(FORTUNE Magazine) – Last year's February lifting of the 19-year trade embargo has opened the door a tad for Vietnamese imports. The latest: "33" Export beer (Ba M'Ba, in Vietnamese). That's the same brew GIs once drank to take the edge off Saigon's steamy clime. Says ex-Marine Corps infantryman Frank Schafer, now a cop in Seton Hall, New Jersey: "I never thought I'd see it here."

Importer Luneau USA is primarily targeting the 1.5 million Vietnamese-Americans. But the company also hopes to win nostalgic vets like Schafer, who got an early taste when the company was gauging response. Luneau is distributing "33" Export in Charleston, South Carolina, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., because of their considerable Vietnamese contingents. But Los Angeles was also targeted, in part because it has a large population of vets.

The majority of trade between the two countries is going in the other direction-U.S. investment jumped from $3.2 million in March to $187 million in October. Importers still face a huge hurdle: Until most-favored-nation status is granted Vietnam, import tariffs remain as high as 40% to 60%, according to Joshua Levine, editor of the Vietnam Business Journal. But, says Khuong Ho, publisher of Vietnam Market Watch, MFN status is likely to be awarded within the next 18 months.

One Vietnamese brew that is unlikely to stick in the U.S. is the new rage in Saigon bars: Mix Coke and beer for a trendy concoction called the "Vietnamese-Ameri- can Friendship Drink." - J.M.G.