Brewery: SABECO

Origins: Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam

Who is Bia Saigon?

Vietnam's beer story invariably starts with the French. 

The French were responsible for bringing beer, amongst other influences, to Vietnam in the mid to late 1800s during what was known as the French Indochina period which officially lasted from 1887 to 1954.

Amongst whom, a Frenchman named Victor Larue had set up probably the first domestic brewery known as the Brasseries et Placieres de L'Indochine Brewery, which later expanded into the Brasseries Glacières d'Indochine (or abbreviated as BGI Brewery) in 1875 in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Saigon Beer Factory, which was first started by Victor Larue as the BGI Brewery, still stands and is in operation today. (Image Source: Doanh Nhan VN)

BGI's European-style Lager beers quickly took off and was popular with both locals and foreigners, in particular the 33 Export label. 

Eventually post-reunification, Vietnam's beer scene changed radically and the major domestic beer companies came to be under the ownership and  management of the newly recognised local government. BGI was the largest at the time and was now renamed Saigon Alcohol Beer and Beverage Joint Stock Corporation or SABECO. Eventually as the government realised it could not manage a major successful beer brand, the company was eventually partially privatised, now belonging to Thailand's largest beer company, ThaiBev.

The new SABECO ownership led to the creation of the now ubiquitous Lager beer brand - Bia Saigon, as there was a yearning for a wholly locally created beer native to Vietnam.

| Read: 1 Night In Ho Chi Minh City: We Ranked Every Bia Saigon 

The First Beer In Vietnam

"33" was likely the first commercial beer in Vietnam. (Image Source: Nhac Xua Blog)

33 Export Label was probably the first "real" beer in Vietnam, by which I mean one with a standard recipe and proper distribution vis-a-vis homebrews.

As such the name "33" itself was derived from the original 33-centilitre bottle that it came in when it was first distributed in the 1900s.

This was the beer that was for most of the last century been the staple of Vietnam, and was also quite a hit with the Americans during the Vietnam War.

Yet, as the local government took back Saigon, they felt it best to expunge one of the country's most popular beverages from its colonial origins and so renamed it as "333" beer instead.

While the original "33" rice beer back in the 1900s came from the French who took inspiration from the Germans, it has since gone on to undergo several iterations as the brand changed hands. It is today a Lager beer made using barley instead.  

The Creation Of Vietnam's Own National Brew

After Vietnam's reunification, the local government had taken control of BGI Brewery which now became the Southern Brewery Company (as Ho Chi Minh was located in the South of Vietnam), and at the time was still largely dependent on "33" Beer for sales.

As mentioned earlier, the new government wanted to distance itself from any colonial associations, "33" Beer was renamed "333" Beer.

Yet, the government felt that a greater push towards nationalism and patriotism could only come from a completely local homegrown brand - this led to the creation of the Bia Saigon brand. This came hand in hand with the renaming of the Southern Brewery Company to the Saigon Beer Company, also known as SABECO.

The Bia Saigon Lager is the first flagship beer from SABECO and similar to the "333" Beer, is produced using malt barley.

| Read: 1 Night In Ho Chi Minh City: We Ranked Every Bia Saigon

A Modernisation

As SABECO begin to contend with what was a serious craft beer boom - Vietnam being one of the 10 largest beer markets globally - it had to find a way to continue to reach out to consumers, in particular the younger generation.

It was convinced that this would be done via two initiatives - premiumisation and also a regular slate of new product launches.

Image Source: Vietnam Investment Review)

This saw the more premium labels, Bia Saigon Special (Yakima Hops), and also the the more novel Bia Saigon Coffee Infused.

As they say in Vietnam,

Một, Hai, Ba, Dzô! (1,2,3, Cheers!, pronounced Mot, Hai, Bah, Yo!)

@111hotpot