Recently I've been buying cans of San Miguel Light from Tescos. Despite being a light beer the cans reads it's 5% and low calorie. Beautiful clean taste. Now my favorite in Thailand.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

BobMac
I've never ever tasted a bad product from San Miguel. However, a few years ago I did notice a difference from the brew in Manila and that available in Hong Kong.

I made a few inquiries and it turned out that the HK version is brewed locally using water from Mainland China. So it would seem that water quality does have a bearing on brew quality.

The only thing I have against San Miguel is that its principal shareholder was a stalwart supporter of Ferdinand Marcos, but I guess that is another topic altogether.

At 5% ABV it sounds like a perfectly balanced beer to me. I must try it next time I visit Dan Murphy's here in Oz, providing of course that they stock the brew.

I'm off to Cambodia today, will be there for a week, so I guess I'll be drinking Anchor Pilsner, which is fine with me. The local Cambodian brew - Angkor - is a tad vile from memory, kinda in the same catagory as Thailand's Leo & Archa.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

Ah Phil,

Yes indeed, Stella Artois. The magical brew of Belgium. Before Boags won the award in Bristol about eight years ago, Stella won just about every four years (the beer festival and awards are conducted every four years).

A beer that maybe can be equalled, but never ever topped. Once again it represents a great standard for European brewing techniques. Where would we be without the Brits/Euros and their beer brewing techniques.

As I type this short reply I'm enjoying a Boag's Premium. But I could be enjoying just as much a "Stella" if I had one immediately available.

Emdee, this is a fantastic post, thanks a lot, its nothing short of a well done research.
While talking about Asian beers I will add my two cents on Indian beers.
Its only few years that Indians have started demanding better domestic beers. This could be because of liberal imports and Indians visiting foreign countries in droves for business and pleasure. Off late liquor barons like Vijay of UB group have acquired breweries in Europe and thus brought in better technologies resulting in better beer quality.
Today UB group's Kingfisher is the most popular beer. They have normal, strong & wheat beer and recently they have done a limited launch of stout.
The Tiger brand and Fosters are gaining popularity too. Earlier Indian beers had a lot of glycerine but now with better technology it has been greatly reduced.
Another thing that has happened in India is the popularity of wine drinking. Wine tasting clubs have come up in all metros and lots of rich people have started investing in vineyards and winneries. Grape crushing has become a popular holiday with the P3 people. Lots of Australian & French technologists are working in the western part of India in the winneries. There is a steady growth in domestic consumption and exports.
Now if I am asked where I drank the best beer I would with out hesitation say that I had the best in a small historic town in Germany called Rothenberg. This is one of the most beautiful towns on the "Romantic route".

In most Asian countries your not gonna think much about the beers. Sam Miquel is brewed from an old recipe from the colonial days which is probably why it's the best one i have tasted around my travels. The Pakistani and Indian beers were all reall bad like Kingfisher. This is about the Thai ones right well best one I came across was Singh but I can't knock back too many of em. They are not that easy to drink.
Ok with food. Then go on the Heineken.
But the Pakistani and the Indian beers they are bad. They have one up north near Kasmir cant remember the name of it it was a stout. I heard by some guys there that was a good one. Anyone know the name?

(Singha) Ok with food. Then go on the Heineken.

Spot on Bruce, I agree entirely. Singha goes very well with Thai food but it's wise to switch over to Heineken as soon as the meal's over.

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The Truly Wise Man Never Plays Leapfrog With A Unicorn

Thanks for accepting the invitation to post your thoughts on Indian beers, jyotirmoy! I enjoy them in the UK but I have to say the glycerine additive made Indian beer completely undrinkable for me when I was there. After I moved on from Goa I had two beers in two months - I think that's a record for me!

steve, I forgot to add that now Tuborg & Carlsberg brands are giving a very stiff competetion to domestic brands in India.
When were you in Goa?

Hi jyotirmoy,
I spent a couple of weeks in Goa in April of this year; I stayed at Anjuna and Agonda. I fell in love with the latter - it was the perfect relatively untouched, largely deserted beach to chill out at. I then went on to travel for another 2 months or so in India - round the south then up to the north, right up to Leh. Quite an experience