Comments on: Bia Hoi

By: hair-old

hair-old — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:58:28 +0000

Try Beer Lao next door.
Wash down some cat meat stir-fry with
this brew before you judge it :^)

By: kyotolefty

kyotolefty — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:17:40 +0000

Got ya. Interesting to hear jut how many brewpubs are around Hanoi now. I was there 5 years ago and drank at one, in the old town of Hanoi, which was ok. Makes me want to go back soon. Especially when craft beer in Japan is $10 a pint or more.

By: oakes

oakes — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:37:27 +0000

@noble…I know a few things about this. Bia hoi is consumed the same day it is delivered. There is “bia tuoi” which lasts 3-4 days. However, I don’t really know the fermentation cycle of bia hoi. It’s not same day beer as it wouldn’t have time to finish the primary. There isn’t much secondary, so it might be 4-5 days old when it is served. I haven’t heard anything too specific about that. I’d love to sit down with a bia hoi brewer and find out this stuff.

By: noblesquirrel

noblesquirrel — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:15:22 +0000

@Oakes I was under the impression that it’s generally only a few days old when it is drunk. Is this the case?

By: oakes

oakes — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:29:23 +0000

@kyoto I’m in Hoi An right now. Didn’t like the bia hoi here either, but it was the end of the night so who knows. My research indicates that it probably comes from Hanoi anyway, no matter what the waitress said.

@ Joe bia hoi is about 50% rice. Some reports say it’s dry, but it’s not, mostly just acidic in that Budweiser kind of way. It’s also very light, around 3%. Short fermentation period as well, not much lagering. It’s just high adjunct, short lagering light lager.

By: kyotolefty

kyotolefty — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:04:36 +0000

I wonder if it is particularly bad in Hanoi? I had some Bia Hoi that was aimed at tourists in Hoi An and don’t remember it being at all nasty. This was before I was much into good beer, mind you, so I’m not saying it compared well with craft stuff, just that it seemed to me to compare well with the industrial beers I had there–better, maybe. It also seemed to match the climate well, being so light.

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:16:51 +0000

Nice dig in the opening sentence. Is it produced like regular beer? Is it hopped? Is it crappy just because it’s poorly made, has poor ingredients, or both?