Editorial
Nobody pegged Bangkok as a beer town. Then a homebrewer on a river island started pouring, the imports followed, and now the city runs taps that would hold their own in any Western beer city. These seven are where to drink it, judged on the list, the room and whether the place holds up on a slow Tuesday.
Mikkeller planted Asia's first outpost of the Danish gypsy brewery here in 2014, and Ekkamai has not looked back. Thirty taps rotate through sours, hazy IPAs and the house Vana, poured in a garden bungalow off the main road. Order a flight and a sausage plate. Best on a weeknight before 9pm, when the garden has room and the rare kegs are still on.
Two Canadians built this Phrom Phong bar for hopheads and the beer-curious alike, and it serves both. Thirteen rotating taps and a deep bottle fridge fill the ground floor, and upstairs The Clinic pours gin and tonics when you need a rest from the hops. Get a taster tray and ask what landed that week. Open to midnight, later on weekends.
Craft on Sukhumvit 23 runs forty taps under a retractable roof, the biggest rotating list in the city since 2014. The beer is the draw, but the kitchen earns its keep with fish tacos and a pastrami sandwich the staff will talk your ear off about. Walk in seven days a week. Asoke BTS is two minutes away, so go early Friday before the after-work crowd takes the rail.
Taproom hides in the greenery of Sukhumvit 26 with twenty-six rotating taps pouring BrewDog, Stone, Hitachino and whatever the buyer chased down that month. Pours run B140 for a taster to B320 for a full glass, and the kitchen sends out mac and cheese past midnight. Live acoustic on weeknights, DJs on weekends. Best for a small group that wants to drink wide without a plan.
Chit Beer is the homebrew that lit the fuse on Thai craft, and it still pours on Koh Kret, an island you reach by a short ferry up the Chao Phraya. Weekends only, riverside, closing around 9pm. The beers are unfiltered and made on site, the seats are plastic, the sunset does the rest. Worth the trek if you want to taste where the whole scene started.
Craft Beer
Beer Republic pours more than 90 craft beers near Chit Lom in a 1920s industrial room, alongside cocktails, gin, and wine. The kitchen runs a full menu daily from 11:30am until midnight.
Craft Beer
Tawandang German Brewery has poured house dunkel and weizen under a giant wooden dome on Rama III since 1999. The two-floor hall pairs microbrews with spicy Thai plates and nightly live bands until 1am.
Craft Beer
Beervana stocks roughly 300 imported bottles and a rotating tap of hoppy, high-ABV IPAs near Sukhumvit Soi 23. The bar shares a team with the Whisgars whiskey-and-cigar group and opens daily from 2pm.
The Londoner has brewed its own since 1997, which makes it Bangkok's oldest microbrewery, now parked out in Suan Luang. It pulls double duty as a British gastropub and a sports bar, with house ales, a big screen and a Sunday roast. Come for a match with a pint of the bitter in hand. Not the trendiest room in town, but it earns the seniority.
No hop-chasing here. The Old German Beerhouse trades in Munich-style lager and weissbier, served in liter steins by staff who lean Bavarian beer hall. It is the outlier on this list, a tourist-friendly room on Sukhumvit more about pretzels and oompah than rare kegs. Show up hungry, order the sausage platter and a Hefeweizen, and treat it as a palate reset between craft stops.
The scene splits between import-led tap houses in the Sukhumvit sois and the small Thai brewers who started it on the river. Most rooms fill between 8 and 11pm, so arrive early if you want a seat and a word with whoever is pouring.
Start at Mikkeller or Craft for range, save Chit Beer for a weekend afternoon, and use Hair of the Dog when you cannot decide. For more, see our full Bangkok craft beer guide and the wider craft beer and ale category.