Water & Soil

Vientiane sits on a flat riverbank plain on the left bank of the Mekong. On the other side of the river begins Thailand, with the river forming the border here. The city has no mountains and no rock cellars, so it lacks what brewing towns in Bavaria or Bohemia rely on.

The climate is tropical and shaped by the monsoon. From May to October most of the rain falls, followed by a dry season in which hot days easily climb well above 30 degrees Celsius. For a beer meant to be drunk cold, this is the toughest part of the job.

Just how important water is for beer becomes clear from the math: a beer is roughly nine-tenths water. The hardness, meaning the dissolved lime in the water, determines how round or sharp a pale beer tastes. Brewing water is therefore treated everywhere until it's clear, odorless and consistent, whether it comes from the river or from a well.

Soil plays a smaller role for Beerlao than elsewhere, since the barley and hops come from abroad. More important is the cold. Even the old company name, Brasseries et Glacières du Laos, mentions not just the brewery but the "glacières," the ice factories. Anyone wanting to brew lager in the tropics needs cooling the way other places need springs.

The brewery lies southeast of the capital. Its connection to the river is this: the Mekong sets the rhythm of the country, from rice cultivation to the Pi Mai Lao New Year festival in mid-April, when people douse each other with water.