Chitbeer
Col. Wichit "Chit" Saiklao brewed his first illegal batch on Ko Kret island in December 2012, took eight fines for it, trained more than 3,000 Thais to brew at his weekend academy, and kept at it until the law finally moved his way in 2025; BK Magazine's verdict is that "Chit Beer will never die."
Why go
Thai law set a 10-million-liter floor for a brewing license, 100,000 liters minimum even for a brewpub, with 10 million baht in capital, and in 2017 raised the fine for brewing without one to B50,000-100,000 plus possible jail; Chit, a Virginia Military Institute-trained colonel who learned to homebrew in the US, ran his taproom anyway and turned the enforcement into a curriculum. Academy graduates opened a brewery in Cambodia and shipped the beer back legally, Chitbeer's own Whale Pale Ale came out of Nomad in Australia, and one alumnus, Taopiphop Limjittrakorn, got arrested, got elected, and drove the reform that in May 2025 finally legalized keg sales and eased the thresholds. Pellicle's 2025 feature found the result on a Saturday: a taproom "entirely outdoors," on "two enormous covered decks overhanging the water," with a live band and multiple bars.
Order this / avoid
- Order: a flight through the house range, Good Chit Pilsner, Holy Chit, Stone Cold IPA among the regulars, then whatever a graduate is pouring on the guest taps. The week's brewing (Monday to Friday) is drunk out by Sunday night, so everything is fresh by construction.
- Avoid: a weekday trip; the island taproom runs weekends only. And don't settle for a Bangkok Chit Hole as a substitute; the Royal River Hotel branch (six taps, Thu-Sun from 5pm) is the convenience play, not the pilgrimage.
What locals & experts say
- BK Magazine (2025):
for our money, you can't beat the old faithful. The best reason to go to Koh Kret on the weekend.
4 - LA Times (2020), quoting Chit:
I don't care if you make craft beer a business, or even if you make good beer, but I want you to feel the experience of releasing your potential. For me, beer is just a way to change the country.
2 - Good Beer Hunting (2020), quoting Chit on the prime minister:
PM Chan-o-cha commented that microbrews are unsafe and might be brewed in a toilet. I invite him to come and inspect our premises.
3 - Pellicle (2025), quoting Chit on going legal:
The government wants 100,000 litres a year, we brewed our ass off and ended up with 70,000.
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Good to know
- Timing: weekends only; the commonly reported window is around noon to 9pm, unpinned in approved press, so check the Chitbeer Facebook page before committing to the ferry.
- Getting there: cross-river ferry from Wat Sanam Nuea pier in Pak Kret, a few baht per crossing; MRT Pink Line to Yaek Pak Kret then a motorbike taxi reaches the pier. Ko Kret is car-free, which is half the charm.
- Quality, plainly: Untappd's running average sits at 3.58/5 on 4,000-plus check-ins. You go for the place, the story, and the freshness, and that is enough.
- The web presence: chitbeer.com is dead; Facebook and Instagram are the live channels.
Verdict
must-visit — An army colonel who taught Thailand to brew by breaking the law in public: eight fines, a 3,000-graduate academy, students brewing over the border to re-import, and finally the 2025 rule changes his side fought for. The beer itself is honest homebrew-lineage stuff, but the two river decks on a car-free island are a food-culture site you cannot substitute, and the weekend ferry is the point. Plan a Saturday around it.