Missed, Saigon


Brewery and Country of Origin: Saigon Beer Alcohol Beverage Corporation (Sabeco) of 06 Hal Ba Trung, Phudong Ben Nghe, Quan 1, Tp. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Date Reviewed: 6-28-12

As this brew was the first beer from the other worldly nation of Vietnam, we had no idea what to expect from this very pale beer. And even thinking about trying to group this beer with other Asian lagers can essentially be considered as ludicrous as trying to put German Bocks with Italian Pales, merely because they're both lagers from the same continent. Still, because we had never had a beer from Vietnam or even at least hear something positive about its brewing industry, we weren't expecting something that amazing. Sadly for us, what we had here, was not going to exceed our expectations.
Date Sampled: 6-27-12 At: Living Room, 7 Prescott Place, Allston, Boston, MA, 02134, USA
Beer Style: Adjunct Lager
Alcohol by Volume: 4.90%
Serving Type: 12 oz Bottled, 14 oz Sam Adams Glass
Rating: 2.16

Look

This beer pours very choppy with a thick, half inch, creamy foam head. Pale golden with a glowing, shimmering appearance in the light, the Saigon is very clear, and its overall appearance is reflective of the style. This beer does not demonstrate any lacing.

Aroma

Saigon Export's aroma is very grainy with a less than prominent, lager like character. Some malty notes are present but nearly no hops are detectable in the aroma.

Feel

With a very dry and crisp finish, this is a light beer with a refreshing overall deilvery. Light bodied and without any real in depth substance, this beer has a very low viscosity, a very high level of carbonation, and a short lived, grainy finish.

Taste

As you would imagine, this beer's flavor is fairly standard with the style. Grainy, slightly malty, and without any real hoppy notes until the finish. Nothing extremely bold or prominent, some subtle sweetness is noticeable as well. The aftertaste is somewhat bitter finally elluding to the physical presence of hops.

Our Take

We won't ever lie to you by saying that this beer is going to be in any critic's top favorites list. But that said, this was a fun beer to try. It is almost guaranteed that you won't find too many beers from Vietnam being sold in the States. This is for a range of reasons, the most obvious being that Vietnam's beer industry isn't something beer enthusiasts commonly rave about. It also doesn't help that it is across the world, and it certainly doesn't help that their beer is typically rated poorly. Trying a beer which has made its way around the globe to get into your glass is something pretty special though. Considering how sensitive beer is to so many environmental factors, the fact that you can get one in your hands tasting the way their crafters intended is nothing short of genuine magic. Sadly, we can only praise the shippers and distributors for the quality of this beer as we all know, this as a beer wasn't terribly special. A weak flavor, a borderline aroma, weak body, and lack of real presence helped give this brew a less than stellar mark. Either way, try exotic beers like this for the novelty, not for the quality.