Reed About Beer: Pakse, The Gateway to 4000 Islands (BeerLao Draught & A History of LBC)

Our journey to Pakse did take us through the wonderful Laos countryside and when we arrived in town a Tuk-Tuk was waiting to take us to some accommodation. We checked out Sabaidy 2 which was in the Lonely Planet and he told us it was 50000 Kip a night. When we arrived the rooms were way overpriced at 75000 Kip and the staff were pretty rude. Another guesthouse where the lonely planet fame goes to their heads. We crossed the road to the Thalunang Hotel for 60000 Kip a night, extremely friendly & helpful staff and a guest comments book where a past guest had written what a great hotel this one was after having an awful experience in Sabadiy 2, we were right to leave and once again everything happens for a reason.

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Thalunag Hotel

Arriving in the evening we decided on having just one full day before heading south to 4000 islands. Pakse is famous for visiting the Bolaven Plateau which is Laos’s main coffee growing area. You can arrange plenty of tours for seeing the local sight there but with time running out we needed to move on. We had a day exploring the town and even though it’s not the most beautiful, walking along the Se Dong and Mekong River was really stunning. There are the usual temples and churches and it was extremely quiet being out of season.

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The not so beautiful Pakse

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Street Cleaning

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Gold Leafed Pagoda

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My good friends the orange robed Laos Buddhist Monk's

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The Se Dong meeting the Mekong River

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Local Mekong Fishermen

We had some pretty good street food especially from the snack guy that served little pastries and doughnuts and freshly rolled rotis with condensed milk which were lush. There wasn’t much to do at night and most of Laos isn’t for partying with the eleven o’clock curfew. We did get to try the BeerLao Draught at the local beer garden.

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Budget food in Laos is all about Baguette Sandwhich Stalls-French Influence

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The Roti/Doughnut Man & Wife. Awesome

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Tucking into one of too many jam doughnut's

BEERLAO DRAUGHT, PALE LAGER, LAOS, 5%ABV

Helping Myself

BeerLao in limited places is available in draught form or on tap and it comes in either 30L or 50L kegs. It is referred to as ‘Bia Sot’ (fresh beer) by the locals. The brew is based on locally grown jasmine rice, while the hops and yeast are imported from Germany.

BeerLao Draught pours a clear pale straw colour, with two fingers of light fluffy white head as it should, leaving some nice lacing. The aroma is sweet bready malt, with a hint of mild spicy citrus and soft grassy, floral hops.

The taste is quite consistent with the aroma, a soft bread dough character. The flavours are quite subtle. The carbonation was fairly sedate, the body medium with a smooth and creamy texture. The finish was quite dry with a lingering sweetness. Overall a pretty enjoyable standard tap beer and it definitely tasted more fresh than the canned or bottle products. The brewery being local probably had a say and helping hand in this.

We found the BeerLao Draught in Pakse's Beer Garden

http://www.beerlao.la/eng/product.ph

While in Pakse I had also once again tried to organise a BeerLao Brewery tour at the Champasak Province Brewery but it was pretty short notice with us moving so quickly. It was time to head south again to Si Phan Dong (4000 Islands).

Before we do and seeing that we didn’t get to the brewery after all I thought I would at least give you some interesting facts and information about BeerLao and where it came from.

HISTORY OF BEERLAO

It’s hard to overestimate how important BeerLao is to the people of Laos and not just as a means of getting drunk. With a country of few exports and zero in the way of international recognition the national brew is a source of great pride.

Sivilay Lasachack is the Head Master Brewer of the Lao Brewery Company and she is responsible for the quality of BeerLao the country’s unofficial national brew. There is a catch as in an interview in 2009 she stated that ‘she didn’t like to drink’. None the less the middle aged lady is doing something right as Beer Lao is the country’s most recognised brand and it is considered by many to be one of the best beers in South East Asia.

BeerLao dates back to 1973 when the Lao Beer and Ice Factory was founded in Vientiane with the help of French businessmen. When communists ceased power in 1975 the brewery was re-named Lao Brewery Company. It was then taken over by the state and run with occasional support from government allies in Eastern Europe.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990’s the brewery was on its own and this marked the arrival of Sivilay Lasachack. She had studied brewing in Czechoslovakia and returned to Laos. In an effort to make the Brewery more self sufficient she decided to introduce rice as malt rather than relying on expensive imported malt. She also started recycling yeast and decided to model the beer on a classic Czech-style Pilsner, the result is today’s BeerLao.

Since 2006 50% of Lao Brewery Company Ltd has been owned by Denmark’s Carlsberg Brewery with the other 50% still being owned by the Republic of Laos Communist State.

Lao Brewery Company has grown from strength to strength over the past 38 years with the original BeerLao being enjoyed all over the world. The company’s portfolio and brewery output has also grown and developed to include:

· BeerLao Lager

· BeerLao Dark

· BeerLao Gold

· BeerLao Draught

· LaneXang

· Carlsberg

· Tigerhead Drinking Water

· Soda Lao Tigerhead