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July 5, 2016 - Comments Off on The Thai Have Slightly Thicker Beer(ds)

The Thai Have Slightly Thicker Beer(ds)

If I were to take a random sampling of my readership audience I'd wager a bet that at least 90% of you are white men. Of this group, 75% of you have pretty legendary beards, and if you don't it's probably because your beard growing capabilities are sub-par. Of the remaining 10%, half of you are white females (probably not bearded), and the rest of you are from various ethnicities (though you're most definitely blokes). The GTA Brews Homebrewing Club - of which I am a member - is the biggest of such clubs in Toronto. Toronto has one of the most diverse populations in the world, and yet GTA Brews struggles to broaden its base to appeal to women and minorities. We're trying though. Amongst the rarest in the group, it seems, are black, and Asian people.

If you've been following the blog of late, you're aware that I'm in fact currently backpacking across Southeast Asia with my girlfriend, Sara. She's of Malaysian descent and technically a GTA Brews member - whaaaaat?! We started our travels in Singapore, flew to Indonesia, then hit up Malaysia and Sri Lanka before landing in Thailand. Sadly, the variety of beer in these countries has been quite limited. I can only occasionally sniff out craft beer, and when I do it's usually in obscure pockets of big cities. Even still, the beers at these niche bars are usually imported from Europe or North America and (almost) never locally brewed…

… unless you're in Bangkok!

June 12, 2016 - 1 comment.

Durian + Alcohol = INSTANT DEATH?!

Most Malaysians go absolutely crazy for this perplexing, stinky fruit called durian. Its creamy fruit centre is encased in a hard, spiky shell, and its distinctive sulphuric stink immediately envelops its surroundings in a foul, garbage-like wave of offence. It is said that consuming alcohol and durians together will result in an instant death. Sara's younger cousin insisted that I not drink any beer while consuming the controversial fruit as I'd immediately keel over and die.

I was skeptical. Being the experimental brewer that I am, I bet against this notion and almost took it as a challenge. 'I'll show you!' I thought, 'I'll even craft a durian beer to in order to falsify this silly myth!' (though I'd give it to the suckers in my local homebrew club to try first, of course, just in case).

April 27, 2016 - 2 comments

Bali Hai – Indonesia’s Best Beer

Sara and I are currently in Bali, which is home to our new favourite Southeast Asian beer thus far: Bali Hai. We stumbled upon it at a knock off 7-11 (Mini Mart) in Ubud, and were thrilled to finally find a beer that wasn't Heineken or Bintang (Indonesia's favourite beer). I bought a small can of it for the equivalent of about $2.40 CAD and proceeded onward to the Alcoholic Monkey Forest.

This one passively pawed at it, but I would not let go...

April 17, 2016 - Comments Off on The One Good Beer of Southeast Asia (So Far)

The One Good Beer of Southeast Asia (So Far)

In considering what to write about Southeast Asian beer, I almost just want to say don't bother and leave it at that. Granted, we've only explored Singapore and Indonesia thus far, but the beer we have tried leaves a lot to be desired. This is hardly surprising given that the Muslim population of Indonesia, for example, hovers around 90% (Singapore shares a similar demographic makeup). There's maybe one exception, and I'm bored and on a 9 hour train ride to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, so here's a breif write up.