The Asia Pub Guide

THIS PUB came about because Englishman John Stamp, a long time Bangkok resident, was yearning for a pint of best English bitter. Of course flying back to England everytime he got thirsty was inconvenient so instead he decided to fly the hops, yeast and barley to Thailand and make his own.

The result was Londoner’s Pride, the only traditional English beer brewed in Thailand. And the only place to drink Londoner’s Pride is in The Londoner Pub on Sukhumvit Road.

Not content with brewing his perfect pint Stamp also exported all the fixtures and fittings of a traditional English pub, a state of the art microbrewery and master brewer Peter Schwarzmueller to look after it. He installed them in the basement of UBC II Building on the corner of Soi 33.

At first the Victorian exterior looks a little incongruous patched onto a modern office building but stepping through the door is like stepping into another time and place. It is only the cheerful smiles of the Thai staff that remind you that you are in Bangkok.

A large rectangular bar with polished brass fittings occupies the main area. To the right is a large dining area and tucked away behind is the pool room.

To the left as you enter is a line of booths above which there is a large blackboard with the menu on it.

At the very back of the pub is a stage and the brewery itself. Pride of the brewery is, of course, the Londoner’s Pride Cream Bitter. A classic English draught bitter, and the only one brewed in Thailand.

I’m not going to draw comparisons, it’s too long since I was last in England, but I will say that Londoner’s Pride is rather good. With an average alcohol content of 5.5%, and served in a proper English straight glass, it goes down very well indeed at the end of a hot day. And most days are hot.

But if that doesn’t quench you thirst you might like to try a pint of the crisp London Pilsner 33. So good, they say, that a Soi was named after it.

The Londoner’s team of fifteen chefs can whip up such classic dishes as roast beef & Yorkshire pudding, roast pork & crackling, fish & chips plus loads other Thai and international dishes. cingular cell phone ringtones free mp3 ringtones free t mobile ringtones alltel download free ringtones free ringtones for verizon wireless cell phone free kyocera ringtones cell onto phone ringtones make mp3 ringtones free suncom ringtones free music real ringtones sprint alltel free music ringtones gold mp3 ringtones mp3 ringtones converter ringtones for cingular phone free mobile ringtones free crazy frog ringtones much music ringtones cell free phone ringtones verizon ringtones maker free nokia tracfone ringtones

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BISHOP’S FINGER is special in many ways, it’s probably the only beer in Britain that’s been granted a Protective Geographic Indicator by the European Union. This means it’s the only beer that can be referred to as ‘a Kentish strong ale’.

It also has it’s very own charter which decrees that: the ale must be brewed only on Fridays by the master brewer and that it must be tasted on a weekly basis by a member of the Board of Directors. Heh, I could do that job.

The Charter goes on to stipulate the beer can only be brewed using water drawn from the breweries own 200-foot artesian well, winter pearl malting barley from Denne Hill Farm at Womenswold between Canterbury and Dover, and East Kent Goldings hops, grown less than 30 miles from the brewery. The wort is infused only in it’s own traditional mash tuns of Russian teak that were built in 1914.

It is brewed by the Shepherd Neame in Faversham, Kent and was Introduced in 1958 to celebrate the end of post-war rationing. It was named Bishop’s Finger to emphasise the beer’s Kentish heritage. Bishops fingers were found only in Kent, they were in fact the signposts sited along the Pilgrims Way showing the route to Thomas à Becket’s shrine in Canterbury Cathedral before it was destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th century.

The beer is a reddish-brown with a nice creamy head with a delicious malty aroma. It has a rich fruity flavour that makes me think of mince pies and Christmas pudding but with a definite citrus edge. This gives way to a rather nice hop finish. It is a beer worthy of it’s proud history and tradition.

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