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"33" Beer

n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
edited September 2010 in US Military Veteran Forum
I was in a package store the other day, and was suprised to see 6-packs of "33" beer from Vietnam.

Did any of you guys drink it when you were in South Vietnam, and was it any good?

I kinda curious to try it, but I figured I ask the experts on this.

Thanks for your replies in advance.

PBJloaf
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    Sky SoldierSky Soldier Member Posts: 460 ✭
    edited November -1
    Ba Mui Ba.....Nuc Ta

    I never said that often enough.
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    CapnMidnightCapnMidnight Member Posts: 8,520 ✭
    edited November -1
    Number 10
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    lpaalplpaalp Member Posts: 947 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've had worse. Taste is probably not the same now - I'm sure some sanitation requirements have been imposed.

    The experienced "33" drinker would hold the bottle with one hand around the neck, thumb over the mouth, swirl it around and hold the bottle up to the light to see if there was any detrius (cigarette filters were common)lying on the bottom.
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    6_actual6_actual Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ba Mi Ba was made in France and is still being made and imported in to the U.S. still tastes the same. Also another beer from Nam Beer La Rue.
    Chuck
    Mike 3/5 Vietnam 66-67[xx(]
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    Smoky14Smoky14 Member Posts: 531 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Wasn't there a Tiger Beer, no better than "33".
    Used to fly to the PI and get San Magoo[:o)]
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    67 Cobra67 Cobra Member Posts: 1 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tiger beer, as I recall came from Korea and tasted almost as bad as the "33". This was all that was available within our AO when we were out in the field with the 173rd ABN Bde. The guy that use to drive the roach coach that called on our plant was Vietnamese and he use to bring me a 6-pack every now and then to remind how bad the stuff actually tasted!
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    givettegivette Member Posts: 10,886 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by 6_actual
    Ba Mi Ba was made in France and is still being made and imported in to the U.S. still tastes the same. Also another beer from Nam Beer La Rue.
    Chuck
    Mike 3/5 Vietnam 66-67[xx(]


    Ba Muoi Ba (Vietnamese for the number "33") was superior to the Bier La Rue. Bier La Rue had a recumbent panther on the label hence the "tiger" sobriquet, was cheaper, and tasted terrible. Gave me the sihts.

    Bier La Rue ying nam-muoy dong. Ba Muoi Ba ying bai-muoy nam dong.

    Damn, been a long time. Joe
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    39chevy39chevy Member Posts: 199 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    seem to remember something called "big cat" beer..and remember the rusted cans of lucky lager..usually fairly warm..but you made do with what you had. 196th lt.inf.bde..66-67
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    thebenzguythebenzguy Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by PBJloaf
    I was in a package store the other day, and was suprised to see 6-packs of "33" beer from Vietnam.

    Did any of you guys drink it when you were in South Vietnam, and was it any good?

    I kinda curious to try it, but I figured I ask the experts on this.

    Thanks for your replies in advance.

    PBJloaf
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    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Many SEA brews and liquors contained noticeable amounts of formaldehyde as a preservative. It was especially strong in some Thai whiskeys. When you got pickled on that stuff, you were well and truly embalmed.

    The stuff imported nowadays doesn't have it (or so I'm told.)

    Many of my own memories revolve around pallets of warm, rusty steel cans of Carling Black Label beer - which was far worse than "33." We were also inflicted with Falstaff on occasion.

    I also recall quite clearly that the PX price for Bud was $2.40 a case, and Coke was $2.65 - a fact that whizzed our Mormon pilot to no end!
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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    huffmanitehuffmanite Member Posts: 58 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tiger beer, 33 and etc., even though I never drank any of it when in Nam, I certainly remember them and the comments by my buddies who did try them. Rocky Rabb, If Carling Black Label was as bad as 33 beer then that may explain why I've never had Carling since Vietnam. Yuck, too many times Carling was the only beer available in our small basecamp.
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    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The persistent rumor was that shiploads of Carling were sent to Europe during the Cold War, where they sat for years. Then they were loaded back onto ships and sent -very slowly and without refrigeration- to SEA, where they again sat on pallets until they could be foisted off on us suffering suds sippers. That would explain the decidedly "off" flavor and the rusty cans, no?

    I'm pretty sure that Carling and Falstaff brands are long gone now. Possibly because we vets wouldn't touch them when we came home.
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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    krazyshotkrazyshot Member Posts: 334 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Oh, yes! Black Label and Falstaf in the rusty steel cans, remember them well! Drank way too many of 'em. I remember pouring a can of either in a clear glass, it came out black, black beer better than no beer. A fair share of completely rusted thru cans,pay for 6, get 5. Than came the cans of Bud in the aluminum can, wow! Just couldn't drink enough of it! Remember Schlitz in the aluminum can, too. More readily available than Bud sometimes. What memories!
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    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Hey, I've gotten way more than a half-million words out of my memories - so far! That was truly the year that changed my life forever.
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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    EOD GuyEOD Guy Member Posts: 931 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by 67 Cobra
    Tiger beer, as I recall came from Korea and tasted almost as bad as the "33". This was all that was available within our AO when we were out in the field with the 173rd ABN Bde. The guy that use to drive the roach coach that called on our plant was Vietnamese and he use to bring me a 6-pack every now and then to remind how bad the stuff actually tasted!


    Tiger Beer was made in Singapore. They must have put some type of preservative in the stuff they exported to Vietnam because it tasted like crap. The Tiger Beer I had when I went on R&R to Singapore was good stuff, though.
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    chuckusaretchuckusaret Member Posts: 10 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ba Mi Ba tasted like @iss. Tiger beer was from Singapore and OB was from Korea
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    well, I bought a 6-pack of "33" over the weekend. No cigarette butts in it. Says made in Vietnam.

    Not bad beer, not great.

    I raise my glass to you Vietnam vets!
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    70-10170-101 Member Posts: 1,006 ✭
    edited November -1
    I was never big on the beer they brewed in Vietnam duing the war, and enjoyed a Pabst Blue Ribbon more then Tiger or 33 Beer.
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    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Wow, a five-month thread revival!

    Maybe summer has brought on more beer talk. If I saw some "33" for sale today, I'd pass. Back then, we drank bad stuff because there was nothing else. Today, why drink poor stuff when I can have anything else?
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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    n/an/a Member Posts: 168,427 ✭
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by Rocky Raab
    Wow, a five-month thread revival!

    Maybe summer has brought on more beer talk. If I saw some "33" for sale today, I'd pass. Back then, we drank bad stuff because there was nothing else. Today, why drink poor stuff when I can have anything else?


    Oh, I drink the good stuff too, I just had to try it.
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    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    No argument with that! Just remember that the formaldehyde-free version they export and sell now is a whole lot less "hairy" than the embalming fluid some of us remember.
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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    Overly HackledOverly Hackled Member Posts: 9 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Beer ,Beer in Vietnam ? I'm shocked . We just drank the bug juice and smoked the pre rolled "smokes"
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    perry shooterperry shooter Member Posts: 17,390 ✭
    edited November -1
    Rode the USS Gordon 19 days and landed in landing craft JUST like John Wayne EXCEPT girls on the beach selling Ba MUI Ba [:(] at least we were not getting shot at like those poor guys in WW II . the one thing you can say about 33Beer was it tasted the same warm or cold [:I]
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    old_ironsightsold_ironsights Member Posts: 9 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ba-me-ba was no worse than Ruby Queens. Get $4it-faced or hard up enough and you could tolerate 'em.

    vietnam.jpg
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    onepopperonepopper Member Posts: 1,825 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    At MACV Black Label was 5 cents a can. Drank a case a day. Opened up a huey stab bar overhaul point and supplied many Army units with yellow tagged stabiizer bars. Cost was the old stab bar and 5 cases of Budweiser. A staff sgt came over in a loach one day and wanted my men to paint his personal loach 16 year old * pink. We painted the loach in about 4 hours. Did any of you guys ever see this pink loach in the Mekong area? This staff sgt was not a pilot, but his pilot taught him to fly and he stole this loach for his own use. We Navy personell weren't allowed to leave the base, so we had to crawl through the concertina to get into Canh Tho to see the ladies. Those were the days.
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    George of the JungleGeorge of the Jungle Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I bought one bottle of 33 from Mama san outside of Phouc Vinh 1970 that was some nasty stuff last one I drank
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    legion guylegion guy Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Short time bird say: Happiness is third Ba-Mi-Ba. Misery is fourth Ba-Mi-Ba!!
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    GREASYGREASY Member Posts: 19 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    BROTHER: You are talking about old history there, that stuff would give you a jackhammer head acke that would last,and Im talking about hot no ice, we would shoot you for ice. Back in the rear on stand down we could get ice but any other time nothing,same same TIGER BEER, and some of the guys would get HO CHI MINHS REVENGE from it. What a place and time. GI YOU WANT BEER? $1.00 MPC. 11CAV...ALLONS.[xx(]
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    excavmanexcavman Member Posts: 39 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I drank lots of '33' at the 'strip' outside Phan Rang AB, liked it better than Tiger or OB, not as good as Bud tho. 554th Red Horse 67-68.
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    EvanBEvanB Member Posts: 15 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    It was a few years ago but I remember "33" beer and I think we called it "Tiger Piss" because of the Brown Bottle with the Yellow tiger face painted on it. I am not sure of where it was made but always thought it was rice beer. I do remember looking to see if anything had been put in the bottle that we could see.

    Actually, I liked the very few that I tried, even though it was always warm. But then again, where I was, we didnt get a lot of opportunity to have a beer.

    Kilo 3rd Btn / 9 th Marines 1967-1968
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    1USMC11USMC1 Member Posts: 11 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Tiger Piss was pretty nasty as I recall. Does anyone remember Crown beer made it Korea? That was even nastier....but then....any old port in a storm.

    SF

    4th Marines '66-'67
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    lewie48lewie48 Member Posts: 1 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Say guys, I believe 33 is Ba moui ba
    If anyone cares..
    L
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    BergtrefferBergtreffer Member Posts: 629 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah, I drank that stuff. It was always warm, poured in a glass, and a junk of ice was stuffed into the glass. Never got sick from it, even though the block of ice sat on the ground and pieces were knocked off with a knife or bayo. There were always rumors about the formaldhyde in it, but I never really heard anything confirmed about that.
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    Rocky RaabRocky Raab Member Posts: 14,189 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'd love to leave it at 33 replies to a thread about 33 bear, but had to add this.

    The "33" beer (ba moui ba) made and served in-country did have trace amounts of formaldehyde in it. That was common practice in SEA back then, and it was in Thai beer and whiskey, also.

    Today's 33 -- at least the export version -- does not contain formaldehyde, as it is listed as a cancer-causing chemical in many countries.

    Back then, living to an age when you might get cancer from the beer would have been viewed as a remote possibility at best.
    I may be a bit crazy - but I didn't drive myself.
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    krawiechkrawiech Member Posts: 135 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    i and a lot of other crew chiefs and gunners stationed at camp holloway in 65-66 drank a lot of 33 beer we did not like the beir larue many a night we got fallen down drunk between 33 beer whiskey from the px and whatever beer we could get from the px if you want to call it that i would buy a six pack and try it again after all these years hank k
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    psychologistpsychologist Member Posts: 11 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    33 wasn't so bad, neither was 45( bope muoi lam) the liqueur in square bottles
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