Story and pictures by guest writer Mark Chambers who lives in Central Highlands of Vietnam. He reports from Da Lat, Nha Trang and Mui Ne.
Beer tasting at Luisiane Brewhouse, Nha Trang I just had a weekend trip down to Nha Trang (from Dalat) and my top priority was to check out the microbreweries there. I was very excited to see the large menu of beers in Louisiane. It has an excellent location right on the beach in the middle of tourist town which is handy but means its expensive. Hence I only tried the beer and not the food. Beers on offer were the Pilsner, Dark Lager, Witbier and Special (Summer Ale), all costing 40,000 for a 330ml glass.
They had various sizes all the way up to 5 litre ‘kegs’ complete with tap. It seemed that the dark lager is favoured by the fairer sex – I only saw women drinking it. The crowd was mostly Vietnamese families making an evening of it so we sat at the bar and had a tasting tray. They had a nice looking pool in the middle of the restaurant but it remained undisturbed the two times we visited. I asked about the brewery tours they mention on the menu but they weren’t running as Sean the brewer was back in his native Australia. They did offer to show me around the next morning but we had plans to sit on a deck chair all day.
Heres my very basic tasting notes:
Pils – Hoppy. Dry. Flavour overload after a month of 333. Loved it
Wit – Not cloudy at all. Citrusy. Flowerery and fresh tasting. Good in the heat. Not sure I want a pint of it but Wheat is not my normal drink.
Special (Summer) – More hoppy than expected. A little sweetness on after-taste. Not as fruity or spicy as expecting but maybe I’m tainted by drinking a very spicy/fruity Summer Ale back in New Zealand. Not my favourite, but my girlfriend had 2 glasses of it.
Dark – Roast, Malty, Coffee. Might be my favourite if I wasn’t sweating so much.
All in all I loved the place and had another glass of the Pils the next day.
Afterward I wanted to go to the Beerfest brewery but its made in the Maritime hotel which is a few kilometers south and I didn’t feel up to driving but had heard it was available at the E-Land Four Seasons restaurant, on the seafront road, just north of the Lotus monument. We headed there and it was now about 8 pm and there was a dreadful cabaret going on. The focus was definitely on entertainment rather than beer.
Tasting the beers from Beerfest brewery
The beer list was simply stated as: Lager/Red/Green/Black/Yellow as you can see below. I had a Red which I assume was a red ale. It could have been nice but I was so overwhelmed by the loud music I couldn’t focus. My girlfriend had a Yellow which was a wheat beer and not bad but again, spoiled by the atmosphere.
We left after one beer and so I can’t comment on the others. I did notice another sign for the Beerfest beers in a bar in Biet Thu street but didn’t go in. It was just to the right of Perfume Grass Inn at number 4. A full story from beerfest brewery will come soon from another correspondent who visited beerfest recently. More in next article.
Mark Chambers, Nha Trang. Beervn.com’s guest writer from Central Highlands
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