Brewer: Boon Rawd
This isn’t actually a Cambodian beer, it’s brewed in Thailand by the same folks that bring Singha Lager to Indochina. Boon Rawd introduced it in the 1990s to compete for the bottom end of the Thai market where Singha dare not tread and, sadly, it has made its way into Cambodia, possibly aimed at people who don’t find the leopard on the can confusing. Leo is Latin for ‘lion’, but my guess is that it is also Thai for ‘insipid’.
Boon Rawd says: ‘Leo Beer is a full-flavored standard lager beer with a smooth and pleasant finish’
I say: Another beer so thin that it has an aerodynamic quality. At the very least, you can tell that there actually is some malt in there, somewhere, hidden behind a weak honey smell. It’s characterless but not irredeemably awful.
I’m in Bangkok at the moment and had the unfortunate experience of coming across this gnat piss-tasting beer a couple days ago. I saw its name written on a sign in a restaurant and thought they’d misspelled Beer Lao. Sadly, they hadn’t, and sadly, I opted to try out this Leo stuff. Big mistake.
leo is khmer for underwear, or knickers. it’s taken from the name brand of underclothing.
I thought ‘cowslip’ was Khmer for knickers ?