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Beer in Asia
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Beer in Asia Although the history of beer in Asia is not as rich as
it is in North America, experimentation with brewing alcoholic beverages there also goes back to almost five thousand years
before Christ. Asians did their brewing from rice and not from wheat or barley and hops. Consequently, sake, considered by
most to be a rice wine, is fermented more like beer than traditional wine. The very first brewery began producing in the
mid-1800s and was established by Edward Dyer. It was located in the Himalayan mountains in India and started producing pale
ale. The company, now known as Mohan Meakin, still brews beer to this day, but that is only a small part of its income as the
company has diversified across several industries. Today, almost every country in Asia brews its own beer. Beer Lao,
produced in Laos, is one of the most successful Asian beers, using water from the Himalayans, yeast from Germany, and malted
barley from France. While once nationalized and controlled by the government, the Lao Brewer Company is now a larger
enterprise with foreign investors. Beer Lao is becoming very popular in the United Kingdom. It is considered by experts to be
a very fine beer which one day may be available globally. Chang beer originated in Thailand and is extremely popular there
and in neighboring countries. It is a dark beer with a strong flavor and low-priced compared to other beers. The biggest part
of its popularity may be the fact that it boasts a very high 6.4% alcohol. It is produced by the Thai Beverage Public Company
Limited. Kingfisher beer is an Indian beverage, owned by United Breweries Group, which claims to be the second largest
brewer in the world. Their beer goes well with Indian cuisine and has become very popular not only in India but in the United
Kingdom as well. It has twenty breweries worldwide and is sold in fifty countries. Kirin beer has a history that goes back
to the 1890s, when it was founded by an American and a German brew master. Produced by Japan, Kirin is described as a fine
yellow beer with a crisp taste. It consists of 5% alcohol and goes well with both Japanese and Western foods. It is mostly
found in Asian countries and the United Kingdom. The strongest commercial beer in Asia, San Miguel is a very popular beer,
originating in the Philippines. It was established way back in the 1890s, and has over one hundred facilities in Asia, with
25,000 workers. San Miguel has virtually no other close competition in the Philippines with ninety percent of the market. One
of the most appealing facts about San Miguel beer seems to be its 7% alcohol content. It is starting to be a name recognized
in many Western countries. Other popular Asian beers include Sapporo--the oldest beer in Japan, Singha (another Thai beer),
Taiwan beer, Tiger beer (owned by Heineken and Frasers & Neave), and Tsingtao beer. (China’s #1 export).
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