issue 49 - AsiaLIFE Magazine

Beer NationOne of the great benefitsbrought about by the policyof Doi Moi (the opening of thefree market in Vietnam ) is aplenitude of beer. It’s as commonas water and more worthy.You, the traveller or the expat,will never be more than a fewminutes from beer. In the past,your average Vietnamese rarelyimbibed in the suds – partlybecause it was still expensive forthe average elbow-bender, andpartly because he consideredpublic intoxication bad behaviour.He generally did whatdrinking he did in private. Hemight have had a beer with hisdinner in a restaurant, but youwould rarely see him shoutingfor rounds in a pub. (And I say'he' because I mean 'he'. MostVietnamese women virtuallynever drink. Or smoke. Orhave impure thoughts, at leastnone that they will admit to.)But travellers have alwaysbeen free to quaff as much beeras they like, and the merchantswill encourage them.There is no ‘national brand’such as we find in the Philippineswith San Miguel, or Thailandwith Sing Ha. Althoughforeign national brands are here,the aforementioned San Miguel,Heineken from Holland, Tigerfrom Singapore, as well as Budand Miller from the States. Ieven see Corona from Mexicohere and there (though it isquite expensive). The Vietnamesebeers, however, are quiteregional, and few of them aredistributed countrywide. Someare high volume, some small,some of them could almost becalled microbrews. Most arequite good, and most are lightand refreshing, in keeping withthe climate, like the popularSaigon Beer The green labelversion is somewhat lighterthan the red label. Some are fullflavoured, like the famous 333(Ba Ba Ba). Huda, is an acronymfor Hue-Denmark, and is a jointventure between, well you canguess. It has a very assertivetaste, very hoppy. You can find"Take it from me,when it’s 35°Cwith humidity tomatch the onlything worse thanwarm beer is nobeer at all."that at the Bread and Butter restaurantand bar in the Pham.And then there is bia hoi. It'svariously described as draftbeer, microbrew, or cheapbathtub brew. Call it what youwill, it is indeed cheap. Youcan get it at a beer garden ora couple of places on Bui VienStreet for as little as 10 cents aglass. It's made almost daily andthe brewers often sell it in bigplastic jugs. It's very light witha very delicate taste and aroma.Connoisseurs might pooh poohthe stuff, but hey, you get whatyou pay for.There is one caution forthe beer-loving wayfarer inVietnam. While the country isawash in good suds, there isstill, in some places, a shortageof refrigeration. Even if yourbeer is served shiveringly coldat a non-air-conditioned location,it won’t stay that way long.If it’s served just moderatelychilled, it’s small comfort. If,as will happen, it comes to youat ambient temperature, youmight just as well have beersoup. In the air-conditionedpubs and restaurants catering totourists and expats and newlyaffluent Vietnamese, everythingis cool. But if all you go to arethe air-conditioned pubs andrestaurants catering to touristsand expats and newly affluentVietnamese, that would beuncool, as you would not reallyhave been to Vietnam, in myhumble opinion.So what to do? Go native.Learn how to say bia da, beerwith ice. That’s right, drink yourbeer on the rocks. Shocking,yes I know, even blasphemousto the western purist. But thesebeers can stand up to it. Take itfrom me, when it’s 35°C withhumidity to match the onlything worse than warm beer isno beer at all. Ask for a bucketof nuoc da (ice). “But shouldn’twe avoid ice?” you say. “It’smade of the local water, afterall.” Well, I can’t promise thatusing Vietnamese ice to coolyour beer won’t make you sick,but I can tell you this: nobody ofmy acquaintance has ever beensick from it. And I have neverbeen sick from it. And I haveresorted to this measure very,very extensively. Cheers!40 asialife HCMC