I found these "Vitamilk Brand Barley and Malt Soymilk" from Thailand, sold in packs of 6 glass bottles at Warehouse Club, located at Fairprice Hub, just next to Joo Koon MRT, Singapore. (The label was completely in Thai, so I wouldn't have understood a thing if not for the translated sticker label.) I like to stop by Warehouse Club every once in a while, because it brings in a different range of goods than you would normally find at other supermarkets in Singapore. Notably, they bring in a whole range of products under the American brand Kirkland, which is Costco's house brand, and I think lot of Americans can be seen shopping here as a result. But like in this case, they also bring in some interesting products from other countries.
These bottles of barley and malt soymilk are pretty unique for a few reasons. Firstly, I have never come across the barley-malt-soy combination before, so that was enough of a draw for buying it.
Secondly, it was completely naturally flavoured, something that I don't really expect from the region, although that may be an uninformed notion. They used only barley milk and malt extract, exactly as the name reads.
The third point is related to the taste review. I loved it! It tasted different from the usual plain soymilk with sugar (sometimes flavoured with some vanilla) that's usually sold in the Southeast Asian region, but more like the soymilk produced in Western countries, like Australia and the United States. I can think of the brand Silk, but there are others as well. Usually, these Western brands of soymilk add in salt of some kind, and perhaps less sugar. And maybe they process the soymilk differently or use different emulsifiers... I'm not sure. All I know is that they usually taste slightly different. This Asian brand of soymilk came the closest to that Western taste which I personally think is richer and more savoury. This was also unexpected since soymilk in such a glass bottle packaging is such a Southeast Asian thing to do... like how the Western countries used to get their fresh cow milk in glass bottles.
What's more interesting is that there's no salt on this ingredients list! So I believe the malt may have done the trick by simulating some kind of saltiness!
In fact, it tasted fuller than the usual soymilk... the malt flavour really blended into the soy taste, but it really brought out the grainy element of the soy. Perhaps it's a bit like how a little coffee powder brings out the rich, decadent flavour of cocoa when added to chocolate confectioneries.
I couldn't taste the barley distinctly, but I wonder if it too blended into and augmented the soy flavour.
The only minor point that I didn't like was that it was just a tad too sweet. If they had added 30% less sugar it would have been perfect. But this point is easily rectified by either adding water or milk, if you're not intolerant - the richness of the malt-soy combination more than makes up for any dilution that may occur.
It was also good value... just S$3.95 for six bottles I believe. Most definitely under $4.
Vitamilk also had a second flavour in their range... at least, that was available. I'll feature that in another post, so stay tuned!
These bottles of barley and malt soymilk are pretty unique for a few reasons. Firstly, I have never come across the barley-malt-soy combination before, so that was enough of a draw for buying it.
Secondly, it was completely naturally flavoured, something that I don't really expect from the region, although that may be an uninformed notion. They used only barley milk and malt extract, exactly as the name reads.
What's more interesting is that there's no salt on this ingredients list! So I believe the malt may have done the trick by simulating some kind of saltiness!
In fact, it tasted fuller than the usual soymilk... the malt flavour really blended into the soy taste, but it really brought out the grainy element of the soy. Perhaps it's a bit like how a little coffee powder brings out the rich, decadent flavour of cocoa when added to chocolate confectioneries.
I couldn't taste the barley distinctly, but I wonder if it too blended into and augmented the soy flavour.
The only minor point that I didn't like was that it was just a tad too sweet. If they had added 30% less sugar it would have been perfect. But this point is easily rectified by either adding water or milk, if you're not intolerant - the richness of the malt-soy combination more than makes up for any dilution that may occur.
It was also good value... just S$3.95 for six bottles I believe. Most definitely under $4.
Vitamilk also had a second flavour in their range... at least, that was available. I'll feature that in another post, so stay tuned!
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