took a swing at me then I just picked him up and threw him down the stairs - on each landing a good kicking was dealt out - and shit man that place has a lot of stairs! His friend met us on the bottom landing at ground level and he looked fairly tidy, but he just kind of ran away a shit scared look on his face. I've got a fairly low opinion of the French after that as you can imagine... I went back and ordered a 3L tower and a pizza and the security staff came over to shake my hand. The freelancer gave me a blowjob in the hong naam. Great place Bpor Pen Nyang - bpen jang dai? lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian2 Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 The stairs are certainly spectacular... as is the view from the bar. The first time I visited it I arrived drunk and proceeded to get drunker, I have no memory of the descent. Since then my subsequent visits have been as a non- or very little drinker and they still frighten me. Agree with the chemical analysis, in another life I studied and trained as an industrial chemist so I know the principal and why a dozen bottles of Singha have a different effect on the drinker to the same amount of BeerLao. BUT......................................... Sufficient quantities of pure ethanol will still fuck you up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 On hangovers.... whilst in laos some 10 years ago I had the great pleasure of drinking copious amounts of Beer Lao - loved the stuff, and IIRC made quite a few posts about the liquid gold, and its lovely price. Hangovers didn't seem to happen, but then again I've never been too prone to the dreaded things, especially on tap. Came home and bought some Beer Lao's at Dan Murphy's (same as PS - liquor outlet down here) and while it tasted ok - it wasn't the memorable experience I remembered. Fast forward 10 years - now... The beer I have beside me now is a "brew on premesis" type. Sort of like home brew, but the bloke at the brew place does it for me, I just bottle the stuff up. Unlike the OP I don't throw money around like confetti, being a humble public servant and not the playboy PS portrays to be... It's cheap... a LOT cheaper than the retail outlets, BUT as far as I'm concerned it tastes unbelievably good - at a hell of a lot cheaper than local and imported beers. Another big bonus - no hangover... AT ALL - and I drink a lot at times... The lads tell me it's because it has no preservatives etc in it, just hops, water, yeast etc... Everyone who has been "on it" at my place agrees... Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Munchmaster Posted December 21, 2011 Report Share Posted December 21, 2011 Yeah oh well I'm reminded of that place (the nevermind bar). I chatted up this French guy's freelancer once then and he got a bit upset about it - we were speaking Lao. He took a swing at me then I just picked him up and threw him down the stairs - on each landing a good kicking was dealt out - and shit man that place has a lot of stairs! His friend met us on the bottom landing at ground level and he looked fairly tidy, but he just kind of ran away a shit scared look on his face. I've got a fairly low opinion of the French after that as you can imagine... I went back and ordered a 3L tower and a pizza and the security staff came over to shake my hand. The freelancer gave me a blowjob in the hong naam. Great place Bpor Pen Nyang - bpen jang dai? lol! I just love the fertile imagination of some of our members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panadolsandwich Posted December 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2011 The stairs are certainly spectacular... as is the view from the bar. The first time I visited it I arrived drunk and proceeded to get drunker, I have no memory of the descent. Since then my subsequent visits have been as a non- or very little drinker and they still frighten me. Agree with the chemical analysis, in another life I studied and trained as an industrial chemist so I know the principal and why a dozen bottles of Singha have a different effect on the drinker to the same amount of BeerLao. BUT......................................... Sufficient quantities of pure ethanol will still fuck you up. Yeah hold on brother - I was never saying ethanol wasn't evil as well. Anyhow I'm just a doctor - and as explained not an industrial chemist!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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