But the buzz stops there. Outside Laos, Beer Lao is notoriously hard to find.
Like a film festival winner without a distribution deal, the rice-based lager has struggled to turn cult status into anything other than good press. Even with backing from the Danish brewer Carlsberg, which owns 50 percent of the company that makes Beer Lao in partnership with the Lao government, just 1 percent of its annual production is exported.