Beer Review – Bia Hoi, Live from Ninh Binh in Vietnam.
This is my first post from my World Tour of Vietnam. My wife, two daughters and I decided that given Vietnam was always on our list of places to go, the food is fantastic, and that we had enough credit card / frequent flyer points to get us all there, then lets go !!
It may come as no surprise, but beers in Vietnam were both seriously cheap and alarmingly numerous.
Our itinerary found us in a little town called Ninh Binh, which is about 3 hours drive south of Hanoi. There is some amazing natural scenery in this area – rivers, lakes, rice paddies with buffalo and conical-hat-wearing peasants – so we spent three days exploring the region with Ninh Binh as our base.
I was talking to one of the staff at a hotel we stayed at – Mr Chong from the Thuy Anh Hotel – about how much I was enjoying the Vietnamese beers. Mr Chong told me to meet him at 4pm in the hotel lobby for “Bia Hoi”.
Good idea, I thought…… I wonder what that is…… ???
At 4pm Mr Chong threw a helmet at me, shoved me onto the back of his motorbike and we zoomed off.
“Bia Hoi” turns out to be “The Pub” – essentially a collection of plastic chairs under a shoulder height tarpaulin strung up between some trees/poles.
I said “I will pay !!” at which point Mr Chong appeared to think that all his Christmases had come at once. He ordered beers – approx 80 cents per jug – so at that price I naturally ordered a couple more. We were both having a fantastic time, so he ordered some interesting nibbles/food, again at a tiny price, and I did the FortyBeers filming session with him as a special guest, which he seemed to enjoy. There were some seriously under the weather people in this make-shift-pub, all pissing and chundering into the river we were sitting next to while under our tarpaulin. So, it certainly was a “local blokes” experience !
I became a little concerned about how I was going to get back to the hotel, so I asked about drinking and driving laws, and explained how it works in Australia.
Mr Chong replied, “Ahh ! No problem !! In Vietnam, drink beer, drive car, police, bad, much money, very bad. Drive motor bike, no problem !!!!”
At that point I ordered more food, and made sure Mr Chong didn’t drink any more beer before we hopped back on his bike and he dropped me back at the hotel. Total cost, approx 6 dollars, and 2 hours, but the experience will stay with me forever.
Thank you so much Mr Chong for your wonderful tour, and for your kind invitation to your local Bia Hoi. Absolutely sensational stuff !
Stay tuned for more Vietnamese beer reviews. As already mentioned, I REALLY like Asian beers.
Thanks,
Matthew.
Tags: Vietnamese Beer
Beer Review Virgin Blonde Lager
As a quick refresher, for those new to FortyBeers.com, I received forty beers for my birthday a while ago. The brief I was given from my friends Simon, Phoebe and Chris was that each of these beers represents a significant moment in my life.
So – with that in mind – beer review number 17 is………. (drum roll)………Virgin Blonde Lager !
Ka Boom Chi ( Snare, Kick Drum, Hi hat).
Virgin Blonde Lager appears to market itself as not only “premium organic” but also as a “Low Carb Larger”. Usually, in my opinion, when it comes to “Low Anything” in foods or drinks it means that the taste is insipid, weak, and makes the consumer generally lose the will to live.
Not so here in this case. Virgin Blonde Permium Organic Low Carb Lager is surprisingly big – and good – on taste. During my video review above, I crapped on about how it might be a wheat beer because of the bitter taste. A quick visit to the Virgin Blonde Beer website reveals that it is made from barley – so obviously I know diddly squat about beers….. however, please take it as my opinion that this is not a bad drop. In fact, it’s a good one !
They (the Vigin Blonde people) sugges that their beers are made without pesticides, artificial colours, preservatives, herbacides and no seals were harmed in the making of this beer.
“Virgin Blonde is designed as a light, refreshing thirst quencher”.
I also like their disclaimer that “we are prohibited by law from advertising any alchoholic drink as healthy, so we do not claim this. But, if you value your health and also like a beer, there is no beer on the market where more has been done with your health in mind”.
I’ll certainly drink to that. And another couple of Virgin Blondes will obviously make life just that little bit more fun.
Out of a possible 10 maximum, this beer review happily results in a very worthy 8 out 10 on the Forty Beers Cheers O Meter.
Thanks,
Matthew.
P.S. I mentioned in the beer review video the all singing-all dancing FortyBeers Beer Store. Check it out !
Tags: Australian Beer, Lager
Beer Review Bluetongue Pilsner
Beer number 17 out of my Forty Birthday Beers turns out to be the wonderful Bluetongue Pilsner.
I have been fortunate enought to have had a couple of these little fellas before….. in fact a couple of days after I opened this one in front of my video camera I was at a bit of a gathering where a mate of mine offered me one of his Bluetongue Lagers…. mmmmm….
In short – this is a Wonderful Beer.
This pilsner is slightly fruity, but only a little hint. It’s crisp. It’s slightly bitter and it tastes great.
The Blue Tongue Brewery is located in Australia, in the area known as the Hunter Valley, north west of Sydney – almost as an outer suburb of Newcastle. The Hunter Valley is perhaps more well known as a wine region, but there are a couple of nice breweries there as well.
According to their website, “Our full bodied pilsner has a malty flavour, pleasing bitterness and fruity aroma”.
One of the things I like about the BlueTongue Brewery website is their “On Tap Locations” page.
http://www.bluetongue.com.au/OnTapLocations/tabid/57/Default.aspx
Simply type in your post code, and the map will reveal to you your nearest local watering hole that has Blue Tongue Beer on tap. Excellent !
This Beer Review gives a ver commendable 9 out of 10 on the Forty Beers Cheers O Meter.
If you find yourself in a bottleshop, make sure you look for the distinctive Blue Tongues and buy several. As already mentioned, they have a Lager as well, which is equally as beerilicious.
Thanks 
Matthew
P.S. Don’t forget that the Forty Beers Beer Store is now open…. there are heaps of Beer Tshirts with amusing slogans, and you can’t go past a new bottle opener….
Tags: Australian Beer, Beer Review, Pilsner
Beer Review – Baltika 4
Here we have a complete Mystery Beer…. which turned out to be a Russian Beer called Baltika 4.
Beer Number 16 in my Forty Birthday Beers was, upon first sight, totally unreadable. My Russian is totally non-existant, and the label was all in hieroglyphics (and/or Russian).
The 500 ml bottle is certainly a good size. And with 5.6 % alcohol… it’s slightly on the stronger side, but not too strong.
Thick, dark and chunderous, this is a beer that while I am happy I’ve tasted it, perhaps I won’t be travelling to Russia specifically to have another one. Russia is well up there on my “to do” list, but when I eventually get there I will most likely see and do other things first before running to a bottle shop for another one of these.
As I am sure I have mentioned before, ALL beer is good beer. However, some beers are better than others, and this is well and truly in the “others” category.
According to the Baltika 4 website , they have won heaps of awards, including the Australian International Beer Awards Contest a couple of years ago. It appears to have rye malt as a main ingrediant – this is not something I have knowingly experienced before.
I love new tastes, sights, sounds and smells. I have travelled “overseas” to many parts of Asia, Europe, North America, Central America, all around Australia and New Zealand. I have eaten and drunk my way through all of these geographical locations. I have experienced many “good” and “interesting” flavours and textures. Perhaps, in the case of this Russian beer – Baltika 4, I simply lack the required taste buds to appreciate it as others appear to have done.
Please be aware that this is my beer review opinion only – one person in a world of 4 or 5 billion people. I would therefore strongly recommend that you try one for yourself and come to your own conclusions !!
A satisfactory 6 out of 10 on the Forty-Beers-Cheers-O-Meter.
Thanks,
Matthew
P.S. I am enjoying sharing these birthday beers here in these beer reviews and on my FortyBeers.com beer blog
And, my lounge room is nearly finished – ceilings, walls are all freshly painted.
DIY Website Saxophone Lessons Relaxation Music Guided Meditation
Tags: Lager, Russian Beer
