Monday 19 May 2014

Craft beer in Thailand

Over recent years, imported craft beer has become very popular among Thai people. A lot of bars and bistros were opened in Bangkok to respond Thai drinker's demand. I was reading the article from BBC and wondered why we don’t have our own craft beer?

According "to Who, What, Why: Is the craft beer craze going to cause a hops shortage?”, the demand for hops in the U.S. has extremely increased because of the growth of craft beer market. Although some people think that a hops shortage might be hardly happened, Hop Growers of America warned small brewers to be aware of hops tightness.

Beer market in Thailand has been retained from 2 manufacturers, ThaiBev and Boonrawd, for many years. For each year, they both hold about 90 percent of beer market share in Thailand. Although a lot of Thai drinkers change their behavior from drinking local beer to drink imported beer because of the variety of beer types, their alternatives for local beer are still the same. 

For this reason, I’ve researched into the law about the alcoholic beverages control. The law states that the manufacturing of alcoholic beverages without license is illegal whether it’s for commercial or not. I still don’t understand why making and selling herbal liquor are legal. Another part of the law made me clearly understand, it states that a small manufacturer can produce alcoholic beverages but they have to be consumed immediately. That’s the reason why we’ve never seen a Thai craft beer in any supermarket.

As someone who loves drinking beer, I hope this law should be changed. It doesn’t only create the opportunity for small manufacturers, but also providing more alternatives for the consumers. 
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Reference
Who, What, Why: Is the craft beer craze going to cause a hops shortage? (2014, May 15). BBC News Magazine Monitor. Retrieved May 18, 2014 from http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-27421779
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10 comments:

  1. Nan20 May 2014 at 02:03

    I think beer is not delicious. About a year ago, I have heard that Chang served beer-flavored soft serve ice cream, but I have never tried yet. Its taste may be better than the pure one.

    The first sentence in your forth paragraph, the law was mentioned, first thing that come in my mind is about Law’s essay. LOL

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    1. Peter.AUA20 May 2014 at 07:24

      I'm afraid I agree with Nan. I know that many people do like beer, and I'm sure that they enjoy the taste as well as the intoxicating drug that makes it so addictive to many users, but I've never liked it much.

      I think the last time I drank beer must have been at a university function decades ago, where I did it to be polite. But I'm not opposed to such drug use: enjoy a glass of wine with a meal, especially a nice red wine, which usually contains even more alcohol than beer does.

      I suspect that my personal preferences in popular drugs reflect my family background - as my last name suggests, my ancestors came from Italy, where they grew grapes for wine-making. Four generations ago, when they moved to our area of Australia, they brought cuttings from their vines with them, and my family is still growing grape vines that are direct descendants of those cutting brought over from Italy. As is common in Italian families, wine was a usual part of dinner.

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  2. Parichat Panyawisitkul20 May 2014 at 22:36

    I don't like drinking beer, and I don't want people to like it. Alcohol beverages, especially ones with high alcohol percentage, can slow your sensation and your brain. I couldn't understand why some people want to lose some parts of their consciousness.

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  3. Unknown21 May 2014 at 12:44

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Unknown21 May 2014 at 12:45

    I agree with P'nan when I read your paragraph, it reminds me of Law's Hartmann essay haha. I think it will be better if our country can provide more alternatives of beer and prefer local beer. Of course, foreigners would want to try if we are good at craft beer.

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  5. Unknown21 May 2014 at 20:02

    Your post is interesting. I think that if we could craft local beer and add some special flavor, like mangosteen, pineapple and durian, or aroma, like jasmine, it would provide the wonderful experience.

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    1. Unknown21 May 2014 at 20:03

      Anyway, I really like rose Hoegaarden. It might be most of my favorite.

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    2. Unknown21 May 2014 at 20:44

      Finally, I found someone who enjoy drinking beer :)

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  6. Unknown21 May 2014 at 23:15

    Actually, I don't drink alcohols but I've tried Beer Lao once. that was awesome! I won't try herbal liquor because I saw the soap opera names "Thong nuer Kao" or well known as Lum Yorng and herbal liquor changed her a lot. that scares me.

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