Louisiane Brew House

[stew.w]

A couple of weeks ago i got back from Vietnam, while i was in Nha Trang on the central coast if found the louisiane brew house.
Not sure if anyone else on here has been there, but if you're over that way its worth a look.
They do a dark ale, red ale, pilsner and i cant remember what the other one was, the beers were nice and very different to most of the commercial beers over there.
Food was great and i also had passion fruit beer, which wasn't really my cup of tea.
It was started by an Australian guy - Sean Symons. He taught the Vietnamese working there how to brew the beer and now he just comes back once a year to check how they are going.
Heres some of the photos i took while i was there. They also did a brewery tour which was good, it came with a tasting tray.
It was only me on the tour and after i told the guy working there that i brewed beer at home he just kept shoving beers in my face while we were out the back.
I thought that was the tasting tray, but i came after (photo).
After all i that i had the balls to go parasailing! :beerbang:

 

[Bribie G]

Wow, makes the James Squire brewpubs look insignificant The Viets should make good beer with their French colonial history, they are absolutely brilliant bakers. What does beer in general cost there in $A terms?

I expect Chappo is eying off all that gear and wondering if he can fit a smilar rig into his garage. :icon_cheers:

 

[Greg Lawrence]

I expect Chappo is eying off all that gear and wondering if he can fit a smilar rig into his garage. :icon_cheers:

Chappo needs to start looking here then http://www.graysonline.com/Sale.aspx?id=54...i=500&sp=10

 

[stew.w]

I think beers there were around $3.50Au. Which was expensive compared to everywhere else in the area.
Further north in Hanoi you get "fresh beer" for around 20cAu a glass. its pretty tasteless watery stuff though (not bad in the heat), but if you're keen you can have a decent night on $2Au.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

The brewery is my second home, I have been there twice this year and head back to visit the brewers again in October.Its a top spot in Vietnam.Yes it makes any thing I have seen in Australia look , well second rate. Right on the beach yet even closer to the pool full of scant clad women. :icon_chickcheers: Did you check out the Hoa vien brauhaus in Saigon or Mui Ne ? Spectacular, the one in Saigon has three beer halls each with a different theme and has had the likes of Bill Clinton dropping in for a beer. Its also the Czech Embassy! Some Aussie people who set up breweries should go and see how its done.
GB

 

[stew.w]

No i didnt see the others that you're talking about, well i didnt know they were there.
I think i'll be back there at the end of the year so hopefully i'll get to check them out then.
Good cheap place for a holiday.
Motorbikes everywhere doing stuff like this:
:blink:

 

[nate2g]

It looks a clean set-up. I've heard that the locally brewed Czech Pils & Dunkel's are surprisingly very well crafted beers over there. I'm off to Vietnam on Friday for a while so I'll be sure to check out the micro breweries around the country. Beer, women, parasailing...bring it on

 

[Fourstar]

Leaving Hoi An tonight. Next stop, Nha Trang!

Ive had soo much micro brew beer in Vietnam, 2 breweries in Hanoi and one in Danang called five mountain/s brewery. I also met their 'chemical engineer' aka brewer and got to checkout their setup. They had 10 fermenters... all empty! I believe they where 2000L fermeters, It must suck for them being the off-season.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Leaving Hoi An tonight. Next stop, Nha Trang!

Ive had soo much micro brew beer in Vietnam, 2 breweries in Hanoi and one in Danang called five mountain/s brewery. I also met their 'chemical engineer' aka brewer and got to checkout their setup. They had 10 fermenters... all empty! I believe they where 2000L fermeters, It must suck for them being the off-season.

Lucky *******! Say hello to Hoang (head brewer) from me, I will see him in mid October.BTW what's the weather like now?
GB

 

[Fourstar]

Lucky *******! Say hello to Hoang (head brewer) from me, I will see him in mid October.BTW what's the weather like now?
GB

Hehehe, been here since the 22nd of august. Today has been the 1st day of rain. Temps between 30-37 deg, moderate to low humidity and overall balanced weather. Nothing 'jungle like'.

Will do! i'll take a few pics whilst im there to update the records on here. Maybe i'll try and get the tour by name dropping!

Cheers!

 

[Katherine]

fourstar.... when in Natrang try the Ca Kho To - Vietnamese Braised fish in a claypot. MMMM i ate it everyday so good.

 

[Maxt]

So the big question..how is the beer?

 

[Fourstar]

fourstar.... when in Natrang try the Ca Kho To - Vietnamese Braised fish in a claypot. MMMM i ate it everyday so good.

Ok Katie, Will do!

So the big question..how is the beer?

Well i just got back from a lonesome session (SWMBO decided to get sick today.)

Anyways, i knocked back one of their Pilsners, Witbier and was the 1st man to crack the seal on their new 'Crystal Ale'. Descriptions below (pictures will come when i get back to the nanny state.)

Pilsner: Gold in appearance, tight lacing head, moderate carbonation. Aroma is rather clean, slightly citrusy on the npse. A sweet malt flavour backed by a distinct B Saaz/motoueka (guessing) hop flavor/bitterness. finishes quite clean with some lingering sweet malt. Decent beer

Witbier: Light Gold in appearance with brilliant clarity, High carbonation with allot of phgenolic spicy overtones. Quite heavily spiced on the nose with this one. Carbonation is bitey on the tongue and has a slightly chewy mouthfeel. Light bitterness/quite floral and finishes with a citrusy twang! (not kit twang) Another decent beer to knock back in this heat! (a bummer its not served cloudy, maybe i can taste it pre-filtration in the brewery tour)

Crystal Ale: Gold/Honey in appearance, pillowy head and some low fruity esters. some sweet malt backing also. A distinct grassy hop aroma also exists. Flavour is sweet nutty malt, light toffee on the palate, a full mouth feel but finishes rather dry (assuming from carbonation). Im guessing the hops in thsi one are NZ cascade. Antoher decent beer.

Well i must say these have been the best beers out of the Viet micros so-far. I'm planning on doing the brewery tour in 1 hr time and will pick the brewers brain on ingredients and will report back with recipe ideas if anyone is interested in trying to brew them.

Cheers!

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Great, new beers to try. Yes all there products come from Aussie, so you will notice a few common tastes.
GB

 

[Bribie G]

Hey 4* it's no secret that if my Mrs predeceases me (she's 15 years older than me but as I get older I find it harder to dodge trucks, plus the kegerator will probably do me in so who knows who will pop off first ) however if such a thing should happen I'm going to move to the Philippines and see out my days on Red Horse 7%. Mrs is all in favour of the idea.

Is there any sign of an expat retiree community in Vietnam? I reckon in a few years time it would be an excellent place to settle down in a 'wasting away in Margaritaville' sense? B)

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Hey 4* it's no secret that if my Mrs predeceases me (she's 15 years older than me but as I get older I find it harder to dodge trucks, plus the kegerator will probably do me in so who knows who will pop off first ) however if such a thing should happen I'm going to move to the Philippines and see out my days on Red Horse 7%. Mrs is all in favour of the idea.

Is there any sign of an expat retiree community in Vietnam? I reckon in a few years time it would be an excellent place to settle down in a 'wasting away in Margaritaville' sense? B)

Hey, why do you think I keep going back, Im picking out my seat now ! My lovely other half is 8 years younger so I'm definitely going first. She wants to go to the UK to work , I want to retire to Vietnam. NOW. :lol:
GB

 

[Bribie G]

Hey, why do you think I keep going back, Im picking out my seat now ! My lovely other half is 8 years younger so I'm definitely going first. She wants to go to the UK to work , I want to retire to Vietnam. NOW. :lol:
GB

You and I might end up as the Odd Couple living in a palm hut on a beach somewhere B) B)

 

[Fourstar]

Is there any sign of an expat retiree community in Vietnam? I reckon in a few years time it would be an excellent place to settle down in a 'wasting away in Margaritaville' sense? B)

Plenty of western 'elders' i saw in Da Nang!

You and I might end up as the Odd Couple living in a palm hut on a beach somewhere

Probably the best thing! Start a brewery, plenty of fun there!


Ok, So i went back for the 'brewery tour'. It ended up being just me and the 2 brewers going for a walk between the fermentation vessels as i was early and had a long old'e chit-chat!

Turns out tomorrow ive been invited to assist them in brewing their Dark Lager B) . rise and shine @ 6AM! Anyway, over chats between their unfiltered beers in the holding tanks (the witbier was excellent BTW, 10x better than the filtered version. Not to mention it was like 6.5%ABV before tetra hop and thinning out in the serving tank!)

Anyway, ive delivered with the recipes as expected above. Whatever i didn't have access to or was too varied (e.g. their OG is all over the shop and are always thinning out/adjusting in their serving tank for their final SG.). The beers and recipes (from what i could decipher between the Vietglish and their brewing abilities/english knowledge.) are listed below. You all can work out the OG and FG guesstimates in Beersmith/promash. the ABV is all you really need to know. If i had beersmith on hand i'd do them up with the plato figures i remember (but these are thinned down for serving so don't really mean much anyway besides IBU utilisation).

Just deal with it

Enjoy Kids! (if anythings mising just ask, i probably know it i just forgot to note it down.)

Pilsner
IBU 32
OG ?
FG ?
EBC: 16
ABV 5%

Ingredients
84% Pilsner Malt Joe White
16% Munich Joe White
Pacific Jade (60min) (guess 27 IBU)
Motoueka (15mins) (guess 5 IBU)
Motoueka (0 min) (guess .5gram/l final volume)
Wyeast Bohemian Lager Yeast

Mash temp 60 - 78 deg is all i could get out of them for all of the beers, maybe its a step/ramp up mash temp? i'd guesstimate 64-66deg for all of them)
Notes: ferment @ 10, ramp to 14, lager @ 0 deg.

Chlorde:sulphate ratio 2:1


Witbier
IBU 22
OG ?
FG ?
EBC: 8
ABV 4.8%

Ingredients
50% Ale Malt/Pils malt joe white
50% Wheat Malt joe white
NZ Hallertau (60Min)
Wyeast Belgian Wheat
10g corriander boil
14g Orange Peel Boil

Mash temp: same as pilsner
Notes: ferment at 17eg and ramp to 20 deg at end of fermentation
Chloride addition to up malt profile, i'd guess 150ppm chloride


Crystal Ale (pale ale)
IBU guess 35
OG ?
FG ?
EBC: ?
ABV 4.8% (pre filtration and thinning out was 7%! awesome beer at this point too!)

Ingredients
87% Pale Malt joe white
13% Light Crystal joe white
Nelson Sauvin (60 Min) Guess 30 IBU
Nelson Sauvin (15 Min) guess 5 IBU
Nelson Sauvin (0 Min) Guess 1g/L flameout
Wyeast 1056 American Ale

Mash temp: Same As pilsner
Notes: Ferment @ 18deg.
CaSO4 addition, i'd guess 150ppm

 

[pokolbinguy]

Yep I must say the Louisiane Brew House is great, I have been their twice and would back in a flash. Was a nice place to drink some decent beer after spending most of my time in asia drinking rather so so beer. The food is bloody awesome aswell. If you ever go there try the frogs legs...yum!!!

 

[winkle]

Hmmm, Nha Trang sounds great. Brewpub + beach + bikinis/pool, sounds better than drinking really cheap San Mig Pils + pizzas at Ratski's and the Dark at Badgers while watching the footy in Cebu. (Actually both sound pretty good right now).
OS trip is calling...