Cambodia: Stone Head nearing its inaugural brew in Phnom Penh

A world award-winning craft beer name is nearing its inaugural brew in Phnom Penh after the recent relocation of its entire operation from Koh Kong province to the capital, opening up a brewery and taproom in the Sen Sok neighbourhood of Chhuk Meas with guided tours and special events to be held alongside its production, the Khmer Times reported on March 14.

The story of how this brewery has landed in the city from its first brewing in 2015 at the company’s previous location in Koh Kong takes us to its origins and Thailand’s unusual laws prohibiting the brewing of beer in small quantities — volumes typical for a craft beer producer. It’s also about the ‘stubborn’ drive and talent of the brand’s unconventional and artistic founders Dusadee Thummarat and Ladapa Nualin, better known as Ford and Nim, as well as their close-knit team, who gave Khmer Times a tour of the brewery.

The name Stone Head itself is a translation from the Thai “Hua Khang” to label someone stubborn, which Ford and Nim are proud of, inspiring them to overcome the odds and seek refuge in Cambodia for their craft beer operation.

For brewers to open a business in Thailand, they must have a registered capital of at least Baht 10 million, or around $300,000. Large-scale brewers must have a production capacity of at least 10 million litres per year, while small-scale brewers producing for sale in outlets (eg brewpubs) need to have a capacity higher than 100,000 litres per year but not more than 1,000,000. This is outside the budget for many small brewers who have refined their brewing skills at home and wish to bring their product to the market with a limited, but high-quality batch of beer, in the true spirit of the craft brewing tradition.

Ford explained that in Thailand, the underground movement of homebrewers is connected online and in local groups to form a community sharing information to help master their brewing. In this environment, Ford began to experiment with local medicinal herbs, eventually creating a range of beers that, even in the exotic universe of craft beers, stand out for their uniqueness and refined quality. Lemongrass, coconut, butterfly pea flower, and Durian are examples of local ingredients that Ford has used to create his beers, in addition to IPA’s, Pales Ales, Witbier and the World Beer Award-winning stout, the Darkside.

“In Thailand, you’re not allowed to brew in a smaller capacity with the excuse they give that it won’t be profitable,” said Ford. Steve Cannon, CEO Koh Kong Brewers Distribution Co Ltd, put his finger on it saying, “The politics behind it is that it’s controlled by Chang and Singha beer companies. They take the lion’s share of everything, and they’ve pushed the creative brewers like Ford aside.”

Steve pointed to Ford’s winning stubborn mentality that’s typically among Thai people: “It’s quite something of him to say, ‘I’m Thai, I want to brew in Thailand, but you won’t let me… so it’s ok, I’ll go to a different country and brew it there.’ It sits very well with the Thai ethos of stubbornness.”

Much to the good fortune of beer lovers in Cambodia, and thanks to the favourable business conditions here, Ford decided to set up his brewery in Koh Kong, which was close enough to Thailand to serve the market there, as well as selling here.

In 2018 Steve discovered Stones Head and approached Ford, asking him, “Why aren’t they selling here in Phnom Penh?” They forged a relationship, and soon after, Stone Head granted Steve’s distribution company a license to sell their product in 2019. Over 80 outlets in the capital were opened in a short amount of time, and contracts with supermarkets were in the pipeline.

Then Covid arrived. With the downturn in business due to the alcohol sales ban, they seized the chance to relocate. “It had been in our plan to move to Phnom Penh, but with the disruption of Covid, we took the opportunity to bring forward our plans,” said Elliot Grace, Sales and Marketing Director of KKBD.

Now on entering the new premises in Sen Sok, the tanks — with a capacity of up to 20,000 litres — the tubing and the machinery of the brewery’s production line are all assembled in front, leading one through to reach the relaxing taproom on the top floor where 12 different types of Stone Head beer can be sampled from their custom-made cold storage taps.

As Nim explained, the popularity of their beers is also due to the balance they found in creating beers that are full of flavour yet not too over-powering for the local palate and the hot climate.

“We adapted our beer to Thai tastes, and that’s why we made the beers a bit lighter,” she said.

Steve points to the fact that Stone Head beers pair well with certain food, for example, lemongrass with fish, while Ford sticky rice with mango pairs is perfect with Darkside stout.

“In the taproom we will be entertaining VIPs and retail customers with the plan in time to expand the ethos of craft beer where you invite groups and families to enjoy the beer with food after a guided tour of the brewery, to gain an understanding of how it’s made,” said Steve, adding, a real craft beer taproom is all about family, learning and sharing,” said Steve.

Craft beer is not new to Cambodia, and in Phnom Penh alone, several well-established craft breweries have catered to the expat community to a large extent. However, Ford sees the evolving tastes of the local Cambodians slowly shifting toward craft beers, and Steve is happy the growing number of craft breweries is creating a healthy competition rivalling the supremacy of the mass producers. “When you’re up against the big breweries who can just put on the market huge volumes of cheap beer, we craft breweries have to support each other,” he said, adding that he expects craft beer fairs to be soon a welcome addition to the scene in the capital.

14 March, 2022