Frequent Flyer Guy Reports: Craft Beer in Vietnam!

Our own FREQUENT FLYER GUY, (a.k.a. Steve Smith), returns with another update from Southeast Asia. Great to have you back in the fold, Steve! (and oh, MAN, do we want to join you.) Check it out:

What's Hot in Vietnam: Cold Craft Beer

- How Vietnam is rapidly becoming an unlikely craft beer mecca

What are first things that come to mind when one thinks of Vietnam? Rice paddies? Motorbikes? Phở, Vietnam’s iconic noodle soup? Ha Long Bay? Floating markets on the Mekong Delta? Probably not craft beer.

Just two years ago, this was the extent of my Vietnamese beer experience.

Just two years ago, this was the extent of my Vietnamese beer experience.

Traditionally, beer in Vietnam has meant a macro-brewed lager like 333 or Bia Saigon poured over ice in local watering holes, or an imported Tiger or Heineken in more upscale pubs and clubs. Up until very recently, you could have any style of beer you wanted--as long as it was lager. But as I learned on my recent trip to Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City’s BiaCraft Artisan Ales, that is changing in a big way.

According to beervn.com, there were no craft breweries in Vietnam in 2013. And for good reason. Brewing craft beer in Southeast Asia can be extremely challenging. Most equipment needs to be imported or made locally from spec—a daunting proposition. Ingredients can be impossible to find locally, and difficult to import (imagine getting a large batch of green, skunk-smelling hops through customs without being arrested as a drug trafficker). In nearby Thailand, archaic liquor laws that protect large breweries force craft brewers to brew their beer in neighboring countries, and then import their beer (subject to a 60% customs duty and a 48% excise tax). And finally there is the challenge of educating a market whose expectation of beer is a clear, simple-tasting lager. When Vietnamese craft brewer Platinum Beverages first released an unfiltered golden ale, many of the kegs got returned by distributors who thought the cloudy ale was defective. And Pasteur Street Brewing probably should have thought twice about producing a durian-flavored beer. Not only is the pungent fruit a challenging choice as a beer ingredient, it also faced having to overcome the urban legend of durian and alcohol being a lethal combination. (It was not a commercial success.)

Just a few years ago, none of these beers were being made.

Just a few years ago, none of these beers were being made.

But the overwhelming appeal of craft beer is overcoming these obstacles. Today there are several dozen Vietnamese craft brewers from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh, and the number is growing rapidly. And while foreigners are behind the brewing, and much of the consumption of Vietnamese craft beer, Vietnamese locals are also starting to embrace it. Led by the young, well-traveled, middle- and upper-class urban Vietnamese, they are attracted to the quality and variety offered by craft beer, as well as the cachet of consuming a premium Western product. The manager we spoke with at BiaCraft estimated that roughly half of his customers were Vietnamese. And on our visit, the busy Thursday night crowd appeared to be at least half local.

BiaCraft's patrons on a busy Thursday night included many locals.

BiaCraft's patrons on a busy Thursday night included many locals.

I visited BiaCraft’s District 3 location (1 Lê Ngô Cát, phường 7, Quận 3, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam) with two friends—an American craft beer lover, and a local Vietnamese to whom we were just introducing craft beer. We sampled several selections from BiaCraft’s menu of 30 drafts (all but one brewed in Vietnam). They included a Belgian-style wit beer, two IPAs, an India summer ale, and one beer inspired by the spicy flavor of phở. Predictably, our Vietnamese craft beer novice was much more receptive to the wit beer (Tê Tê Belgian Wheat) and India Summer Ale (BiaCraft’s top-selling "Xao Ba Co"; Vietnamese slang meaning “f***ing liar”), with the hoppy bitterness of the IPAs being a bit much on the first try.  My American friend and I both enjoyed the IPAs however. And while all three of us love a good bowl of phở, we weren’t 100% sure that making a beer try to taste like phở was such a good idea. It did grow on us as we drank it however, and we're fairly confident it was a better idea than making beer taste like durian.

BiaCraft's extensive menu of draft beers

BiaCraft's extensive menu of draft beers

Our first tasting flight: Tê Tê Belgian Wheat, BiaCraft’s Xao Ba Co India Summer Ale, BiaCraft's Xau Ma Chanh IPA, Lac Brewing Co.'s Devil's Lake IPA

Our first tasting flight: Tê Tê Belgian Wheat, BiaCraft’s Xao Ba Co India Summer Ale, BiaCraft's Xau Ma Chanh IPA, Lac Brewing Co.'s Devil's Lake IPA

Larger cities and tourist destinations like Hanoi, Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Ho Chi Minh City have a rapidly growing number of craft beer bars, and now many smaller cities are seeing their first craft taprooms open. If you enjoy craft beer and plan on visiting Vietnam, you will be pleasantly surprised (as we were) at the availability of good, local craft beer.

Resources:

https://beervn.com

http://biacraft.com

http://www.tetebeer.com

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davisbrett/2016/04/13/on-the-frontier-of-beer-in-vietnam/2/#38cd48ab6455

The Blonde Guy is drinking in...KOREA!

    안녕, 금발 녀석!

Translation: Hello from The Blonde Guy!  Its been a while since I've seen you all, and my what has happened since!  I can't believe it has been almost two whole months since we landed in this beautiful country and started our journey with the Jekyll and Hyde world tour.  From the moment we got on the plane at JFK it felt like we were in a different world.  Stepford-esque flight attendants, friendly seat-neighbors (shoutout to JT!), good food, and free beer all were an amuse-bouche for the smorgasborg to come.

    While the first brewery post is in the works, I wanted to give a basic overview of what I've observed in the beer scene/culture while in Seoul and Daegu.  

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    The first stop on our tour of Korea was rehearsal for a month in the capital city of Seoul.  One of the world's most technologically advanced cities and home to more than 25 million people(half the population of the entire country) it is certainly the cultural hub for the nation's citizens.  Everyone in the Gangnam-gu district, yes that Gangnam from the popular song, is clad in either business attire or fashion way forward.  No matter what you're wearing, where you work, or what time of night it is, one thing brings everyone together when the sun sets: Beer.  Most of the beer here in Korea is contract brewed by much larger beer companies, (think Macro brewers like Anhueser-Busch, SABC, etc...) These beers are the traditional drink-to-get-drunk light lagers and ales with a an ABV that never exceeds 4.5% and you can buy a liter at a convenience store for the equivalent of $1.75.

    Drinking is as deeply rooted and crucial to South Korean culture as kimchi is.  It is tradition and a way of life.  One that shows no signs of fading away, rather, with the help of the recent craft movement, is growing more and more vibrant.

    Now, the craft movement still being fairly young in the country, I had many friends who had visited or are from Korea state that I would have a difficult time finding real, Korean brewed, beer.  "The Booth Brewing Co." was the first craft bar that some comrades and I visited in the bustling hills of Gangnam-gu. 

From the first beer on the tap list to the last, my worries of having a non-palatable experience here dissolved.  From having a few brews from The Booth itself to collaborations with Evil Twin and the delectable Danish brewers, TO ØL, I knew I was in for a bevy of different brews.  Four of the five beers brewed in part by The Booth were pale ale variants, and the other was a moderately hopped Irish Red Ale.  One look at what the tables around us were drinking and the bottle selection for the evening and it became very clear that the lighter ales and lagers had been traded out for a dryer, more hopped up flavor.  IPA's reigned king in this pub.  For good reason too, after being gifted a free tasting by the manager that evening (thank you generous stranger!), my favorite was their in-house brewed, robustly roasted and mildly malted, Brew Bro Black IPA.  It was the only beverage I went back for seconds of that evening.  

A lot of flying went into this flight! (see what I did there?)

A lot of flying went into this flight! (see what I did there?)

    The next stop on our galavanting through Gangnam was a place that, little did I know, would become my go-to stop for post rehearsal winding down, Ark Handcraft Beer.  Much smaller and quaint than the multi-floor, Williamsburg-hipster-loft-esque Booth Brewing space, Ark boasted more of a homey vibe.  The first evening there I was greeted by the manager, Bo, who showed incredible generosity by offering me a flight of the six beers they make as a gift and welcomed me to their bar.  Y'all.  Two free flights of incredible beer in a single night, Korea was quickly becoming my favorite place.  Along with all of their own beer the draft and bottle list offered up Brooklyn Lager (A little taste of home) and other European brews from Germany, Austria, and Denmark.  "Hug Me," their white ale, and "Cosmic Dancer" were my absolute favorites.  Ark Handcraft Beer and the people working at the establishment were incredibly generous and hospitable while we were in Seoul. I can't wait to visit their gorgeous facility and get more into the "hoppy-worty" (nitty-gritty replacement? No? Ok.)

    This is truly just a generic overview of the newly-dense beer scene in Seoul.  When we return to Seoul in the spring I will be reporting more on specific breweries in the surrounding areas so stay tuned!  After our time in Seoul it was time to open the show a couple hundred miles southeast in Daegu.

    Almost everyone involved with our production, backstage and onstage, said that there wasn't anything to do in Daegu.  That there wasn't much to do, see, eat, or drink.  I tried to remain positive but however, it became painfully obvious when we got there that there really was not much by the hotel besides restaurants that didn't open until 6pm, a plethora of convenience stores, and oodles of fried chicken and soju. During the day this area was a strange ghost town of motels, casinos, and a slew of Korean BBQ establishments.

    A week into the trip, on the quest for secret Santa gifts, I was in a grocery-mega-store in the middle of nowhere and found the wailing wall of beers.  Brews from the States, very few from Korea, the usual from Europe, and a surprising debut of beers from New Zealand and Australia gave me a feeling, I like to think, of how Taylor Swift felt when she finally got "Out of the Woods."  That was a very good week for this beer nerd.  Two weeks later Jess and I were exploring their brand new department store, Shinsegae, and stumbled upon a craft beer store inside of the Korean equivalent of Best Buy.  Nerd. Gasm.  Surrounded by life-size comic book characters, computers, and video games I scanned the surprisingly excellent selection for any bottle shop let alone one in the middle of an electronics store!

    The true hidden gem of Daegu though is located on the outskirts of the south-eastern part of town, Daegu Bottle Shop.  One of my colleagues had found their business page on Facebook and when I tried to find it on a map it didn't even exist!  I hopped in a cab and told the driver to drop me in the general area. After aimlessly wandering around another deserted area, a friendly Korean store owner calling the shop for me, and getting lost a second time I finally found it.  Opened just a little under a year ago, the facade of this treasure trove looks like a tiny, mom and pop Korean restaurant because, well... it is.  I hesitantly knocked on the door and gesticulated "Beer???" and was led to a tiny room where only two refrigerators stood.  I was admittedly a little bummed at first that I had made this trek only to find two small fridges but what they held in them was pure magic.  Prairie Brewing, Stone, Rogue, Brooklyn, Delirium, good Lord. I felt like I was going to explode! Even though it was all western brewed it made me giddy to find such a haul in such an unassuming place!  After spending far too much money (but really what is the price of love right?) I thanked the man and went on my now merry way.  Even though there really wasn't much in Daegu in terms of sight seeing, it still proved to be a fruitful visit.  Complete with new friends, new brews, and thousands of Korean Jekyll and Hyde fans.

    Even with it's very young history in the country, craft's popularity is growing thanks to foreigners teaching the locals how to make it and the locals being adventurous and passionate about change.  I can't wait to explore more of the history here as well as the exciting present and future of craft brewing and all of the incredible people involved.  Till next time...

 

Cheers,

 

Tim (The Blonde Guy)

    

Introducing the Blonde Guy, with a Craft Alabama update!

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Introducing: A new Guy! Jimmy met Tim Heller while working up in Colorado a few summers ago, and Tim's Craft fandom, smarts, and devotion to good writing make a perfect match for The Happy Hour Guys. Welcome Tim to our 'adjunct faculty' - he and his wife will be on tour in KOREA for the next six months, reporting on Craft from overseas - very exciting, and we look forward to that.

Here's his inaugural piece - something he wrote for us while working in Alabama recently: 

Ok friends, here we go. T'was late April in the year 2016 when I received an email that offered me the role of Prince Eric in Disney's "The Little Mermaid" at Red Mountain Theatre Company in the lovely Birmingham, AL. I was filled with joy and did what any other person would do when they get an exciting new job: look up every brewery in the greater Birmingham area! I poured over all of the beer menus (pun intended), mapped out the journey, and after we had finished blocking and setting the show, set out on my hop safari determined to find the best brewery in the city.

I started with the first craft brewery in the city, Good People Brewing Co., because it was the closest to where we rehearsed in the heart of B'Ham. The following week I hit the other three, Cahaba Brewing, Trimtab, and Avondale. While all breweries were surprisingly stellar with the quality and variety of their brews, one stood out among the group as the true king of beer in the city and really the state.

Good People Brewing Company, founded in 2008, really seemed to capture the spirit of the city and the journey craft beer has made in Alabama. Near the end of my stay I had the privilege to have a "sit and sip" Q&A with co-founder and brewmaster, Jason Malone.

When one pulls up to their gorgeous taproom/brewhouse it is hard not to immediately feel comfortable. They have a large patio with tables and chairs that fill up on every night of the week, an outdoor stage for local musicians to come serenade the townsfolk, and vast high ceilings with couches and industrial decor for those who prefer the A/C on hot southern days. The beertenders here always were smiling, happy to fill a growler or give a small taste of a few brews if you weren't sure of what you wanted; it truly feels like you are being welcomed into someone's hoppy home.

Jason greeted me clad in his cargo shorts, flip flops, and what every male brewmaster needs... a giant beard. A firm hand shake and a couple pours later he was telling me all there was to know about his baby.

He and his business partner, Michael Sellers, first started homebrewing in the early 2000s, when homebrewing was yet to be legalized in Alabama. He explained that Alabama was actually the second to last state in the country to legalize homebrewing and that, thanks to a grassroots movement called "Free the Hops", Alabama finally legalized homebrewing and raised the legal ABV in the state from 6% to 13.9% in 2008 (thus their slogan "Legally Brewed Since 2008").

** Editor's note: We covered this back as it was happening: Click here to see! Thanks!  - J

The two Auburn alums went from brewing in their homes and selling out kegs at tailgates for football games to realizing this could be an actual business for them. Jason and Michael left their jobs in software sales and banking respectively and set out to be contract brewers, to allow them to make larger batches.

But when their contracted brewery burned down they were left no place to brew. After a back and forth battle with Federal, State, and local governments they finally landed a killer deal on some old, abandoned equipment they had seen in the window of a fallen hop house, and on July 4th, 2008, Good People Brewing was born.

Now you may be thinking, "2008? That was the middle of the recession. How could you possibly sustain opening a new business at that time?" When posed with this question Jason smiled and replied that there were two key things that kept them alive during that period: 1) Everyone will always want to drink beer, no matter the economy, and 2) There wasn't anyone else in the state who was doing what they were doing in their brewery.

The same is true 8 years later. They have their staple brews such as their IPA, Brown Ale, Bearded Lady Wheat Ale, and American Pale Ale, that really established them as the first craft brewery in the state and they also have their seasonal brews like Mumbai Rye IPA, and Fatso Russian Imperial Stout. If you're into special releases (c'mon who isn't) they have a "Bearded Reserve" program that has yielded the coveted "El Gordo" Imperial Stout.

You seriously can't go wrong with any of the above beers in their repertoire but what FOR REALSIES blew my socks off were two specific brews. First, a disclaimer: I am an equal opportunity beer consumer. No matter where it is brewed, what it's brewed with, or the style of brew, I will try it twice before making a decision on it. That being said, I am not enthused with how many double, triple, and even quadruple IPA's are being churned out of breweries lately. With THAT being said, Jason Malone's "Snake Handler IIPA" is, hands down, the BEST IIPA I have ever tried and I have sampled a great many. This beer sits at a dangerously crushable 10% ABV, with a mouthfeel that feels like your tongue is being wrapped in the embrace of a long lost lover. Easily the most talked about brew in the city, this was one of two beers that I went back again and again to purchase.

The next beer that reduced me to a puddle was such a treat that, at the time it had yet to be released. I had mentioned that my favorite style of beer was Farmhouse Sours and Jason jumped up and said, "I'll be right back" and brought back a glass of one of the prettiest beers I've set my eyes upon. Now dubbed "Funk Farm" the sour blond ale, aged in french oak for 8 months with blackberries and raspberries with souring bacteria and additional yeast strains made me weak at knees. Jason and his team nailed what makes a good sour great, the "Funk." Not only was the beer sour from the bacteria with a light fruit note, but it had that farmhouse taste to it. Weighing in at a light 4.5% ABV at the time we consumed it it was a perfect summer brew to enjoy now and save one to age for later.

Obviously I could go on and on about my incredibly hospitable experience with Jason and his team in Birmingham. They have so many exciting things that are on the horizon, their new sour series, a year old barrel program that any brew master would envy, and of course continuing to water the southeast with their hoppy nectars.

When asked what was next for Good People, Jason put it simply.

"If you would've asked me that five years ago, I would have said I want to put the beer in every SEC football stadium. But right now I just really want to make really good beer. I'd rather make really good beer for a 5 states than make ok beer for 24."

Good people, making great beer, at Good People Brewing Company.

A huge thanks to Jason, Michael, and Brian-the-bartender for an incredible visit and stories.

Until next time, Tim (the Blonde Guy)

Circa press about the #BroadwayBrewsProject!

Some more terrific press for the Broadway Brews Project landed today from Circa news, featuring BOTH Rise Up Rye and the upcoming School of Rock beer:

Many thanks to Ariel Min and all the good folks at Circa! 

http://circa.com/lifestyle/food/how-hamilton-inspired-beer-rise-up-rye-is-helping-a-charity-founded-by-hamiltons-wife

Tip Top Taps

Some days, you set out to achieve greatness. Other days, you accidentally drive past greatness, pull a u-ey, get a little lost, and stumble into it. 

While visiting great friends in Evans, Georgia over the Thanksgiving holiday, we saw what looked to all the world like a gas station at a busy intersection.

That's no gas station on the corner of Washington and Belaire in Evans, GA...

Hey! Wait! That's not a gas station - it's an old gas station that's been converted into a growler filling station. JACKPOT! 

This is our kind of filling station!

We wandered in, and found the barman Will sitting with a glass of newly-tapped Gouden's Carolus Noel in his hands, lamenting the transient nature of seasonal brews. He took us on a tour of Tip Top's 20 Taps, and after some lively discussion with a group of thirsty customers, we decided on both the Carolus and a local Saison from Orpheus in Atlanta.

Will was our filling station attendant for the day.

The beer, of course, was amazing. But the venue, it is awesome. Their tap list is available online all the time, and we recommend you click on that link and see the true beer geek-ery therein. Also the taps are constantly rotating, so if you are anywhere near the place, check the web, and stop in and grab a growler or two. Tell  'em The Happy Hour Guys sent ya!

 


Cheers!