For this month's Session I opted to go about as east as I could, until I almost ran out of land: Thai beer in the form of the country's best-known brand (at least abroad), Singha Premium Lager Beer.
Singha is brewed by the Singha Corp., of Bangkok, and labels itself the "original Thai beer, since 1933."
Singha is brewed by the Singha Corp., of Bangkok, and labels itself the "original Thai beer, since 1933."
Singha is a pleasant easy-drinking beer that will promptly get one in that "session mood," but could be easy to overdo, even though at 5% ABV it is not overly alcoholic.
The color is a pretty gold and the head, while fluffy and white at pouring, soon disappears; which does not mean that the beer loses its effervesence. I poured it before I sat down to type and it is still fizzy, with bubbles steadily rising through the column of liquid - and I'm a hunt-and-peck typist! I guess it could be classed as an example of the countless "international"-style lagers out there, but if so, it is a solid one at that.
I have enjoyed Singha, and I must say that it is nice to taste it -really taste it- without having it be merely a cooling agent for a curry-ignited palate.
I would like to be able to say that Singha has captured the essence or terroir of Thailand, that in tasting it I can smell the foliage and exult in the tropical sun, that it takes me to the Far East, but I can't. It is not different-tasting enough for that, the presentation (a standard 22 oz brown longneck bottle with a two-tone label) is unispired, and never having myself been to Asia, let alone Thailand, I have no nostalgic associations to be awoken.
Interestingly, if anywhere, it takes me back to South America with its own set of golden lagers and I would not hesitate to pair it with any Latin American cuisine.
The color is a pretty gold and the head, while fluffy and white at pouring, soon disappears; which does not mean that the beer loses its effervesence. I poured it before I sat down to type and it is still fizzy, with bubbles steadily rising through the column of liquid - and I'm a hunt-and-peck typist! I guess it could be classed as an example of the countless "international"-style lagers out there, but if so, it is a solid one at that.
I have enjoyed Singha, and I must say that it is nice to taste it -really taste it- without having it be merely a cooling agent for a curry-ignited palate.
I would like to be able to say that Singha has captured the essence or terroir of Thailand, that in tasting it I can smell the foliage and exult in the tropical sun, that it takes me to the Far East, but I can't. It is not different-tasting enough for that, the presentation (a standard 22 oz brown longneck bottle with a two-tone label) is unispired, and never having myself been to Asia, let alone Thailand, I have no nostalgic associations to be awoken.
Interestingly, if anywhere, it takes me back to South America with its own set of golden lagers and I would not hesitate to pair it with any Latin American cuisine.
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