The hornbill comes home to roost
PHUKET: The island’s restaurants and bars are abuzz with the news that Phuket Beer is to re-appear on the island this month, after a hiatus of almost 10 years.
Saturday 3 September 2011, 09:03AM
Now brewed at the San Miguel brewery, but to its own unique recipe, Phuket Beer will be back in bars around Phuket after almost a decade of absence from the island’s entertainment venues.
Originally sales of the beer – which was then brewed at the Amarin facility in Bangkok, were aimed at the local market. But company marketing policy soon changed 180 degrees – and Phuket Beer could be bought anywhere but in Thailand.
Phuket-based distributor Bart Duykers of BB&B Wines Phuket said his clients have already ordered hundreds of cases of the re-branded boutique beer, which has become popular among Asian beer drinkers in China, Japan and South Korea.
“Phuket Beer is also big in the US, Holland and Spain, but has not really been available in Phuket because the focus has been on exporting the product,” said Mr Duykers.
“However, the drinking demographics have changed in Phuket over the past few years, and the local market is now ready to be re-introduced to the island’s branded beer. Every one of my clients has ordered cases from the first batch of Phuket Beer,” he said.
Described as a ‘niche beer’ Phuket’s home brew sells wholesale at B936 baht for a case of 24 bottles, said Mr Duykers, who predicted that sales of the beer would top 10,000 cases over the coming 12 months, totalling more than B9 million.
The bottle label still features the familiar hornbill bird by the beach but has undergone a modern makeover.
The beer will officially be relaunched next Friday (September 9) at Brush Restaurant in Kalim.
