# Laos

Country page of DA Caps, a collection of beer bottle caps. Web page: https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country/la/info

- Official name: Lao People's Democratic Republic
- Local name: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ
- Caps in the collection: 9 (https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country_caps/139)
- Brands: 4

## Beer in Laos

Lao drinking is older than Lao brewing. The traditional drinks are lao-lao, a clear rice spirit that village women distil and sell, and lao hai, a weaker fermented rice drink, popular among the Khamu, sipped through long bamboo straws from a communal clay jar. Beer came with the French, whose protectorate began on 3 October 1893: a 2001 ASEAN case study traces the habit of ordering a beer with a meal to colonial times, when the French drank beer or wine in preference to water. Laos itself had no real tradition of brewing it.

The first brewery was a late colonial venture. Brasseries et Glacières du Laos (BGL) was created in 1973 at Vientiane by the Brasseries et Glacières d'Indochine group and local investors; Wikipedia dates the company to 1971 and its first production to 1973. It began with 3 million litres a year and sold Bière Larue at home and '33' Export to the rest of Indochina. After the Lao People's Democratic Republic was proclaimed on 2 December 1975 the brewery was nationalised (in 1976, according to the colonial-enterprise archive), and its beer was sold as Bière Lao, renamed Beerlao in early 1995. Its brewmaster, Sivilay Lasachack, replaced the old French recipe, which she found too bitter, with one using more rice.

The market opening of 1986 changed the company. By 1992 it could brew about 9 million litres a year, Beer Lao held roughly 95% of the market, and the government wanted 30 million by 2000. A French partner withdrew at the last minute, and in September 1993 Thailand's Loxley and Italian-Thai took 51% (25.5% each) in a 20-year joint venture with USD 20 million of capital, the state keeping 49%. Exports began in 1997 with eight countries. On 29 January 2002 Carlsberg and TCC took over the Thai stakes, and on 1 November 2005 Carlsberg bought out TCC to stand at 50%, level with the state. Beerlao Dark (2005), Lanexang lager (April 2008), Beerlao Gold (2010) and Beerlao White and IPA (2018-2019) followed; a second brewery was built in the south, in Champasak, in 2007-2008, and capacity reached 6 million hectolitres in 2018.

The monopoly ended in 2008. Asia Pacific Breweries, the maker of Tiger, received the second beer investment licence, and its Lao Asia Pacific Breweries opened a brewery near Vientiane on 12 March 2008, at a cost of €23 million and with a capacity of 300,000 hectolitres. It brews Namkhong (2008), Namkhong Special with black rice (2014), Tiger and, under licence, Heineken. Heineken took over Asia Pacific Breweries in 2012, and the Lao company became Heineken Lao Brewery in March 2017. Beerlao still holds roughly 90-95% of the market. A small craft scene appeared in Vientiane in the late 2010s: the café-brewery Le Patitoh (2015 or about 2017, depending on the source), CoreBeer (beers since 2016) and Rock Brew, which went on hiatus. A 2022 reader comment says Le Patitoh did not survive the pandemic, and CoreBeer was still open in April 2023. BeerAdvocate also lists Beer Savan at Savannakhet and Batieng, maker of Lao Bia with sugar-palm sap, at Champasak.

Recent news is of expansion and greener brewing. Lao Brewery exports to 22 countries, worth about USD 15 million a year (Scandasia, October 2025). From February 2025 its Vientiane brewery takes steam from the country's first biomass plant, and on 2 September 2025 it renewed its PepsiCo bottling agreement for 15 years. In October 2025 Heineken Laos gave Namkhong new packaging aimed at younger, urban drinkers. On 9 April 2026 Lao Brewery launched Long-Term Development Phase 1, a €50.2 million project at its Thadeua Road plant with a new line filling 45,000 bottles an hour, the first stage of a ten-year plan.

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Lao Brewery Company](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao_Brewery_Company)
- [Wikipedia: Beerlao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beerlao)
- [Wikipedia: Heineken Lao Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heineken_Lao_Brewery)
- [Wikipedia: Asia Pacific Breweries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia_Pacific_Breweries)
- [Wikipedia: Lao-Lao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lao-Lao)
- [Entreprises coloniales: Société des Brasseries et Glacières du Laos (2023)](https://www.entreprises-coloniales.fr/inde-indochine/BGI-Laos.pdf)
- [WIPO Magazine: International Success of Laotian Beer](https://www.wipo.int/en/web/ip-advantage/w/stories/international-success-of-laotian-beer)
- [ASEAN Business Case Studies No 20: Loxley, the development of the Lao Brewery Company (2001)](https://medialibrary.uantwerpen.be/oldcontent/container2626/files/CAS%20en%20ASEAN/ASEAN20.pdf)
- [KPL: Beer Lao Marks 45th Anniversary (2018)](https://kpl.gov.la/en/detail.aspx?id=42170)
- [NPR: Laos Brewmaster Has High Hopes For Local Beer (2009)](https://www.npr.org/2009/01/30/99874538/laos-brewmaster-has-high-hopes-for-local-beer)
- [JCLao: The Amazing Selection Of Lao Beers](https://jclao.com/the-amazing-selection-of-lao-beers/)
- [Passions and Places: Beyond Beerlao, Sampling Craft Beer in Laos (2018, comments to 2023)](https://passionsandplaces.com/craft-beer-laos/)
- [BeerAdvocate: Breweries in Laos (2026)](https://www.beeradvocate.com/place/list/?c_id=LA&s_id=0&brewery=Y)
- [Asia Brewers Network: Lao Brewery shifts to using biomass (2025)](https://asiabrewersnetwork.com/news/lao-brewery-shifts-to-using-biomass-to-achieve-net-zero-milestone)
- [Global Drinks Intel: Carlsberg extends Laos bottling tie-up with PepsiCo (2025)](https://drinks-intel.com/cross-category/carlsberg-extends-laos-bottling-tie-up-with-pepsico/)
- [Scandasia: Danish-led Lao Brewery thrives despite slowing economy (2025)](https://scandasia.com/danish-led-lao-brewery-thrives-despite-slowing-economy/)
- [Branding in Asia: Heineken Laos Launches Identity & Packaging Refresh for Namkhong Beer (2025)](https://www.brandinginasia.com/heineken-laos-launches-identity-packaging-refresh-for-namkhong-beer/)
- [KPL: Lao Brewery Company Launches Major Expansion to Drive Sustainable Growth in Laos (2026)](https://kpl.gov.la/en/detail.aspx?id=97769)
- [World Statesmen: Laos](https://www.worldstatesmen.org/Laos.htm)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Laos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Laos)

## Breweries (2)

- [Lao Asia Pacific Breweries](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/3545.md) — 1 cap, 2008–
- [Lao Brewery Company](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/752.md) — 8 caps, 1971–