Worst Beer You Ever Actually Finished A Can/Bottle/Glass Of Memochat

Any ethnic beer at an ethnic restaurant (e.g., Tsing Tao at a Chinese restaurant, Singha at a Thai restaurant, etc.). They're all skunky, theyr're all insipid, and people just go bonkers over them (when they are in the ethnic restaurant).

(This definitely includes Mexican.)

Um, but... a German restaurant serving rippchen & kraut, a Czech restaurant serving pork & dumplings, or a Belgian restaurant serving mussels & frites are also "ethnic," y'know?

And the Mexican joint I go to serves micheladas made from Negra Modelo or Dos Equis.

"Ethnic beer" is a kinda bogus label, anyway. If you mean beer from southeast Asia, most of 'em are ordinary international lagers, 'cause before the Europeans showed up, they didn't really have much of a beer culture. The pre-Columbian Amerinds drank fermented beverages made from corn, but - call this a hunch - they probably didn't resemble the cheap adjunct-laden American lagers that also contain corn (syrup or grits).

As far as beer goes, though, it's all "ethnic" in one way or another.

Better even. Singha - just to take that one - is, according to M.J., an authentic German recipe from an authentic German Braumeister who came to Thailand. And indeed, compared to the Leo, Thai and other brands one can get served in Thai restaurants, way better. I've had plenty of Singha that was not skunky, and it does indeed not completely without some qualities as a timid Bock.

Joris

I have an untested theory for the US that says beer culture is strongest in areas of German, and to a lesser extent Czech, immigration. It makes some sense in comparing Pennsylvania to Florida. I think for Southeast Asia you can probably find a correlation of an old German colony and a modern brewery. Tsingtao comes from the former German area of China.

Singha doesn't do much for me as a sipping beer, but I really liked it with Thai food.

Tom W

Not at all true with Sing Ha. HTH.

Point taken. It's probably a decent beer. Whether, side by side, I would take it order it at a Thai restaurant here in the U.S. instead of ordering a local microbrew pilsner that is much fresher and made with crafted style is one question. The other question is why people fawn over it when they go to ethnic restaurants, and then never think of it, or buy it in, on other occasions.

Getting hung over on any cheap american industrial bottled beer is too high priced for me.