So much beer, so little time.
There are quite a few microbreweries in Saigon, but due to timing issues – we had to pick two of them. Since it is pretty usual for the craft brew bars to allways have a few ‘guests’ on tap, we where pretty comfortable that it would cover a lot of the local stuff.
First up was Pasteur brewing co, they actually have two sites pretty close to eachother – we went up the stairs for the original taproom.
They had pretty much everything as promised on tap, except the wit – to bad but, as long as all the others where there.
I could write about prices n stuff.. yeah its a bit more expensive than your regular local beer. But its still so cheap that it dont really matter.
We did a taster with a pretty nice selection, I think they had 10 on tap in total (including a cider). The stout was a world champ nr 1 beer in some international contest. It was pretty awsome I have to agree, the red one was a goese, but wastn realløy sour or salty.. the pils and Ipa was the best.
Not to many people here, and thos who just left was tourists/expats. But the place had nice music, decent AC and the guts n girls working there had lots of knowledge of the beer thy where serving.
I tried all 10 – most of them tasters, and a few of them pints.. Traffic was difficult when leaving ! Great spot – lots and lots of nice beer, easily spend a couple of hours here tasting all the different stuff.
And as mentioned, they have wone a few prices, so there are some decent veers here. But do go for the chocolate stout, best one I have ever had!
The other place we went for was the winking seal, set up by a few forfein guys some years back. The guy operating there now was from south africa and a all around nice guy. He defended his stout as best he could – I didnt have it in me to tell him that it probably was the worst stout I have ever tasted 🙂
They had a few guests on tap to, I had a pint of the lime leaf wheat, and that was pretty decent. But I have to say that all in all it was not a great collection of beer they had here, the dragonfruit on was fine and the Kosmonaut IPA.. otherwise they where OK to say the most.
Thats the horrific stout on the left there.. lord allmighty.
Great bar, great selection.. The people serving there didnt speak a lot of english, and I do not think they have tasted the beer.. any beer talk was out of the question 🙂
Maren did the apple and ginger cider, that was pretty good. And they also boast they have the best burger in town, I didnt try it – but the fries with bacon was awsome.
Besides the two craftbeer pubs, there is a few local beers for sale around town, at the food market we found a few that was very nice – this one, Heart of Darkness, is my fav so far.
It is still a business in startup, the crafbeer is a bit more expensive, and therefir a lot of the locals stay away. This is also why you usually see these places packed with tourists and expats. But it is picking up speed..
Anyways. Pasteur – go there. Great place to try some different beers.