Your beer keeps the forest standing
Your beer keeps the forest standing
Cambodia’s Cardamom Tented Camp Ecolodge has launched its own brand of ale called Cardamom Mountains Steam beer. I haven’t had to pleasure of trying it but a steam beer is a US-style effervescent brew, a slightly hoppy beer with an ABV of 5.2 per cent. It is being produced by Flowers microbrewery in Phnom Penh and sold at the lodge’s restaurant at US$4.50 for a 330ml bottle.
“With local Khmer dishes also on our menu, we make it easy for our guests to enjoy food and drink that reflect the best of Cambodia. Almost everything we do at the camp helps conservation of the forest and supports local suppliers,” said camp manager Allan Michaud.
The bottles it is poured from are all recycled and provided to the brewery by the camp. Profits from the beer will help fund the work of the sixteen rangers whose job is to protect the 180 square kilometres of the Botum Sakor National Park in the southwest of the country.
The camp also sells locally made Ibis beer, profits from which are used to protect the rare Ibis bird in Cambodia, and beers made by the Stonehead brewery which is also based in Phnom Penh. The label on Cardamom Mountains Steam bears the legend, Your Beer Keeps the Forest Standing, a play on the camp’s slogan, Your Stay Keeps the Forest Standing.
Protecting the forest
The award-winning Cardamom Tented Camp opened in 2017 with nine luxurious glamping tents set within pristine lowland habitats which provides a wildlife corridor linking the coast with with the Cardamom Mountains. It offers eco-friendly kayaking and trekking packages as well as guided and self-guided hikes along well-marked jungle trails. For those who stay more than just a few nights, there is an option to join the forest rangers on patrols in some of the more remote parts of the park.
Every month a percentage of the profits from guest stays as well as beer sales helps forest rangers tackle illegal poaching, land grabs and riverbank sand dredging. Illegal hunting is also down and sightings of rare wildlife such as elephants, silver langurs, smooth-coated otters and leopard cats have increased.
See also: Khmer fare in Phnom Penh