Both of us enjoy drinking beers (but don’t worry we are not alcoholics!), especially when we have spent some time under a hot scorching sun. And that’s like most of the time when we are in Thailand and going around outside. Wherever we are, we often try the local beers that the place has to offer. Do you have a habit of trying out local beers during your travels like we do? There are many local beers in Thailand! In fact, from Krungsri Bank’s research paper, we estimate that over 4 billion bottles of beer are consumed each year in Thailand! Find out more about Thailand beers ahead of your next visit to Thailand or Thai eateries.
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How much do beers typically cost in Thailand?
If you walk into any 7-eleven in Thailand (or any other convenience stores), you will find a variety of beer brands ranging from local to international brands. Local Thai beers tend to be cheaper than international brands (as expected) and they generally cost between THB 30-40 (~1USD) in a standard 330 ml bottles/cans and THB 50-60 (~1.7USD) in 550-600 ml bottles/cans. Beers from international brands are more expensive in Thailand when compared to the local ones. For example, 330 ml bottle of these brands would cost between THB 40-70.
Local Thailand beers
At convenience stores, supermarkets or local restaurants, you will mostly find local brands on the menu. In fact, popular local beers like Leo, Chang and Singha dominate over 90% of Thailand’s market share according to Statista. Hence, we will be focusing on them in this article.
The most common international brands you will find in Thailand are Heineken, Carlberg’s, Asahi, Corona, San Miguel etc. While you can also find other imported beers like Guinness, Hoegaarden, Peroni, Stella Artois and many others, to do so you may need to visit beer garden, bars, supermarket or established restaurants.
Leo
This brand is said to be the most popular beer locally. You can recognize Leo brand with its red color label with a Leopard (we suspect that Leo is the shortened word from Leopard!). Leo beer typically comes in the standard 330 ml can/bottle and 630 ml bottle.
Leo beer is a lager beer with alcoholic content of 5%. At the time of writing of this article, a 330 ml bottle of Leo beer costs THB 35 from a local supermarket chain. This beer’s pricing was among the lowest on the shelf.
In terms of taste, (from our personal experience, and could be subjective), Leo beer has a light and easy-to-drink taste.
Chang
Chang is the 2nd most popular beer based on the statistics. You can recognize the Chang brand with its green color and elephant logo. Fun fact, “chang” or “ช้าง” means elephant in Thai! Chang beer comes primarily as Chang Beer and Chang Cold Brew, both are lager beer. Chang Beer has alcoholic content of 5% and Chang Cold Brew has slightly lower alcoholic content of 4.8%.
This beer comes in standard 320 ml bottles, 320 ml cans, 490 ml cans and 620 ml bottles. At the time of writing, a 330 ml bottle of Leo beer costs THB 32 from a local supermarket chain.
Taste-wise, Chang has a stronger/sharper taste when compared to Leo. That is, we found it less easy to drink.
Singha
The third most popular beer on our list is Singha. Singha comes in 3 standard sizes: 320 ml bottles, 320 ml cans and 620 ml bottles. Its average alcoholic content is at 5%. Singha also has another line called Singha-Reserve, a lager beer with a slightly higher average alcoholic content of 5.3%.
At the time of writing, a 330 ml bottle of Leo beer costs THB 37 from a local supermarket chain, which is the highest among other beers in our list. However, this is still a lot more affordable when compared to the international brands.
Among the three local Thai beers, we feel that Singha has the “smoothest” taste. Perhaps that’s why it costs more too (you get what you pay for!).
Singha beer and Leo beer (the first on the list) are ultimately owned by Singha Corporation (who is also a distributor of many imported beers).
Thailand beers: Are they good? Are they worth trying?
If you are visiting a Thai restaurant or Thailand soon, then it would be a good idea to give Thai beers a try!
However, we are aware that beer as a topic can get subjective. From our experience trying different types of beers across Asia, our favorite beers are not from Thailand. Our favorites are Asahi from Japan and Taiwan 18 days beer from Taiwan. For Asahi, thankfully we can find them in some places in Thailand but not the Taiwanese beers. Nevertheless, there are so many options of Thailand beers or international beers to satisfy our thirst. Go try Thailand beers and leave us comments below about what you think of Thailand beers!
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