AsiaLIFE

After last month’s trip around the beer halls of Europe and cantinas of Mexico in the second half of his odyssey of special and rare beers, this month Johan Smits travels to the Far East and down under in search of the perfect pint – without even leaving the Penh.

We start in Japan with the intriguingly entitled Sapporo 2008-2009 limited edition “The Winter’s Tale”. Available in 33ml. cans at Bayon and Pencil supermarkets, the limited edition might not be that limited after all. However, with its rich golden colour, this crisp and slightly bitter beer goes down very well and leaves a pleasant, hoppy aftertaste. This seasonal brew might be a winner during one of Japan’s snowy winters, but perhaps is not the perfect tipple during Cambodia’s hot season. Leaving the ubiquitous Asahi to the one side, of the other Japanese brews available in town, Yebisu and the better-known Kirin, the former got our thumbs up, or rather bottoms up. The all-malt Yebisu beer pours a lighter shade of gold than Sapporo’s limited winter edition, and it has a richer, earthy smell while feeling lighter in taste. Kirin, on the other hand, has a slightly sweet aroma with spicy-floral hops. The taste is a mix of sweetness, fizz and malt. Overall all three Japanese proved to be very good quality drinking beers.

Asian Brews

Unfortunately, that’s not what we could say about the Chinese brews we tried. Since the widely available Tsingtao – admittedly a palatable drinking beer – is already well known, we tested two harder-to-find brands in our quest for rare beers – Shanshui and Tezhi. Adventure is often greeted by reward. Alas, in both these cases we were left wishing we had stayed at home. Shanshui’s smell of rice husk might be open to debate, but the colourless drink itself is completely tasteless. We thought that was a negative point, until a few seconds later the aftertaste kicked in and a disagreeable aroma of dirty dishwater and deadly chemicals filled our mouths. Coming from the same brewery as Tsingtao, this was a traumatic experience. Thankfully Tezhi is not as revolting as Shanshui but despite the word ‘beer’ on the label, it’s hard to recognise it as such. There’s no head, it looks unnatural and has a chemical taste. Best left on the shelves.

We moved on to a save haven, the Philippines, whose well-known San Miguel brew has recently been spotted more frequently in Phnom Penh, with many promotions at selected bars. With a grainy aroma, this easy-drinking, quality beer leaves a sweet, malt flavour in the mouth and has a clean finish. Another welcome addition to Phnom Penh’s army of beers. Closer to home we had a look at some of the dark stouts floating around the capital. The harder to find Angkor Extra Stout and Beer Lao Dark came out on top, with a preference for the latter. Since the regular Beer Lao is one of Phnom Penh’s most popular Asian drinking beers, it comes as no surprise that its pale brown brother is performing well too. Compared to its fair sister, its body offers a much fuller, darker hit but at 6.5 per cent it is still an easy-to-drink beer compared to Angkor Extra Stout’s 8 percent. These dark ones are best enjoyed in an air-conditioned environment instead of a tropical hot-season sun.

Home-brew

What about Phnom Penh’s own micro-breweries? Man Han Lou was the first in town, offering four varieties – Gold, Red, Black and Green – but only two of them are brewed. Red is a blend of Gold and Black, and Green is Gold with spirulina added. Not much fun if you’re colour-blind. The Gold and the Black were the most flavourful but still tasted a bit on the weak side. The Penh’s other micro-brewer, the Munich Beer Restaurant, offers Munich Gold and Munich Stout. At respectively 3.5 percent and 4.2 percent they are weak in alcohol content and tasted accordingly. The Gold is subtle and smooth but it won’t win any gold medals, whereas the Stout tastes like cold coffee with not much of an aftertaste. But for its price (US$1.1 for a 330ml. glass) it’s not a bad deal and both beers seem to be popular with the beer garden’s Khmer patrons.

I Wouldn’t Give a XXXX for …

With a large number of Australians in town, unsurprisingly there’s also a decent variation of that which they love most – their beers. The most readily available seems to be Coopers Sparkling Ale and Coopers Original Pale Ale from Adelaide. The red-labelled Sparkling Ale is the most potent at 5.8 percent and provides a balance of malt, hops and fruit. According to Cambodia’s importer AusKhmer, both Coopers labels are produced by Australia’s “only remaining family owned brewery of stature.” The cloudy sediment is a result of the beer’s secondary fermentation in the bottle.

The Tasmanian Cascade Premium Lager comes from Australia’s oldest continually operating brewery and has a crisp, spicy hop finish. Its nephew James Boags Premium Lager, also from Tasmania, is a crisp, pale European-style lager fermented at a lower temperature than most other Australian lagers. From Melbourne, there is Crown Lager with a creamy fruitiness, a rich malty palate and a crisp hop finish. Apparently it was launched for the Australian consumer in the early fifties to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Not a great selling point with Australia’s republicans. Finally, pretty hard to find in Phnom Penh are the other Australian beers – Victoria Bitter and Carlton Cold. The former, an award winning full-flavoured brew, can be unearthed at Green Vespa and the latter at Talkin’ to a Stranger. With a lemon wedge stuck in the bottle’s neck, the fresh tasting Cold is reminiscent of the Mexican Sol beer, but despite its hard-to-get image, we found Coopers more flavourful.

As with the European and Mexican beers in our previous issue, some bar owners warn that the availability of certain beers is not always a given. If your favourite brew is out of stock, come back in a couple of weeks.

Nearly Extinct
James Boags Premium Lager: Metro Café
Carlton Cold: Talkin’ to a Stranger
Victoria Bitter: Huxley’s, Green Vespa
Crown Lager: Shanghai Bar, Metro Café

Should Be Extinct
Shanshui: Friend Mart, Pencil Supermarket
Tezhi: Chinese supermarket – ground floor at Parkway

Endangered
Yebisu: Bayon Supermarket
Kirin: Bayon Supermarket
Angkor Extra Stout: Pencil supermarket, some Khmer bars and beer gardens around town
Man Han Lou’s Gold, Red, Black and Green: Man Han Lou micro-brewery on Monivong Blvd.
Munich Beer Restaurant’s Gold and Stout: Munich Beer micro-brewery on Sothearos Blvd.

Easier to Spot
Beer Lao Dark: Velkommen Inn, Pencil supermarket, Bayon Supermarket, Rising Sun, other bars
Sapporo 2008-2009 limited edition “The Winter’s Tale”: Bayon Supermarket, Pencil Supermarket
Cascade Premium Lager: Talkin’ to a Stranger, Shanghai Bar, Metro Café
Coopers Original Pale Ale: Equinox, Green Vespa, Talkin’ to a Stranger
Coopers Sparkling Ale: Equinox, Green Vespa, Talkin’ to a Stranger, Intercontinental Hotel, Shanghai Bar
San Miguel: Equinox, Pontoon, La Croisette, Winking Frog, Thai Huot Supermarket, some other bars in town.