Saigon Export
http://www.saigon-beer.co.uk/products
Brewed by Sabeco/Saigon Beer Company
Style: Rice Lager
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Saigon Export beer is the only authentic Vietnamese beer brewed in Vietnam and sold in the UK and in the US. Brewed by Vietnam’s Saigon Beer Company ( “Saigon Alcohol Beer and Beverages Corporation” or its abbreviation of “Sabeco”), based in the southern city of Ho Chi Minh City (or the old name “Saigon”). Sabeco is Vietnam’s leading beer producer, and is state owned under the authority of Vietnam’s Ministry of Trade and Industry. Its main brands are Saigon Beer and 333 Beer, and it has about 50% of the market share of the country.
Review: 355ml Bottle of Saigon Export: ABV: 4.9%
There is some rice in this with a dab of malt, or so they say…..
On pour, we get a nice clear light golden colour, looks fantastic, bubbling along with some decent carbonation.
A nice decent frothy white head that sticks around, a small bit of lacing. A good looking beer……………
On the nose I get a lovely beery smell, very piercing aroma of the rice but nice, with traces of lemon. Not a bad aroma…….
On taste, actually not much to taste at all, very very watery.
A bit hoppy, with a light bitter aftertaste, but its slight.
Very watery, did I say how watery it is!
Cant really taste the alcohol…..but on second thoughts I did find some alcohol and tastes of grain in the second bottle…..
Overall not great, a pretty shit light bodied beer…..and I found it hard to drink it…..its not terrible, just nothing to hold it all together…some flavour or tastes would be nice, instead of water masquerading as a beer………
Withnail and I is a 1987 British black comedy film and cult classic written and directed by Bruce Robinson and set in Camden Town, London in the late 1960’s. It is a simple story of two struggling young actors living as bums, Withnail (Richard E. Grant ) and “I” (Paul McGann), who yearn to take a break from their squalid run down flat and fed up with the hectic life of the city, decide to escape to the countryside on the cheap. Withnail manages to persuade his rich eccentric uncle, Monty (Richard Griffiths) to let them stay in his country cottage in Penrith in Cumbria, North West England, for a weekend RnR. This is to be a “holiday by mistake”, one in which anything that can go wrong, does go wrong!
Although the countryside is beautiful, the location is anything but idyllic. What looks like constant rain, the boys are cold (“Warm up? We may as well sit round this cigarette,” They end up burning some furniture) , the cottage has no running water or light, they are low on food and the locals seem a bit strange and not very hospitable, in particular a poacher called Jake, who takes an instant dislike to Withnail. Its a long long way from Camden Town and the two city boys are hopelessly out of their depth for country living. Trying to cook a chicken (“I’m starving, how can we make it die?”) in an oven balanced on a kettle, attempting to shoot fish with a shotgun, or using plastic bags as boots to trod around in the muck, are just some examples of their inadequacies.
Marwood learns they have received an eviction notice for unpaid rent, thus preempting the splitting of the two companions. Marwood leaving for the station, turns down Withnail’s request for one last drink. “There’s always time for a drink?” But Marwood, with his newly cut hair and looking smart, is a man changed. He has finally got an acting part and needs to move on. They part company, likely for the last time. All alone, and quoting Hamlet and with a bottle of wine in hand, naturally, Withnail cries out in the rain “What a piece of work is a man!” The end!
The script is one thing, but you need actors to bring it to life. The acting in the movie is superb. Definitely true to say that Richard E Grant hasn’t done anything as good, at least nothing I have ever seen. (‘I’m a trained actor reduced to the status of a bum!’). But Paul McGann, the foil to the craziness of Grant, is also excellent and as good as Grant. His part is more measured, but he plays the character so well that you actually feel sorry for poor old Marwood having to put up with Withnail all the time.
There was no actual filming in the real Penrith, and Sleddale Hall, just outside Shap in Cumbria, is the location used as Monty’s cottage. What strikes me from the county location is the never ending rain, and toughness of countryside life. As for the time period, the movie is set in the 60’s, even if it was made in the 80’s without any set design, which goes to show that parts of London looked pretty dire at this time. Grit I think is the word I’m looking for!
The rules for the Withnail and I drinking game are very simple… just match what Withnail drinks
Withnail
Kilkenny is an Irish cream ale from the makers of Guinness, which originated in Kilkenny, Ireland, hence the name! The brand is managed and produced by Diageo. It is available in draught and cans.
A lot of the reviews say 4.3%, but mine was 4.2% ABV, maybe different for the German market perhaps.
On taste I get a smooth creamy mouthful from the beer, some grains, a bit of caramel, it all tastes nice and very smooth.
Singha is a 5% abv pale lager produced by the Boon Rawd Brewery in Bangkok, Thailand. 
Like Chang, Singha is easy to get in Thai and Asian restaurants and supermarkets all across Europe. 
The bottle top has Singha’s dragon logo which looks pretty cool and there is a yellow lion on the front of the bottle. We are also told that this is “The original Thai beer since 1933.”
No lacing but a perfectly clear looking beer….
Chang, which is the Thai world for ‘elephant’, is brewed at Cosmos Brewery in Thailand.
Thai Beverage, better known as ThaiBev, is Thailand’s largest beverage company, and also has significant operations in Europe, producing malt Scotch whisky, vodka, gin, and liqueurs with over 20 distilleries in Scotland, France, Poland, and Ireland. Chang beer is exported to 20 countries, and can be found in many Thai and Asian themed restaurants all over the world.
With a nice logo of two big elephants facing each other on its label, Chang is the Thai word for elephant, an important animal in Thailand as a symbol of both power and peace.
On the nose I get an initial sweet piercing smell of lemon but overall not so strong, very faint.
Too sweet for my liking, and the tastes are not well balanced.
Brewing in this region dates back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. From the early Slavs in the first century to Bohemians who were brewing beer by 1088. In 1295 the City of Pilsen was established, and with it the beginnings of brewing, and in 1307 we have the first historical recorded mention of the existence of an actual brewery with malt house.
The beer was a sensation: the world’s first golden lager, unlike anything most beer drinkers at the time had ever seen.
Coming in a nice green bottle and with classy looking labelling. There’s an attractive red seal stating that this is the “The Original Pilsner”, just so you dont get mixed up with all those cool Czech beers on the market. This one is the original, make no doubt about it!
Hoppy aftertaste which is a bit overbearing to be honest.
Yes, the old black out, I have had a few down through the years. From ruining parties, to getting into fights, to waking up in an unusual places, to having interesting conversations with people I can never remember, or what was talked. Anything can happen when I’m blacked out. The lights are on, but no one is at home!
We are not just talking about alcoholics or heavy drinkers here, it can also happen to social drinkers, people who like a few drinks with the mates at the end of a tough week at work. It is important to note not everyone gets blackouts, about 50% of drinkers do, and there are also many alcoholics who claim to have never experienced blackouts. Remember, it is not how much you drink, but how fast you drink, and how quickly the blood alcohol content rises.
People experiencing en bloc blackouts are unable to recall any details at all, not a zilch, nothing, from events that occurred while they were intoxicated, despite all efforts by the drinkers or friends to rejig the memory. It is as if the process of transferring information from short–term to long–term storage has been completely road blocked.
Mixing drinks also might not be a good idea, and not just alcohol, adding some recreational drugs is also a one stop route to memory loss.
Questions might arise. Why do I go mad and do stupid stuff when I am drunk, as when I’m sober I’m not such a bad person? Are these actions really part of my inner character that I have unleashed over a few shots, am I really such a cunt? I do know people say that when you are drunk that’s when your true character comes out. I disagree, I don’t think it’s as simple as that. I think it’s more that you are just out of your mind and your judgment is altered. It also might be something that’s lurking in everyone rather than just one person, our animal instincts……
The story began seven weeks earlier when in the accompaniment of some friends, the teetotaller tried a few whiskeys. And as you know, one drink led to another and before you know it he was on a boat to America.
Barbe Torte is an award winning Breton beer brewed by Brasserie de Bretagne in the small town of Trégunc located in western Brittany. Brittany, of course, is the Celtic part of France, situated in the North West of the country. The beer is apparently named after a Duke of Brittany, Alan II (“Barbe Torte” à la française or his much more interesting nickname, “Twisted Beard!”) who expelled the Vikings from Brittany and ruled the kingdom until his death in the year of 952. The brewery, not as old, was founded in 1988 and was known as Brasserie Britt.
They launched a beer in the colours of French League One team, FC Lorient, a first for a Breton club. They also branched out with their own version of cola, Britt Cola, adding to an American classic a Breton twist. With the World Cup in Brazil, they produced a fruity “Britt Do Brasil”, for the Sochi Winter Olympics they produced a vodka flavoured beer, and the brewery is the main partner for the famous sailing event Route du Rhum where boats test to see who can travel from Saint-Malo to Guadeloupe in record time. They certainly like to get their brand about.
On pour looks lovely, has a real full body, a lovely light yellow colour. When it settles it does become a bit murky with a lot of carbonation, not as good looking.
Asahi Super Dry is the most popular beer in Japan, produced by Asahi Breweries Ltd, a leading brewery and soft drinks company based in Tokyo, Japan. Asahi Breweries Ltd is the largest beer producer in the whole of Japan.
Asahi Super Dry, dry as in crisp with no sweetness in the taste, light and not much aftertaste. Super dry as in more of all that. I guess. The labeling on the bottle is very stylish I must say, shiny silver background with a black printed “Asahi” catching the eye
On pour got a lovely clear light golden looking beer, with a nice big white foamy head, which unfortunately did die quite quickly.
Generally tasteless, not great at all. actually feel cheated. It says on the label beer, but this tastes like bottled water. And the fact it looked good and smelt ok, was very disappointing that the end product was so bad. A shite feel to the beer, very flat. One to avoid in the future!
Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu is a brewing company in a small town called Alpirsbach in the Black Forest region of Germany
Using the soft pure brewing water from the Black Forest.
A smooth light crisp drink, not too much to taste,