Foreign tourists enjoy the experience of drinking beer in Vietnam.
Vietnam is a country that consumes a lot of alcoholic beverages and beer is a drink of choice for many people.
Alcohol consumption in liter of pure alcohol per capita (over 15 years old) per year in Vietnam is 8.3 liters, equivalent to 170 liters of beer per year. Vietnam ranks second among Southeast Asian countries, third in Asia in terms of average alcohol consumption per person.
Many tourists are interested in beer in Vietnam, not only because of the attractive price of this drink but also because of the extremely interesting way of drinking beer of Vietnamese people.
After a period of living and experiencing the culture of Vietnam, the author of the Cuture Trip site, Matthew Pike – a Canadian, has a summary article: “Vietnamese standard beer guide”.
Drinking culture
Author Matthew Pike commented: “Beer drinking in Vietnam is communal, so you hardly see anyone drinking alone.” Matthew sums up his experience after living in Vietnam that groups of friends drinking beer together will often sit around a low table in the open air, at a small bar, and eat light snacks such as snails, peanuts, etc.
The author of the article said that when sitting at a table with other friends, it would be quite impolite to drink by yourself and not invite other friends to drink. In the drinking culture in Vietnam, people like to drink together.
The Canadian writer insists, don’t worry if you don’t drink much. “Vietnamese people today don’t put too much emphasis on drinking alcohol. When refusing to drink, maybe people around will tease you with a few sentences. But not many people will force you to drink.”
Photo: Jonathan Lin/Flickr
Whole “mountain” of ice in a beer
In some restaurants, customers will be served chilled beer, but most people will drink beer with ice in a glass.
Matthew said people put a lot of ice in the beer, this ice is completely free. “In some beer pubs, there are waiters who go around the tables to see whose beer is empty and automatically refill it. Sometimes you can’t say no. And over time, you get used to it.”
Photo: Francis Sia/WikiCommons
“One, two, three! Duh!”
The author of the article “Vietnamese standard beer drinking manual” commented, people who go to drink beer will use a lot of these sayings, and people also create many situations, some of which are very “funny”. The goal is for everyone to raise a glass. “Someone said a joke that was too funny? Raise a toast. Someone just told you some good news? Raise a glass. I’m a foreigner and I look confused by what’s going on? Raise a glass.”
In addition to the times “Doo!” small, there will be times “Doo!” very big. And at this point, Matthew advises everyone, shout as loud as you can, don’t hold back: “One, two, three! Duh!”
Hundred percent
Photo: Ryan McFarland/Flickr
Usually, Matthew said, this will be done in the case of two people drinking separately because of an event that “needs to raise a glass”. “But this is not a race!” he asserted. “If someone else offers to drink one hundred percent, they want you to finish the beer and turn it upside down to prove that there are no drops left in the cup. But if you don’t want to drink it all, offer fifty percent.”
The Canadian author said that the purpose of drinking beer is to make everyone happy, so don’t feel guilty about saying no and “drink within your means.”
@ Cafef