Bangkok Part 2, The Touristy Stuff & Singha Brewery Tour (Archa Beer)

So we walked across the border and stepped foot back in Thailand. It’s probably worth a note that tonight was Valentine’s Day so not the most romantic way to celebrate. On a sixteen hour night journey to Bangkok with fifty other people. One positive was the bus. It was a cracking bus with panoramic views, glass windows floor to ceiling and we were on the top deck right at the front with lots of leg room. A pretty good journey is how I will justify our Valentines with a free meal of fried rice and the fact that we arrived back in the city at the correct hour. 6:00am rather than 2:30 in the morning like last time if you remember.

Panoramic Road Views. Bangkok here we come

Arriving back in Bangkok was quite a good feeling. We knew what we were doing and this time from Koh San Road we checked straight back into K.S. House. Go with what you know especially if it is pretty good. It reduces the stress levels of travelling and we were particularly excited this time because we only had a few days before Kate's family arrived to spend a week with us in Pattaya.

Now in less shock than last time it was time to see what Bangkok had in terms of the touristy stuff and there was plenty to see, absorb and experience.

As always we spent days trawling the streets taking in the atmosphere, sights and sounds as always. We even ventured onto the little alleys that ran away from the river which gives you an insight into local life in the city away from the tourist areas.

The Hidden Canals of Bangkok

Local Homes on the River

Lost as always in the huge Cities

The main sights included the Grand Palace which was very grand. A beautiful place that was unbelievably busy with coaches parked up in long lines outside. The camera was clicking every second but the grandeur just made you want to capture as much as possible.

The Grand Palace

Inside the Grand Palace. Not to bore you but we have hundreds of Photographs

A day of walking kilometres in the heat also took us to the Wat Pho which is where you can find the largest reclining Buddha in the country. The size and detail in itself is something to behold.

Wat Pho

On a separate day we headed to see one of the famous floating markets and rather than taking an organised tour we headed across Bangkok on the local bus network which was very easy and crazy cheap. The floating market was amazing and with being a Saturday it was full of local families shopping and dining at the waterside restaurants. The food is actually cooked on the little boats bobbing around in the water before the dishes are passed back onto the decking to be served. The food was delicious and we sampled some Thai Fishcakes and Fresh Spring Rolls. The atmosphere is electric and so worth a visit if you ever get chance. It was nice to see local families coming together from the different generations to enjoy some fun family time. I suppose it is a little like the good old British Sunday Roast at your mum’s house where everybody turns up for a good weekly feed.

Welcome to Taling Chan Floating Market

This would be the kitchen

The variety of food on offer is out of this world

Local families gather for Sunday Brunch

A great few days in Bangkok especially with using it as more of a stop gap but we were pretty happy with what we managed to see and do during our two short visits. One thing was for certain and that was the quality of the street food probably some of the best on our World Adventure so far. The Pad Thai from the Wok Vender’s is as good as you will get in any restaurant and for 40p a portion you just can’t go wrong plus finding Singha Draught on Koh San Road. A different Thai beer Archa was also sampled and that takes us on to one of my highlights so far.

Kate in line for the best Pad Thai ever!!! This women is legendary

Accompanied with Spring Rolls & a Leo Beer

At that second Leo makes an appearence. Must be fate

Please don't spill any fella...

Cheers. Singha-On-Tap. Very Nice Indeed

Perfect on Koh San Rd with some Spicy Street Noodles

ARCHA BEER, LAGER STYLE, THAILAND, 5.4% ABV

Archa Beer is brewed by Cosmos Brewery (Thai Beverage PLC) the same company that also brew Chang. The 5.4% Blonde Lager, Archa Beer was introduced to the Thai Beer Market in 2004 and the beer won a gold medal at the 2007 Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA).

For me Archa Beer is a poor man’s Chang so a little disillusioned that it could win any Gold Awards in a beer category.

The liquid has a transparent golden amber colour with good frothy thick white head that swiftly disappears without even a slight hint of lacing. It has a visibly soapy carbonation that is very subtle. The Aroma is pretty flat with a faint hint of malt, sweet grain and a slight synthetic note, now that is a comment I haven’t used before. There is a noticeable grainy sweetness and a slight hoppy bitterness that lingers in the aftertaste but pretty weak. It is very light bodied with a watery feel. I would say it tastes like a watered down beer or one that you have had a large amount of ice melting into. Probably below standard but if on a budget probably the cheapest beer you will find in the city. Comes back to you get what you pay for.

Here Goes...

Archa Beer

http://www.thaibev.com/en08/product.aspx?sublv1gID=11

SINGHA BEER BREWERY TOUR (PATHUMTHANI BREWERY CO, LTD)

At last on the World Adventure we had an opportunity to actually visit a Brewery and thanks to the help of contacts back in the UK at Molson Coors Brewing Company and the Singha UK Brand Manager we were treated like Royalty for a day.

Collected from our Backpacker Hostel we were whisked away in a private people carrier with a sign in the window stating Singha Beer and Johnny Reed from Different World Drinks Company UK. My last employers back home where I worked as a Beer Specialist with one of my brands actually being Singha Beer.

The People Carrier & Spot the Singha Beer Sign!

With an extremely comfortable one hour journey we headed north out of Bangkok on the freeway with a Singha Beer Racing Team escort or that’s how it seemed at the time. Our destination was one of three breweries Singha has in Thailand, the Pathumthani Brewery in the Dusit District, with the other two breweries being in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.  

We'll Follow You

Being quite nervous for some reason and excited upon arrival we headed through the main reception and were taken upstairs to one of the entertainment rooms. The room was great and you definitely knew where you were. Every square inch of the place was branded with small bars, POS, a wall dedicated to the sponsorship of the Miss World Competition as well as walls made from Singha bottles.

Arriving at the Brewery

Time to Sign in at Reception

Straight to the Bar. I wonder what we should drink?



The Miss World Wall. Good enough for them good enough for us



Even the walls were made out of beer bottles!

Other products produced at the brewery were also on display including of course Singha, Singha Light, Leo, Thai and Asahi Beer. One fact that I was not aware of was that Singha brew Asahi Super Dry under contract for the Western Market. This is to reduce export costs for Asahi. However the beer is still brewed by an Asahi Master Brewer who is stationed in Thailand. So maybe have a think next time you are drinking an Asahi. It’s probably brewed in Bangkok Thailand.

The Brews

The company also produces bottled mineral and soda water which we had noticed during our time in Thailand. Asked why this was we were informed that it was because they have an amazing supply of quality water like most breweries, there’s being the Mae Nam Chao Phraya River which translates to ‘The River of Kings’. The other reason and a clever one is that there is a huge Whisky market in Thailand and the brewery realistically doesn’t expect people to just drink beer on a night out. They probably start on beer and move to spirits. In this case Whisky which they tend to drink with Soda water so why not Singha Soda Water! In recent times the brewery has branched out seeing a gap in the non-alcoholic functional drinks market with the launch of B-ing a health focused flavoured water which when we sampled was pretty tasty stuff.

The whole portfolio including Water/Soda & B-ing + Ingredients

Our guide for the afternoon was Mr Withawat who works for Export Sales and he was a great host with a fantastic attitude and knowledge of Thailand’s beer market. His passion for Singha was addictive and our tour started with a projector showing of the breweries history (which I covered in the Phuket Blog) and the company’s vision for the future. The family at Boon Rawd see themselves as pioneers understanding the importance of water, which is closely, associated with People, Education, Health-Services, Arts/Cultural Heritage, Sports, Environment and the Monarchy.

Let the Show Commence

For 75 years Singha has been a vision born of a Thai, brewed under Royal Approval. It was initially and still is brewed for Thai’s. It is Thai through and through which is the sense you get walking around the establishment.

Not having to be sold on the beer but sold again anyway, we headed into the brewery which was understandably a little secretive, and photo’s were left to a minimum. Not many people get to walk these gangways so we did feel privileged. In the near future however they will be opening up Brewery and Factory Tours for the general public so if you are ever in Thailand check out the website.

http://www.boonrawd.co.th/

We were shown across the packaging area which was amazing. 4 million bottles per day are processed with about 8-10% being for export. A lot of emphasis is also put on bottle recycling even though the brewery can produce its own bottles.

4,000,000 Bottles Per Day-Awesome

Next on the list was the main control room which controls 20 Cylos holding 500 Tons of Malt Barley. On site are 10 Master Brewers who are on constant rotations with each part of the process being checked hourly. They are Thai’s educated in German and the brewery users the very best in German Brewing Technology.

Fine Malted Barley from Europe or Australia is used with purified water, pure air and yeast. Two types of hop buds are also used Saaz from the Zatec Region of the Czech Republic for the aroma and the second type of hop being a top secret ingredient. The hop which the brewers use for bitterness was classified and I did try but there was no chance of being told what that second hop was, I think it goes all the way to the grave! During the brewing process the yeast is removed after 7-10 days before further fermentation. Then the beer is filtered and packaged, now to around forty countries worldwide. Overall the brewing process of Singha beer takes around 15 days from start to finish.

This might make more sense

Leaving the control room and me asking far too many inquisitive questions the next stop was the boiler room where I was able to taste the Wort directly from the tanks. To be honest I have never been a huge fan of malt drinks but this tipple was delicious, like sweet warm honey.

Welcome to the Boiler Room

Get me a glass...

Warm Sweet Malted Honey

Finally we visited the fermentation tanks but were unable to see inside and have a taste of the beer due to maintenance. A real shame but the tour was extremely enjoyable and informative anyway.

Before saying our farewells Mr Withawat joined us to sample a few beers including Singha, Singha Light and Leo. Leo Beer is brewed like Singha with the addition of rice. It is more an economy beer with popularity in Taiwan and Singapore. The softer taste makes it a hit with the female market. While enjoying our nibbles and education back at the bar in the main building Kate and I were presented with a limited edition Singha Passport Diary, definitely a collector’s item. A few hours rushed by as we talked about beers of the world, marketing strategy and of course Singha Beer.

Cheers Mr Withawat. A Fantastic Day

There is still a firm belief that Singha is the only Premium Beer of Thailand and I tend to agree. Competitors have come and gone over the years and struggle to compete with its quality. Mr Withawat put it perfectly:

‘Singha Beer is a heritage, not only a beer but a beer for the Thai people. It grows with the people, supports people and is part of their lives and culture. It is treated as something the Thai people are proud of’

Ladies & Gentlemen...No Actual Speech for once but very tempted

Nearly Time to Go

Thankyou Boon Rawd Brewing Company & keep up the great work

On that note we were chauffeur driven back to central Bangkok, after an amazing day seeing and learning about Singha Beer. True advocates for life...

Kate had a good day as well. Very happy with her Momento on the way back to the City

A perfect way to end our Bangkok visit before meeting Kate's family at Bangkok International Airport extremely early on a Sunday morning. As always any travel we seem to have has a story and this was the same just travelling to the airport on a mini-bus. One gentleman was staggering around under the influence of alcohol with no luggage and asked Kate whether she had been to bed. It was 5 o’clock in the morning granted, but the question was phrased as in it was strange to have already slept.

Cheers for a second time K.S. House. I bet we see you for a 3rd time along the way...

We arrived at the airport with no problems and in plenty of time for the family plane to have touched down from London via Mumbai. We watched drunken boy fall out of the mini-bus with no idea where he was going before collecting our bags and finding arrivals.

We just couldn’t believe that the time had already arrived for family visitors six months into our trip. Half way through it was perfect timing to see some friendly faces for a week of luxury and treats before starting our volunteer work in Cambodia.

We made it to Arrivals. Fashionably Early for once

We were just beaming with happiness. It felt like Christmas...