33 Beer

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kleinkaliber

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A while back my father was talking about the beer that was available to the troops when he was in Viet Nam. He said they could get either Schlitz or Brown Derby, both in limited supply and not very well liked. They could also get their hands on a Vietnamese beer called 33 Beer. They were told not to drink it because there were rumors that the NVA would put ground up glass in it. The other day I was in a local liquor warehouse to get a pack of Boddingtons, when I saw 33 Beer. I took a six pack to dad who was amazed that I had found some. He said the lable was a little different but that it tasted just as he remembered. I had one. Pretty good stuff! And no ground glass that I could tell!?
 
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I think it was pronounced "ba may ba" or as close as our western mouths could get to it! It wasn't bad, much better than the Carling's Black Label in steel cans that had sat in the sun for a year or so! I always said that caused Black Label to go out of business; they donated beer to the troops but it was so bad by the time they got it GI's swore they'd never touch it again!
 
Oh my.... I haven't thought of that beer in YEARS, much less tasted any. I do remember it being better than the US labels that had been setting out in the sun for a few months. Couldn't hold a candle to Jack Daniels though.
 
It's Ba Muoi Ba ( three, ten, three). It had a significant proportion of formaldahyde in it, as a preservative. i guess it preserved our brains pretty well too. i sure drank my share and found it pretty good. There was another indigenous Vietnamese beer, Bière Larue, which was pretty awful. Interesting that the communist Vietnamese are exporting '33', if I ever saw some, I'd get it, but our choices are pretty scarce in El Paso.
 
In Ethiopia we had Melotti beer. In Thailand we had Sing Ha. Both were rumored to have formaldehyde in them. I always wondered if it was true or just some form of G.I. folklore.
 
JayCeeNC said:
I don't think Ba Muoi Ba or Singh Ha had formaldehyde in it.
Thai Mekong Whiskey, on the other hand, was loaded with it.
Click to expand...
You could sometimes smell the formaldehyde in 33.

Another beer had a tiger on the label. No clue what the name was. We simply called it "Tiger Beer". The formaldehyde smell was always present in it.
I am not sure, but I always heard the formaldehyde was put in to stop the fermentation. It always gave me a wicked headache the next day if I drank more than a couple.
 
I loved it. Drank it anytime I could get to it. Especially liked it when a cute little girl was the barmaid.

Of course, this was in my Pre-Baptist days. On second thought I hated it and hardly ever looked at the girls.:rolleyes:

Bob
 
Being at Long Binh, we had a steady beer supply. PBR, Bud, Schlitz, Miller and Carling. The PBR and Carling were $2.40 per case and the Bud and Schlitz were $3.00. One night each week the EM club had free beer, it was Carling. The only time I have ever been thrown out of a bar was for sneaking Bud in on Carling night.

I sure miss the cans you had to open with a "church key".
 
I drank my share of "Beer 33" AKA Bomb de bomb. (phonetic spelling)

Unlike some here, I liked "Biere Larue" AKA Tiger beer (from the picture on the label) better.

They were both pretty bad. But not as bad as "Falstaff".

Ah, the memories. And then of course there were 'boom boom' girls. But this is a G rated forum.
 
Last edited:
max said:
Being at Long Binh, we had a steady beer supply. PBR, Bud, Schlitz, Miller and Carling. The PBR and Carling were $2.40 per case and the Bud and Schlitz were $3.00. One night each week the EM club had free beer, it was Carling. The only time I have ever been thrown out of a bar was for sneaking Bud in on Carling night.

I sure miss the cans you had to open with a "church key".
Click to expand...

Boy are you old:D
 
Trooperdan said:
I think it was pronounced "ba may ba" or as close as our western mouths could get to it! It wasn't bad, much better than the Carling's Black Label in steel cans that had sat in the sun for a year or so! I always said that caused Black Label to go out of business; they donated beer to the troops but it was so bad by the time they got it GI's swore they'd never touch it again!
Click to expand...

I am now hitting myself in the head on my desk. While I didn't really do a lot of searching, I now get what the title of the song "Ba-Mi-Ba" by SSgt Barry Sadler was about.
 
kleinkaliber said:
A while back my father was talking about the beer that was available to the troops when he was in Viet Nam. He said they could get either Schlitz or Brown Derby, both in limited supply and not very well liked. They could also get their hands on a Vietnamese beer called 33 Beer. They were told not to drink it because there were rumors that the NVA would put ground up glass in it. The other day I was in a local liquor warehouse to get a pack of Boddingtons, when I saw 33 Beer. I took a six pack to dad who was amazed that I had found some. He said the lable was a little different but that it tasted just as he remembered. I had one. Pretty good stuff! And no ground glass that I could tell!?
Click to expand...


a bit off subject, but next time try some Old Speckled Hen, instead of the boddingtons,

Abbot Ale is another good English beer in a can

beware of any OSH that's in the clear bottle, (same for Ruddles) they will skunk up quickly if exposed to too much light
 
We were told not to accept an open bottle. That was in '65. PBR, wake up in the AM, pick one up off the dirt floor of the tent and suck that baby down. AHHH. Short time later a big belch and you were ready for the day. Got to a point the powdered eggs and the reconstituted milk started to taste good. 44 years ago. Damn. :)
DW
 
Ba Moui Ba was ok.
San Miguel imported from the Phillippines was better.

Uncle supplied us with Carling and Schlitz, but that was like
drinking used radiator water.

Church Keys were also used to make C-4 Stoves.

Rule 303
 
Drank one bottle of 33 my whole tour. I could not get past the formaldehyde. I never needed a beer that badly. EEECCH taste.
 
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