Craft Beer Scene in Ho Chi Minh City
A visual guide from the Ho Chi Minh City travel guide — see all posters in Visual Guides.
Vietnam's craft-beer boom started in Saigon in the mid-2010s and never slowed down. Local breweries built their names on Vietnamese ingredients — jasmine and lemongrass in the IPAs, passion fruit and dragon fruit in the sours, phin-brewed robusta in the stouts — and the city now supports dozens of taprooms, from polished District 1 flagships to garden brewpubs out in Thao Dien. It is the tastiest possible antidote to a hot afternoon.
Taprooms & Where to Drink
District 1 holds the flagship taprooms of the long-running names — the breweries that kicked off the scene around 2015 still anchor it — with casual beer bars scattered through Districts 2 and 3. Thao Dien, the leafy riverside quarter upstream, does relaxed garden brewpubs built for long evenings. Most venues pour a dozen-plus taps, the food skews Vietnamese-fusion, and tasting flights are standard. Prices sit well above bia hơi but well below what the same pint costs in Singapore.
What to Order
Start with whatever carries a Vietnamese ingredient — jasmine IPA is the scene's signature move — then try a passion-fruit or soursop sour and finish on a coffee stout brewed with local robusta. ABVs run high for the climate, so pace accordingly. For contrast, do one round of bia hơi, the fresh-brewed street lager poured over ice for small change, and you'll taste exactly how far Saigon's beer culture has travelled in a decade.