Cambodia Premium Draft Beer is the latest product showcasing Khmer Beverages’ commitment to innovation and the use of state-of-the-art technologies, as it brings the refreshingly smooth draught beer experience into a bottle.

Applying the “draught in pint” concept, Cambodia Premium Draft utilises the flash pasteurisation process, special hops and the finest ingredients to ensure a more refreshing flavour and a more balanced aroma.

And with its range of exciting special features – including glow in the dark labelling and a cool tester – the Kingdom’s leading brewer is calling on consumers to “Be the Glow” as it shakes up Cambodia’s competitive drinks market.

“We want to remain a leader in innovation in the Cambodian market. We will be continually focused on the process of delivering new products and innovations to the consumer.

“So that is our message to the consumers of our products – we will always do our best to deliver products which are fully matching your needs,” said Chip Mong Group and Khmer Beverages technical director Dr Zvonimir Nemet.

The design process for Cambodia Premium Draft Beer was comprehensive and carried out with the utmost attention to detail – considering everything from the brewing process, taste and aroma to the packaging – to ensure the consumer enjoys a “super premium” product, he said.

“We wanted to give our consumers all the advanced technical features available today, in order to thank them for their long-lasting loyalty to our impeccable products.

“When we were designing the product, when we were anticipating the taste we wanted to achieve, we concluded that we wanted a refreshingly smooth character for the beer with a fully preserved aroma and flavour throughout the full shelf life.

“Flash pasteurisation is exactly the process that enables us to produce what we wanted, with the heat treatment of the beer shorter than the standard one. With this shorter heat treatment of the beer, we slow down the ageing, and we manage to keep the aroma and the flavour throughout the shelf life,” said Dr Nemet.

The European – who holds a PhD and MSc in food technology and biotechnology with the focus on beer – said that the design process went as far as even considering the colour of the bottle to reflect the quality of the product inside.

“For Cambodia Premium Draft Beer, we use a green bottle – using a green bottle as the packaging material is perceived by consumers as being more premium than brown.

“There have been many, many studies conducted in Europe decades ago in which it has been clearly shown that the average consumer perceives a green bottle as more premium than brown.

“We wanted to equip our consumers with the statement that they are really consuming a premium product – and as most said they considered it as super premium, this is why we wanted the shift from the brown bottle to green,” he said.

‘Draught in pint’ concept

Dr Nemet said that the move to the green bottle itself necessitated investment in new technology and processes, with special equipment and ingredients shipped from western Europe to the brewer’s state-of-the-art facility in Phnom Penh’s Cheung Ek commune.

“Green glass is more transparent allowing for greater sun exposure than brown, meaning the beer aroma can be more easily damaged and eroded in a green bottle.

“For this reason we had to protect our beer with special hops, which keep the full aroma profile of the beer intact despite the stronger sun exposure in a green bottle,” Dr Nemet said.

With the “draught in pint” concept, Khmer Beverages has pulled out all the stops to enable the Kingdom’s drinkers to be always able to enjoy the perfectly fresh draught beer experience,” he added.

The industry veteran – who has worked for heavyweights Heineken and AB InBev over the course of a 20-year career – said the effort that went into producing Cambodia Premium Draft Beer and the range of special features included was intended as a “reward” and a “thank you” for the brand’s loyal, as well as new, consumers.

“The cool tester, for example, is a guarantee that they are consuming the product at the ideal temperature. The pull cap makes it easy to open the beer, while the glow-in-the-dark label is a cool statement at the point of consumption.

“When we were designing the packaging, we wanted to give our consumers all the most advanced and most recent technical features.

“We were really thinking about how to reward and how to say thank you to our consumers with the most advanced technical innovations and a consistently refreshing and crisp tasting beer – and I believe we have managed to

do that,” Dr Nemet said.