East Bar

Chiang Mai’s Craft Beer and Live Music

East Bar เลขที่ Huaykaew Rd. Chiang Mai

I went for a walk, to clear my head, one evening, in Chiang Mai and found the very cool EAST BAR at the Maya, Think-Park, Nimman-One and U Nimman intersection. On the busiest intersection in Chiang Mai, surround by the modern… is the rustic East Bar - a small wooden shack, surrounded by vacant land and decorated by red plastic stools, hand-made wooden tables and soft red lights. Every night they have live music and as the night goes… the crowd grows and the red plastic stools multiply and spread to the street. This places oozes charm and cool and offers a minimalistic menu with a few snack and drinks… but it also has a fridge full of craft beers. This is where my focus was - tasting some Thai Craft beers and I was very happy with what I found.

*East Bar เลขที่ Huaykaew Rd, Mueang Chiang Mai*

Thai Craft Beer

Whale Pale Ale วาฬ The Brewing Project - Nomad Brewing Co X Whale Collaboration

The Whale Pale Ale is an easy to drink beer with a pleasant taste. The label design is excellent and prompted me to investigate The Brewing Project further. The Brewing Project is a Thai company who focus on collaborative projects and The Whale Pale Ales is with the Australian Brewer’s Nomad Brewing Co.. The Brewing Project currently has only one other collaborative beer being the Raven IPA. The Raven is a collaboration with Anderson Valley Brewery (California, USA). The Whale Pale Ale and The Brewing Project icons and images are steeped in Thai meaning as explained by the images below. Whilst the beer itself is good - the taste was not exceptional - but what shifted it from a 3 star rating to a 4 star was the label, the environment, my mood and learning about The Brewing Project company. Rating ★★★★

Whale วาฬ Nomad Brewing Co. Collaboration with The Brewing Project Pale Ale | ABV 5.2% | 52 IBU | Rating ★★★★

Chit Beer Drink Dan Gan IPA

Chit Beer Drink Dan Gan IPA is a great name and a good IPA. I love the spirit of Chit micro-brewer with their passion, vision, creativity, hard work and a good dose of fun. This new brewery is based in Pak Ket in Thailand was started by Khun Chit - the Godfather of craft beer brewing in Thailand. The beer taste was good and when I read about Khun Chit and his microbrewery - I rated Chit Beer IPA Rating ★★★★

Drink Dank Gan Chit Beer IPA | 1 6% ABV | Rating ★★★★

Grapefruit Sculpin IPA Ballast Point Brewing Company (USA)

After I tried all the Thai IPAs on offer at EAST BAR… my attention was grabbed by, what I was told, a new addition to the EAST BAR team - The Grapefruit Sculpin IPA by Ballast Point Brewing Company. Ballast Point Brewing Co started out in 1996 and has a great line up of craft beers on offer and this Grapefruit was no exception. A great full bodied and flavourful IPA, with a twist of sour citrus to tickle one’s tastebuds. A great beer… but, for the price I pad for it in Chiang Mai at the East Bar… I only had one. Rating ★★★