Saigon Craft Beer Festival: Let's Nhậu Edition

   Eight local craft breweries are rolling their taps out onto a riverside lawn, BBQ stalls line up beside them, and a live stage takes over once it gets dark. Ho Chi Minh City's craft beer weekend has moved closer to the centre this time, onto an open park that faces the downtown skyline across the water.

   The festival is run by Saigon Outcast, the alternative venue known for its craft beer garden, skate area and graffiti walls. This edition pairs the usual brewery line-up with a picnic format for the first time: grass, a panoramic river view and an evening concert instead of an indoor room.

   The short version of what is on site:

• — taps from local breweries — Pasteur Street, East West, Belgo, Turtle Lake, 5 Elements, Toucan, C-Brew Master and Mixtape, with more names still being confirmed;
• — block parties with DJs plus a live concert, on both days;
• — drinking games for groups that want a scoreboard with their pints;
• — a row of BBQ vendors grilling food built for beer.

   Come as a group: splitting tasting flights between you is the only realistic way to get through this many styles. If craft beer is new to you, the stalls do the explaining — the brewers pour their own beer and will tell you why their IPA reads nothing like the sour two tables down. If you are here mainly for food and music, the grills and the stage run in parallel all evening.

   The setting is an open riverside park turned towards the city: daytime is picnic-on-the-grass, and after sunset the lit-up towers become the backdrop for the concert.

   Entry runs on three tiers: early bird at 60,000 ₫ and the online rate at 90,000 ₫ are both capped in number, after which general admission holds at 110,000 ₫ — what you pay depends on how early you book. Tickets are on Megatix and VIO.

   Breweries and BBQ vendors can still apply for a booth — the organiser takes requests through Saigon Outcast's direct messages.

   Bring your crew and an empty stomach: taps, grills and the stage all keep going late.