Review: Chang Beer
You don’t have to like elephants to like Chang beer (the company claims it is the best-selling beer in its native Thailand), but it helps. Those little elephants on the label are just so darn cute you can’t help but try to snuggle them when you’re deep into your third oversize bottle.
Chang is slowly becoming available not just in Southeast Asia but around the world. And it’s a good beer. Light, golden yellow, and fairly sweet on the tongue. It’s lightly bitter in the finish but the interplay between bitter and sweet works fairly well. One key piece of advice: Drink it very cold; Chang is much less charming when it warms up. And since the standard bottle you’ll find is often an oversized 640ml package, you’ll have to drink it fast in order to finish it off in time.
5.2% abv.
B+ / $6.50 per six-pack / changbeer.com
Chang Beer
$6.50
Right on about needing to drink Chang cold…the colder the better. A fine brew, especially if you live in Thailand and have limited choices. Goes well with Thai food and pussy.
After 3 months in Thailand early 2009 preceded by 6 weeks there in 2007 and 8 years there 1969-77, off and on, and bouncing back and forth between Chang and Singha in more recent years, I prefer “Sing.” Both come from the same brewing company Boonrawd Brewery, born 60 years ago with Thai ownership but Carlsberg Brewing technical staff from Denmark. Chang is the more popular for one reason: price. In Thailand it’s 20% cheaper than “Sing.” It’s decent beer absent comparison, and far better than no beer, but compare quaffs of the two and Chang will strike your palate as watery, “Sing” robust. But, again, anyone who praises Chang in and of itself will get no strong argument here. BTW, “Chang” is the Thai word for elephant.