Hanoi Beer Tour

A Day in Hanoi

I recently found myself with a day in transit in Hanoi on my way back to Japan from a summer trip to Europe. I'd last been in Vietnam about 10 years ago so I was eager to see the changes time had wrought. I decided to focus on checking out brewpubs and local beers which is basically ignored on my last trip.

My first experience in the country was Old School Vietnam: the airport shuttle bus driver telling different customers different prices for the same service (hey airlines do it) and waiting until the bus was full... Well more than full, after 30 minutes with all seats taken let's try to cram in a few more. Not the best start to my visit.

The bus safely dropped me off in the Old City, I negotiated a price for a room for the day, checked in, showered and changed and headed out to explore. 

First stop, Hoa Kiem Lake. It's a pretty pond or small lake that has a picturesque temple on a small island in it. 

Hoa Kiem Lake

While there I saw Legend Beer had a branch nearby but decided to visit it on my way back to my hotel. Continuing South, I came to my first stop:

Gammer Beer

Mug shaped menus seemed popular in Hanoi

GammerBeer's 1st floor bar

This location is kind of old and dirty from the outside compared to the fancy GammerBeer I saw in Ho Chi Minh City with an incredibly lush garden terrace out front.

The prices were 32000/42000/84000 dong for .3/.5/1L of their beer. A brew system had pride of place inside the circular bar on the first floor but didn't really seem to be in use anymore. 

The bilingual menu was nice and the staff were friendly. It's basically a big beer hall on the second floor while the first is a bar/kitchen/staff area.

I tried their Bia Golden (32000 dong) as the Gold & Black were sold out. In Vietnam, I've heard that kind of thing is pretty common. 

The beer had a nice clear gold color with a dense head of foam. The nose is grainy sweet malts while the taste was similar with earthy hops but also slight diacetyl. Passable for Vietnam I guess. Without that diacetyl it'd be pretty good.

GammerBeer's 2nd Floor

Continuing my walk with my handy-dandy Google Map printout I tried to find the bar My Way near the Opera House but it seemed to be closed. Passing through the streets teaming with cars & scooters I remember on my last visit the total lack of cars or traffic lights.

I continued on my way snapping pics of the sights until I made it to:

Hoa Vien Brewhaüs 

Hoa Vien Brauhaus, Hanoi

Opera House

This place is pretty far south of the Opera House but has a prime location with a huge sign welcoming you into its garden confines. I walked past a few ponds filled with goldfish into the massive hall. 

Now this is what I call an entrance!

Is this a thing in Hanoi?

They had a menu shaped like a beer mug as at Gammer beer. with two floors of people enjoying some serious drinking.

This was a lively & classy place. I ordered their lager and dark lager. Both were nice examples of their respective styles. Not innovative but well executed. When I combine this with the beauty of the grounds and classic beer hall interior I think you have one of the best places for tasty beer in Hanoi  in my opinion. 

Bonus the staff (manager?) came and gave me a free keychain which was a nice touch.

The Beers:

Lager - a clear gold with a nice head of foam. The aroma is bready, grainy, sweet with mild hop bitterness. Clearly the brewmaster here cares. Sharp carbonation on a light body. It has a bracing bitterness of a clean classic lager. A really nice example of what a lager should be. Good. 

Dark - cola brown with a dense light beige head. Nobles hops & light chocolate malts in the aroma. Soft carbonation on a med-light body. The taste is tangy chocolate syrup or fudge with a crisp finish. Another nice beer from Hoa Vien, these guys know what they are doing.

Back on the streets with a nice low level buzz going I wandered around the much less touristy areas with constant offers from moto-taxis for rides which I waived off. 

I eventually made my way to:

Goldmalt

 

I saw the sign written in English on a typical Vietnamese tall & narrow building so I knew I was in the right place. From the outside, it also had a truly Vietnamese atmosphere.

However, when I entered I thought it was closed - there was not a soul in sight. I had to go up two floors of the narrow 4 storey building before seeing any staff. 

Hello? Where is everybody?

It was the smallest of the brewpub/taprooms I saw in Hanoi. The staff were disinterested and the location looked neglected and dusty.






 
 I decided to try the Goldmalt Pilsner (34000 dong for 300ml) it poured a clear gold with a weak head that disappeared fast leaving soapy lacing behind. It was much weaker in appearance than the other brewpubs' offerings. 

However, it had an inviting aroma of bready light malts and green noble hops. Light bodied with a slightly slick mouthfeel, the taste was a bit sugary sweet with more hopiness than others in Hanoi but it felt kind of artificial - I wonder do they use a hop extract? It had no diacetyl notes but I still felt it was weaker overall than the Gammerbeer. Maybe I caught them on an off day but this particular Goldmalt location was pretty underwhelming

Windmill (Coi Xay Gio)

Beer tanks, this is the place

Um, are you still in business?

Well again they don’t seem to brew on site and it is just a courtyard terrace with quite bad service and no menus or draft beer that I could see. I somehow wound up with a beer... But never saw a menu...? 

Weird place, I like the terrace but at 330pm it seemed dead and I honestly thought it was out of business based on the faded street signage. My bill came to 39,000 dong for a small beer making it one of the priciest of the pubs I visited.

  

Success! I got a beer!

Lager a deep gold with a nice dense head. The aroma is solid bready malts and noble hops. Light somewhat watery body with a semi-dry finish. The taste is pretty good: crackery light malts, green Perfumey hops and a crisp finish. Color me surprised, no menus, visible signs of brewing or clear idea who is staff or customer I didn't expect them to serve me a decent Pilsner.

Chai Beer & Wine

This is a tiny shop, that has 20-30 bottles of fairly common Belgians & European stuff with nothing you'd really consider modern craft beer. They've got nothing from the US & nothing kept cold. 

The prices seemed high to me with bottles around 120,000 dong and up. I think this is somewhere for those LIVING in Hanoi for an extended period of time to go to buy imported beers. As such, it probably has the best selection in town but for travelers just passing through skip it. I popped in while walking to the HCM Mausoleaum. 

After that it was time to head back, a pleasant stroll along the lake brought me back to:



Legend Beer



 

This restaurant/taproom is located on the north-west side of Hoa Kien Lake on the second floor of a pretty modern building full of restaurants. The small glasses of beer were 42,000 dong knocking Windmill off the top spot of priciest craft beer in town but they have by far the most convenient taproom in Hanoi for visitors who mostly stay in the Old Quarter. 

A/C yay!

They had a Lager & a Dunkel on tap when I went. The balcony terrace offers great lake views, the interior provides A/C bliss and the efficient staff serve up suds quickly to slake your thirst. All that, plus free wifi.


The Beers:

The Lager is a deep gold with a thick dense head and a grassy, herbal aroma with mild malt notes. Raspy carbonation on a light body. The taste is very green earthy and bitter with not much malt 
character. Not really my thing but well made.  

The Dunkel is pitch black with mahoganey highlights and a 
1cm head of beige foam. The aroma is syrupy, cocoa fudge. 
Similar raspy carbonation and light body as the lager. The taste 
is a rich fudge caramel. Pretty good. 


Bia Hoi Corner

This place is legendary as the home of the cheapest beer on the planet but when I got there I felt it's time had past. At the time I wrote:

"Bia Hoi corner is done, beer in a bag is gone, it is dominated by a handful of cafes and Bia hoi(which from the pictures in the menu is actually Halida beer) is now 15,000 dong still cheap but no locals are drinking here just backpackers...." 

But after that underwhelming experience, I walked a few shops down from the corner where I found tons of locals and shops with bia hoi for 6000 dong though. So I guess rising rents and tourism fueled gentrification pushed the shops to the side but there are still places getting fresh beer everyday for cheap.


All in all I had a nice day strolling around in Hanoi and by exploring the local breweries I got to walk through much less touristy parts of the city. Now all they need is for Pasteur Street Brewing to bring some US style craft beer to town...