Where to buy dark beer in Pattaya and Thailand

“Don't drink water (fish have sex in it) – drink beer!”

(opinion of a neighbor in the 9 Karat condominium, where I lived for about two years, but never saw this neighbor sober)

In the tourist areas of Thailand there is a fairly good variety of Western goods: milk and fermented milk products (local and imported), meat products (both joint production with European companies and imported), alcoholic products (though wine with a clear bias towards Australian producers), all sorts of pasta and sauces for them, local baked goods, etc.

In general, if you want to eat only European goods (which is quite strange – why go to Thailand for this?), then you will not die of hunger.

But if you try to find dark beer, first in the nearest 7-Eleven, and then in the largest shopping centers, where it would seem that everything is available, then you will be disappointed. Dark beer is quite rare in Thailand.

Dark beer is not produced (brewed) in Thailand and therefore can only be found in large stores that sell imported products.

Where to buy dark beer in Pattaya

If you don’t take into account draft beer (we’ll talk about it a little later), then I saw dark beer in cans in Pattaya only in the Tops and Big C grocery supermarkets.

There are only 1-2 types of dark beer in Big C.

And in the “Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya” (this is a grocery store in the “Central Festival” on the Ground Floor) there are several types of dark beer.

There is another Tops store in Pattaya, it is located in northern Pattaya and is called “Tops daily Pattaya Wongammardt”. There I also saw one type of dark beer.

Here, in fact, is a complete list of places where you can buy dark beer in cans.

In 7-Eleven stores you will never find dark beer.

I also didn’t find dark beer at Lotus’s (a very large shopping center with a huge grocery department).

Be prepared for the fact that dark beer is always more expensive than local beer (because it is imported). Also, dark beer must have excise stamps (like any imported alcohol in Thailand).

What types of dark beer can you buy in Thailand?

Let's talk about canned beer first.

Kaiserdom Dark

This beer is sold at Big C and Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya.

An excellent beer, as befits a dark beer, with a softer and very bready taste and smell.

Beerlao Dark

This beer can be found at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya and Tops daily Pattaya Wongammardt.

I haven't tried this particular beer, but I have been to Laos several times and have tried many other Laotian beers. In short, I didn’t become a fan of Laotian beer – in general, I didn’t like it. But in Laos I came across Tuborg Green beer – an amazing beer, and it is brewed in Laos itself. But I have never seen Tuborg Green anywhere in Thailand. In general, if you are in Laos, be sure to find Tuborg Green.

As for Beerlao Dark, they say it’s not bad, but I haven’t tried it myself (my previous experience with Laotian beer stops me).

Paulaner Weissbier Dunkel

I saw this dark beer at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya.

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier Dunkel

I saw this dark beer at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya. This is not quite the dark beer we usually imagine (almost black), it is more of a dark red beer, somewhat like Paulaner Salvator.

Weihenstephaner Korbinian Dunkles Starkbier

Another dark red beer at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya.

Leffe Brune (Leffe Brown)

I saw this dark beer at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya.

Orion The Dark Beer

Japanese beer, I saw it at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya. I haven’t tried it – I can’t overcome my prejudice that the best beer is German beer.

Franziskaner Weissbier Dunkel

Regular dark German beer, sold at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya and Big C Extra.

Oettinger Schwarz

Original German dark beer, sold at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya.

London Black Cab Stout

English dark (black) beer.

Sold at Tops Food Hall Central Pattaya. I haven't seen it on the beer shelves, but I have seen it in the cooler with chilled drinks.

Draft dark beer in Pattaya and Thailand

The situation is better with draft dark beer. In at least a dozen (probably even a couple of dozen) places in Pattaya you can enjoy draft Guinness beer.

Although if you count it as a percentage of the number of bars and restaurants, it turns out that this is a negligible figure.

The quality of Guinness on tap varies from establishment to establishment, but overall it is excellent.

Sometimes in bars that sell Guinness you can also buy bottled dark beer. I've seen a couple of such places, but I can't say that I was pleased with the taste of this bottled beer.

As for draft beer produced locally (Thai), it is noticeably better than local bottled beer. So if you don't feel like combing the whole city looking for places with Guinness, then you can give the local draft beer a chance.

What's a good beer if it's not dark?

If you want to drink good beer, but don't want to go to a large shopping center for dark beer, then I can recommend Budweiser. Many 7-Elevens carry it (even though it's an imported beer). And in general, of what you can buy at 7-Eleven, I like Budweiser the most (although, let me remind you, this is not a dark beer).

The best beer is vodka

This is off-topic for this post, but I’ll say it so as not to return to this topic.

When I was looking for dark beer in Pattaya, I didn't find it at Lotus's, but here I found a lot of cheap vodka. Looking at bottles with poorly glued labels, for some reason the word “counterfeit” was constantly spinning in my head. But most likely I'm wrong.

Overall, if you want something strong and inexpensive, Lotus's might be the place to go.