January 25, 2009: Singha

Singha is another one of those beers that met its untimely end due to default. Since I started the 365 brews project, My brother Andrew has been among the most supportive of my friends and family, even going so far as to contribute different beers to the cause which is always greatly appreciated. Last week he donated a Russian beer that earned the dubious nickname of Ugly Z, because of its putrid taste and ridiculously long Russian name which I am too lazy to write. Today my brother has donated a new type of brew called a Kvass. It's not exactly a beer (only 1-2% alcohol), but it's close enough and it was free, so I thought I would give it a try. I'm sad to report that this was strike two for russian beverages in my book. If you've never tried a Kvass, it tastes like all the after products from the brewing process of beer, with a ton of herbs mixed together that tastes more like something you'd find if you mixed all the contents of your medicine cabinet together in a blender and drank it. Truly, truly awful stuff even for me who will eat and drink just about anything at least once.

However, as the 365brews project continues to develop, I've learned to adapt and create alternative solutions in the event that I have a beer that is utterly undrinkable. This is the part of the story where Singha comes to my rescue, and not a moment too soon.

Singha comes from the south east Asian country of Thailand, and is the kingpin of the Thai beer market. The Boon Rawd brewery was the very first of its kind in Thailand, and Singha is the oldest mass produced beer in the country. For this reason, it's no surprise that Singha is widely exported to the western world and can be found at almost any Thai restaurant in the United States. Singha is in fact, a solid beer, if not a great one. In my opinion it can hold its own with many of the more popular lagers from the west in terms of refreshment and quality. Outside of Thai restaurants or Asian markets however, you may have a tough time tracking this one down. So in the end, I learned my lesson and enjoyed the respectable taste of Singha, rather than choking down the horrible Kvass. Thanks for trying though Andrew, keep those brews coming my way!

Choc-Tee!(cheers in Thai)
Ian

www.singhabeer.com