Beerlao

I was delighted when, on our drive from Chiang Mai, Thailand up to the Golden Triangle, our tour guide informed us that we would be able to buy Lao beer when we crossed the Mekong River into Laos.  She praised Lao beer as being "the best beer in Southeast Asia".  I thought to myself, who better to judge such a claim than the man sitting in my seat.

Sure enough, vendors in the Lao border market we visited were peddling both Beerlao Original Lager and Beerlao Dark Lager.  I was especially interested in sampling the dark.  I purchased a can of the original and a bottle of the dark which I cushioned carefully in my backpack.

Back in Chiang Mai, and before I got around to sampling the bottle I had bought in Laos, I came across Beerlao Dark at The Duke's on the Ping River -- a restaurant noted for good American food.  I was craving a decent burger and fries, and what better to accompany my meal than an unfamiliar dark brew to savor.

Duke's Swiss mushroom cheeseburger was tasty.  I ordered it with onion rings and snitched some of Stacey's fries.  All good fare.

The Beerlao Dark Lager was a pleasant surprise with a smooth, malty sweetness.  At 6.5 percent alcohol by volume, it doesn't fit the definition of a session beer, but, definitely not heavy or thick-bodied, it does go down quite easily.  I couldn't resist having another with my meal.  All in all, very satisfying.

According to RateBeer, Beerlao Dark is a Vienna style lager.  The style was developed in Vienna in 1841, and was an improvement on the dark brown lagers of the day.  The achievement was overshadowed by the first production of blonde pilsner lagers in 1842.  Even though pilsner lagers caught on rapidly, the Vienna style remained popular at Oktoberfest celebrations for years to come.

For drinkers in the upper Midwest of the USA, which has become a hotbed of quality craft brewing, another good lager in the Vienna style is Capital Brewery's Winter Skal out of Middleton, Wisconsin.  It was a big hit with family and friends at Christmas Day festivities in Spooner, Wisconsin back in 2011.  I've read there are changes afoot at Capital Brewing.  Hopefully, Winter Skal is kept in the lineup.