Various brands of Thailand's craft beer
Brewing beer in Thailand began in 1933 with the granting of a brewing license to 57-year-old
Phraya The Thai nobility was a social class comprising titled officials (''khunnang'', th, ขุนนาง) in the service of Thai monarchy, the monarchy. They formed part of a hierarchical social system which developed from the time of the Ayutthaya K ...
Bhirom Bhakdi, born
Boon Rawd Sreshthaputra.
His company,
Boon Rawd Brewery
Boon Rawd Brewery ( th, บริษัท บุญรอดบริวเวอรี่ จำกัด) is a well-known Thai brewery founded in 1933 by Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi (Boonrawd Sreshthaputra). It also produces soft drinks and bottled dr ...
, produces Thailand's oldest and best-known lager,
Singha
Singha ( th, สิงห์; RTGS: ''Sing'') is a pale lager beer manufactured in Thailand by the Singha Corporation Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of its parent company, Boon Rawd Brewery. Singha was first brewed in 1933, and in 1939 officially endo ...
(pronounced "sing"). Singha is sold in Thailand in standard (5 percent ABV), light (4.5 percent ABV), and draught versions.
Singha's largest competitor is
Chang beer, made by
Thai Beverages
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
is well known world wide to beat Leo for taste and popularity. Chang is noted globally for its sponsorship of
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
's
Everton football club, as its name and logo appeared on the team uniform from 2004 to 2017.
The Thai Asia Pacific Brewery (TAPB) at its Nonthaburi plant brews Heineken (since 1995), Tiger, Cheers, and Cheers X-Tra (6.5 percent ABV). It is the Thailand importer of Guinness and Kilkenny.
Boon Rawd Brewery
Boon Rawd Brewery ( th, บริษัท บุญรอดบริวเวอรี่ จำกัด) is a well-known Thai brewery founded in 1933 by Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi (Boonrawd Sreshthaputra). It also produces soft drinks and bottled dr ...
also makes Leo, a standard lager (usually drank by woman and small children due to its poor taste. In addition,
Thai Beverages
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
sells Archa, a mass-market, non-premium lager.
Boon Rawd Brewery
Boon Rawd Brewery ( th, บริษัท บุญรอดบริวเวอรี่ จำกัด) is a well-known Thai brewery founded in 1933 by Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi (Boonrawd Sreshthaputra). It also produces soft drinks and bottled dr ...
also sold a global brand called Mittweida, but this was replaced by a beer brewed in partnership with
InBev
InBev () is a brewing company that resulted from the merger between Belgium-based company Interbrew and Brazilian brewer AmBev which took place in 2004. It existed independently until the acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in 2008, which formed Anheu ...
, Kloster. It also sells a 6.5 percent lager called Thai Beer.
Other locally brewed Thai beers are Phuket Beer and Siam, both in
Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani ( th, ปทุมธานี, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, directly north of Bangkok. It is the capital of the Pathum Thani province, Thailand as well as the Mueang Pathum Thani district. As of 2005, it ha ...
Province. Siam Beer exports Bangkok Beer abroad, but does not sell it in Thailand.
Phuket Beer
Phuket Lager Beer is an Asian beer brand founded in 2002 in Thailand. The beer is brewed with premium German hops and Thai jasmine rice.
History
Phuket Beer was launched in 2002 as a premium beer, associating itself with the lifestyle of Phuket ...
and Federbräu are the only Thai beers brewed in accordance with the German purification law, the ''
Reinheitsgebot
The ''Reinheitsgebot'' (, literally "purity order") is a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and the states of the former Holy Roman Empire. The best known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516 (by Will ...
''. Phuket Lager received the first gold medal ever for a beer from Thailand at the 2006
Monde Selection Monde Selection is an annual non-competitive award open to food, drinks, and cosmetics products, created in 1961. It is run by the commercial company, International Institute for Quality Selections, Brussels, Belgium. Consumer products are tasted a ...
Awards.
Klassik beer is another local beer brewed in
Pathum Thani
Pathum Thani ( th, ปทุมธานี, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in central Thailand, directly north of Bangkok. It is the capital of the Pathum Thani province, Thailand as well as the Mueang Pathum Thani district. As of 2005, it ha ...
Province.
Although foreign beers are popular in Thailand, the government protects its domestic breweries by the imposition of import duties up to 60 percent.
In addition, all imported beer must bear an import sticker on the bottle cap. As a result, Thai brewers have entered into partnerships with Western brewers, such as
Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to:
Places
* Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark
** Carlsberg station, its train station
* Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
* Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses
* Carlsbe ...
's former partnership with
Thai Beverages
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
(since abrogated), or
Asahi
Asahi (朝日, 旭, or あさひ) means "morning sun" in Japanese and may refer to:
Cities
* Asahi, Chiba (旭市; ''Asahi-shi'') Wards
* Asahi-ku, Osaka (旭区; ''Asahi-ku'')
* Asahi-ku, Yokohama (旭; ''Asahi-ku'')
Towns
* Asahi, Aichi (旭 ...
's partnership with
Boon Rawd.
Economics
In the past, the economics of beer market in Thailand were stable but last year it grew due to innovation amongst Thai beer companies such as Singha, Chang, and others in an attempt to attract new customers.
Even though mainstream beer in Thailand is more than 80% and costs is 1.8 hundred thousand million. Nowadays, super premium beer is less than 1% but it will rise up quickly because new generation of consumers likes to try and taste something new, so that according with trend of the beer market in worldwide.
Thailand has two big companies:
Boon Rawd Brewery
Boon Rawd Brewery ( th, บริษัท บุญรอดบริวเวอรี่ จำกัด) is a well-known Thai brewery founded in 1933 by Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi (Boonrawd Sreshthaputra). It also produces soft drinks and bottled dr ...
and
Thai Beverages
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
, with the following turnovers.
Thai Beverages:
* 2012 – Income : 34,386 million baht loss : 1,256 million baht
* 2013 – Income : 32,935 million baht loss : 447 million baht
* 2014 – Income : 35,193 million baht profit : 396 million baht
* 2015 – Income : 43,112 million baht profit : 1,215 million baht
* 2016 – Income : 44,397 million baht profit : 2,780 million baht
Boon Rawd Brewery:
* 2012 – Income : 98,990 million baht profit : 3,115 million baht
* 2013 – Income : 105,563 million baht profit : 3,256 million baht
* 2014 – Income : 113,897 million baht profit : 2,915 million baht
* 2015 – Income : 116,548 million baht profit : 2,310 million baht
* 2016 – Income : 104,794 million baht profit : 770 million baht
In 2018, the proportions were Leo 53%, Chang 38%, and Singha 5%.
All the above reasons make us know why economics of beer market in Thailand are growing. Even super premium beer group is rising up but cost will be increasing again because it will bring 2% to elderly fund followed by new law.
Craft beer
Label on a bottle of the well-known Thai craft beer ''Phuket'' says that it, indeed, was brewed in , mostly due to strict laws on breweries">Vietnam, mostly due to strict laws on breweries
Two types of licenses are available in Thailand for would-be beer producers. Thailand's 1950 Liquor Act states that beer can only be made in a factory making more than 1,000,000 litres per year or in a
brewpub
Craft beer is a beer that has been made by craft breweries. They produce smaller amounts of beer, typically less than large breweries, and are often independently owned. Such breweries are generally perceived and marketed as having an emphasis o ...
producing at least 100,000 litres per year for sale on-site with no bottling permitted. Brewpub beers cannot be sold off-premises. The finance ministry in 2000 ruled that, for either type of producer to be legal, they must be a limited company with capital of at least 10 million baht.
The maximum penalty for "home brewing" under the 1950 Liquor Act used to be 200 baht for making it and 5,000 baht for selling it. A new law passed by the National Legislative Assembly in December 2016 raised the maximum penalty for illegal production to 100,000 baht or a prison sentence of six months, or both. The maximum fine for selling illegal beer was raised to 50,000 baht.
To sell craft beers off-premises, one small brewer explained, "We have two choices: Either hire an overseas factory to make it or build a factory abroad on our own,..." and import it.
Meanwhile, military-controlled
ASEAN
ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...
neighbour Myanmar, in January 2017, got its first craft beer microbrewery, "Burbrit". Its name is derived from "Burma" and "Britain", in recognition of British influence on Burma's brewing history.
Thai industrial breweries
*
Asia Pacific Breweries
Heineken Asia Pacific, formerly Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) is a Singaporean brewery company. Founded in 1931 as a joint venture between Heineken International and Fraser and Neave, it was renamed Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) in 1989 and given i ...
*
Boon Rawd Brewery
Boon Rawd Brewery ( th, บริษัท บุญรอดบริวเวอรี่ จำกัด) is a well-known Thai brewery founded in 1933 by Phraya Bhirom Bhakdi (Boonrawd Sreshthaputra). It also produces soft drinks and bottled dr ...
*
Carlsberg Carlsberg may refer to:
Places
* Carlsberg (district), a district in Copenhagen, Denmark
** Carlsberg station, its train station
* Carlsberg, Germany, a municipality in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
* Carlsberg Fjord, Greenland Other uses
* Carlsbe ...
*
Heineken
Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star.
History
On 15 Febr ...
*
Phuket Beer
Phuket Lager Beer is an Asian beer brand founded in 2002 in Thailand. The beer is brewed with premium German hops and Thai jasmine rice.
History
Phuket Beer was launched in 2002 as a premium beer, associating itself with the lifestyle of Phuket ...
(San Miguel Brewery in Thailand, under supervision of Tropical Beverage Company.)
*
San Miguel Brewery
San Miguel Brewery Inc. is a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation and jointly owned with Kirin Holdings Co. Ltd. The company is the Philippines’ largest brewery with a market share of over 95% as of 2008. The company also operates in China a ...
*
ThaiBev
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
Gallery
File:BiereSingha.jpg, Singha
Singha ( th, สิงห์; RTGS: ''Sing'') is a pale lager beer manufactured in Thailand by the Singha Corporation Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of its parent company, Boon Rawd Brewery. Singha was first brewed in 1933, and in 1939 officially endo ...
File:Chang beer 1.jpg, Chang beer
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev ( th, ไทยเบฟ) (), is Thailand's largest and one of Southeast Asia's largest beverage companies, with distilleries in Thailand, UK, and China. It is owned by Thai Chinese billionaire business ma ...
File:Craft_beer_of_Thailand_many_brands_คราฟท์เบียร์ไทย_หลายยี่ห้อ_ศรีวิลัย_และ_มหานคร.jpg, ''Sivilai'' and ''Mahanakhon'', craft beer of Thailand
File:Craft_beer_of_Thailand_"Phuket"_คราฟท์เบียร์ไทย_ภูเก็ต.jpg, ''Phuket'' craft beer
See also
*
Beer and breweries by region
This is a list of articles and categories dealing with beer and breweries by region: the breweries and beers in various regions. Beer is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic drink, and is the third-most popular drink overall, after water and ...
References
External links
*
Beer jaa
{{Beers of the world
Thai alcoholic drinks