5 Men Brewpub SHV

Discussions about restaurants, cafes, coffee shops or bars in Cambodia. Feel free to write any reviews you have, whether its the best burger you've had in Phnom Penh or the worse pizza in Kampot, we want to read it! Discussions about Khmer dishes are also in here, or you can leave your own. If you own a restaurant, feel free to let the expat community know about it here so that we can come check it out. Found a favorite cafe or have a place we should avoid? Tell us about it. Asian recipes & questions are always welcome.
doktor_d
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by doktor_d »

Tried this place a couple of weeks ago and I have to agree with whackojacko. The beer is served uncarbonated. First I thought it just looked like it wasn't carbonated beacuse it was served so cold.. but after it had warmed up a bit I swirled the beer around in the glass and it was DEAD. No carbonation whatsoever. Not even a single bubble of co2 in the glass.. It is also extremely cloudy for a pilsner. And I know it's unfiltered, but I make pilsners that are quite clear with no problem when I home brew and I never filter my beers either.

The beers don't taste bad though. To be honest it doesn't have much taste at all because it's being served at about 0.5 degrees celcius. I had a look around, and it seems the place has a decent setup equipment wise and it looks like the guy really has been to Germany and taken a proper brewing class.

The place was packed when I was there and nobody seemed to complain about the beer. So business must be good. Which may be the reason he serves the beer uncarbonated and what tasted to me like pilsner that had not yet been conditioned the 4-8 weeks that it needs to be conditioned to clear up before its kegged, carbonated and ready to serve.

Every time I ordered a beer I saw the guys go tap it straight from the fermentation tank. I walked over to the window to make sure I want seeing things.. but sure enough, there he was.. tapping the beer into the glasses straight out of one of the huge fermentation tanks.

I've been homebrewing since the early nineties.. and I've been brewing in Cambodia since 2009. And I know very well what a pilsner tastes like straight out of the fermentation bucket. If that is the taste they're going for, then they've nailed it! More likely though, they're just so busy that they can't brew their beer quickly enough and have to cut some corners.

Either way, it seems people like it, and I guess that's all that matters.
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wackyjacky
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by wackyjacky »

^^^^^ At last, vindication is mine !!!!
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

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Too each his own, but I've been homebrewing and making wine for almost 20 years and like his beer(the dark/black beer.) Its always had a nice head and a real nutty/good flavor. BTW/ Are you presently homebrewing in Cambodia, I am. I go to Singapore to get my brewstuff. Maybe after drinking the cheap crap Angkor/Anchor you have damaged your taste buds.

I believe his lighter beer is brewed with Cambodian tastes in mind, but he is educating the Cambodians about drinking a better quality beer, not like the swill-on-the-hill that is brewed on the hill behind Snooky.

You metioned his place was full. That statement kind of shows that he has found his market for craft-beer.
wackyjacky
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by wackyjacky »

If you like a basic green beer that hasn't gone through 2ndary fermentation and is completely flat this is the place for you. For me the Pilsner is undrinkable. The dark beer, though not good, is the better option. 5 Men makes the worst beer I've ever had & I bet I've had between 500 -1000 different 'craft brews'. The flavor's there, they just refuse to take the extra time to condition the beer like everyone else in the world who gives a shit does. As far as being full - McDonald's are always full. It doesn't mean they make a good burger. It means people have a taste for shit.
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Eros
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by Eros »

Surely gotta be better than what Kingdom serves up... how that place is still going is beyond me...
Sailorman
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by Sailorman »

As I said, to each his own and after almost 20 years of brewing I stand behind my words. BTW/ I love to brew and brew here/now, not some long lost memory from another country. Yes, 5-Man may not be up to my favorite micro-brew back home or some of the craft beers I've brewed, but for Cambodia, its damn good. At $.50/$.75 its far ahead of any of the other beers/swill brewed in Cambodia. I would love to see him do a Scottish Ale or an India Pale Ale, but he has to first take small steps in showing Cambodians what good beer tastes like. At least he/we are brewing and not just talking about it.

As I stated, after poisoning their taste-buds/brains with years of the crap/swill brewed in Cambodia and the swill-on-the-hill behind Snooky, some may have damaged their sense of taste and reasoning.
wackyjacky
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by wackyjacky »

I tried it 2 more times because you know your shit Sailorman, but I just don't get your love for this 1/2 assed product. Yuck.
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by wackyjacky »

I tried it 2 more times because you know your shit Sailorman, but I just don't get your love for this 1/2 assed product. Yuck. The food seems to have gone from average to worse as well.
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by Sailorman »

Stopped in the other day to 5-man on my way back from shopping downtown and had a refreshing "black" beer. It had a nice head, but not too much and the nutty flavor came through just fine. For my tastes I would have a little more finishing hops or need I wish a dry-hopped beer, but he's educating the Cambo's and a hopy beer at this point might not go down so well. When he first started out (I was there about the third day) he gave me a glass of some german/bock style beer he was brewing for himself. It was a lite colored beer, but I believe to heavy and too much hops flavor for the locals (cambo & expat) who have been trained to believe that the swill-from-the-hill back of Snooky is beer.

BTW/ I've just started growing some hops from seeds I got from America. (Cascade hops)
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Re: 5 Men Brewpub SHV

Post by doktor_d »

Sailorman wrote:I don't usually do Lager as I like Ales, but yesterday I received the ingredients for Australian Lager. Now I have to buy an extra refrigerator as lager has to be brewed at around 65F
Not really. Lagers are usually fermented at around 45-55F or 7 to 13C. Kölsch, Alt, and German style Pale Ales ferment at around 65F. As do most ales… 65-70F to be exact. And in addition to a fridge, you should also get a temperature controller as lager needs to ferment at a very stable temperature. When brewing a lager/pilsner, it's very important controlling the temperature of the actively fermenting wort to avoid off flavours.
Sailorman wrote:The swill-on-the-hill made in Sihanoukville I don't even consider beer. Its said that their quality control is almost non-existent and it shows.
Is that not where the 5-men brewpub owner/brewmaster worked before he opened the brewpub? I read somewhere he “spent over 19 years working for the two largest breweries in Cambodia”. The “swill-on-the-hill” brewery is where he learned most of what he knew about brewing before he took (according to the diploma on his wall) the “VLB-Berlin certified brewmaster course”.

I’d say the ”swill-on-the-hill” brewery is more than likely where he gets his malt and hops.. possibly even his yeast. I can’t imagine he’s importing it all himself. (On the other hand, if he can spend 13,800 Euro (plus 6 months worth of accommodation costs and airfare) on a brewmaster course – and another sizable chunk of money on brewing equipment – I guess you could argue that he could also afford to import his own malt and hops.)
Sailorman wrote:He is doing one thing right for sure. He is educating Cambodians what a good beer should taste like.
What are you talking about? He’s making underfermented, low hopped pilsner and what is basically schwarzbier (i.e. underfermented, low hopped pilsner with some Munich and some dark/roast malt) just like every other microbrewery in Asia. The only difference between his pilsner and the “swill-on-the-hill” is that his is unpasteurized and unfiltered. (And uncarbonated and unmatured I might add.) In addition to that it is served straight from the fermentation tanks at about 0,5 degrees celcius in a frozen glass. You can’t taste what the hell it tastes like. It tastes like water. IF you let the “stout”/”dark beer” warm up you can make out a hint of some slightly malty, roasty flavour, but it quickly fades away as you get that watery taste of uncarbonated, ice cold, low hopped, unmatured beer dominating the palate.
Sailorman wrote:I have been homebrewing beer and making wine for over 15 years…

…Too each his own, but I've been homebrewing and making wine for almost 20 years
So in a months time it’ll be 25 years and soon after it’ll be 30 years?

Sailorman wrote:BTW/ Are you presently homebrewing in Cambodia, I am. I go to Singapore to get my brewstuff. Maybe after drinking the cheap crap Angkor/Anchor you have damaged your taste buds.
I brewed my first beer in 1993. I brewed my first beer in Cambodia in 2009. I brew 3-4 times a month in the west and about once a month in Cambodia. I bring all my malt and hops over from the west. But if I didn’t I could probably get some off the Cerevisia Craft Brewhouse in Phnom Penh. I propagate yeast and store 2-3 different yeast cultures at all times in my beer fridge in Phnom Penh. My everyday beer of choice is pilsner/lager.. Usually Cambodia beer or Anchor (the one that’s imported from Singapore. Not the one brewed in Cambodia). But I always keep a homebrewed IPA and a stout on tap in my apartment. If I ever run out before I have another batch ready, I could always go down to the Himawari for a couple of ales. Or I could go to any of the places that sell the Cervisiae ales. Ales are not that hard to find in Phnom Penh anymore.
Sailorman wrote:I guess when one is used to drinking the swill-from-the hill in Sihanoukville at $.50 a mug or the rest of the Cambo beer, when you find good beer it tastes "funny."


No. When you find good beer, it tastes good and when you find crap beer it tastes crap.

Besides.. he’s making the exact same type of beer that the “swill-from-the-hill” brewery is making. Only they make it better. And they actually carbonate, and mature their beer! Personally I don’t really care for Angkor beer. It’s one of my least favourite made-in-cambodia beers. I feel it’s got a slight metallic aftertaste and it gives me horrible hangovers.. But there’s nothing wrong with how it’s made. And I’m no beer snob.. I’d drink it if it was the only beer on offer.

People can talk shit about lagers/pilsners as much as they want, but most large breweries make excellent lagers (technically speaking). Just because one prefers ales to lagers doesn’t mean all lagers and pilsners are yellow, fizzy piss.
Sailorman wrote: I believe his lighter beer is brewed with Cambodian tastes in mind, but he is educating the Cambodians about drinking a better quality beer, not like the swill-on-the-hill that is brewed on the hill behind Snooky.
“Educating the Cambodians about drinking a better quality beer”?! Give me a break.. What a farking joke. The way he serves it now, it would be laughable to call it quality beer. What it is is SWILL.

If he ever decides to lager/mature his beer and carbonate it before he serves it, I’ll give it another chance. I’ll support any microbrewery/brewpub as long as they serve a decent product.

But somebody should tell him to buy some beer taps for gods sake! Who serves beer straight out of the fermentation tanks? Amateurs, that’s who.
Sailorman wrote: BTW/ I love to brew and brew here/now, not some long lost memory from another country. Yes, 5-Man may not be up to my favorite micro-brew back home or some of the craft beers I've brewed, but for Cambodia, its damn good. At $.50/$.75 its far ahead of any of the other beers/swill brewed in Cambodia.
Another ridiculous statement. “…far ahead of any of the other beers/swill brewed in Cambodia”? If you honestly think that, then you know absolutely NOTHING about beer in Cambodia. In fact, you sound more and more ignorant about beer in general the more you babble on about this place..

Sailorman wrote:At least he/we are brewing and not just talking about it.
Yeah. So do I and several others in Phnom Penh. So what? One doesn’t need to brew to know what good beer is.
Sailorman wrote:When he first started out (I was there about the third day) he gave me a glass of some german/bock style beer he was brewing for himself. It was a lite colored beer, but I believe to heavy and too much hops flavor for the locals (cambo & expat) who have been trained to believe that the swill-from-the-hill back of Snooky is beer.
Do you even know what a bock is? A bock should be light copper to brown in color, and very lightly hopped. Somewhere in the range of 20-27 IBUs.
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