More yummy pad thai for breakfast this morning. I could very possibly eat this every day.
After yesterday's exertions in the kayak, we planned a quieter day today. The only item on our schedule was a Skype chat and 'simuldrink' with some friends from the UK.
For the event, we bought in a selection of Thailand's finest beers - a lager every one. Unlike Cambodia's apparent predilection for strong stouts, the Thais seem to like to keep things a lighter shade.
I discovered only too late that craft beer has recently taken off in Bangkok. Mikkeller Bangkok opened its doors earlier this year and offer a bar and bottle shop to the lucky people of the capital. In addition to the Danish contingent (Mikkeller, To Øl), there is representation from geographically proximate breweries such as New Zealand's excellent 8 Wired.
I also noted that Wishbeer and Mikkeller Bangkok deliver bottles the same day within central Bangkok. It takes a few days to ship the beer within the rest of Thailand. Sadly, the cost of imported craft beer is not compatible with our travelling budget and the lead time was anyway too long to get quaffing this evening.
So, we made do with the largely flavour-free Thai lagers, while our UK drinking friends supped dark porters and spiced saisons. Thankfully the quality of conversation more then made up for the paucity of flavour in our beers, and we chatted for a couple of hours as though there weren't over 6000 miles between us.
Having sampled the Thai beers side by side, I have a created my personal ordering over them:
1. Chang Classic (6%) - firmly established as my favourite Thai beer, the Classic version has a relatively malty body for the style, and manages to balance sweet and dry. I haven't tried the Export or Draught versions (both 5%).
2. Cheers X-tra (6.5%) - first time for this terribly named beer. The malts are a little out of control, but at least it marks it out from the other identikit Asian lagers.
3. Singha (5%) - a decent dry lager, but nothing hugely exciting. I certainly didn't pick up any hoppy flavours.
4. Leo (5%) - this has the kind of sharp, metallic taste I dislike in lagers and puts me off. With enough ice, this is drinkable.
5. Archa (4.9%) - tastes exactly like a thin, cheap lager whose recipe skimps on ingredients that lift it from just being yellow water.
K had taken the initiative and prepared us some food for our drinking session.
She served a frankly triumphant som tam, far surpassing my humble attempts, and a flavoursome tofu laab with sticky rice. We both concluded that the laab would benefit from pounding the lemongrass rather than chopping it in the blender. This helps break down the fibrous stalks and release the oils. Both dishes were a perfect foil to the bland liquid accompaniment.
No comments:
Post a Comment