Craft Beer and Local Breweries in Bangkok
A visual guide from the Bangkok travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
Thailand's brewing rules spent years pushing small beer to the margins, so Bangkok's craft scene grew sideways: pocket taprooms, contract-brewed labels, and a homebrewing school on a river island. The result is a drinking city with far better beer than its reputation suggests. Ari and Ekkamai carry the density, with garage-front bars running twenty-odd taps, frozen glasses against a 33-degree evening, and Thai brewers pouring fruit-spiked pale ales next to imported sours. Prices are high by local standards and licensing keeps shifting, so the map changes from one visit to the next.
Where to drink
Mikkeller Bangkok, in a converted house on Ekkamai Soi 10, remains the anchor: a long tap list and a garden that fills up after eight. Ari is the neighbourhood to walk rather than target, with Golden Coins Taproom and a cluster of small bars within a few streets of the BTS station. On Ko Kret, Chit Beer brews on site and pours on a deck facing the river, which justifies the ferry on its own. For something louder, Tawandang German Brewery on Rama III is a beer hall the size of a hangar with its own lagers and a live band.
What to expect
Expect to pay several times the price of a Chang or Leo, since duty on imported and contract-brewed beer is heavy and a 330 ml pour often costs about as much as a good street meal. Thai labels worth trying include Chalawan, Sandport and Devanom, though what is on tap rotates constantly. Alcohol licensing keeps moving here: the rules on afternoon shop sales have been rewritten more than once in recent years, and bars still close for several public holidays whose dates shift annually, so check locally before committing to a big night. Taprooms usually run to around midnight.