BOTTOMS UP

When you clink glasses with a fellow traveler, you are solidifying a bond, whether just for the night, the duration of your trip, or if lucky, for an entire lifetime. You share tales of your adventures, your past and where you want to travel to next. Like food, drink is an integral aspect of culture in most countries.

CHEERS: Being Canadian, I hold a fondness for Canadian Club, a Whisky that originated in 1858 by Hiram Walker. They had great marketing (seriously, check out their ads) plus they hid cases around the world. To this day, some of them still haven't been located. This is the drink of choice for Don Draper in Mad Men. I prefer to drink my CC mixed with Diet Pepsi, which my friends and I refer to it as a RIOT (rye+diet).

CC+DP=my drink of choice

KAMPAI: In Japanese, this means to empty your glass. However, the custom when drinking with others, is to never let your friend's glass empty completely. It's standard to serve one another which is a bit of a problem as you never really know how many glasses you've had. Although sake is the national alcoholic drink, most people only have a glass or two of the rice wine and beer is the more popular drink. It pairs well with edamame, salted boiled soybeans.

Drinking is an important role in Japanese society and widely accepted. There are vending machines everywhere; you can drink on public transportation, in parks, even while riding your bike. Alcohol is sold at every convenience store and they are open 24/7. It's customary to go out for drinks after work, and for those on a budget, there's nomihodai; all-u-can-drink for a fixed price and period of time. After living in this country for 6+ years, I'm surprised my liver didn't explode.

Beer Festival-KIRIN 

Although Kirin was my preferred beer, when I traveled to Sapporo, I had the chance to visit the museum and brewery there. They had nomihodai and for 120 minutes, I sampled Sapporo beer while playing century-club (a drink a minute for 100 minutes). Budget boozing at it's finest. Asahi and Suntory are the other popular beer brands in Japan.

PROST: For a country that invented Jagermeister, a 70 proof liquor, you know that Germans take their drinking seriously. They are very proud of their beer and have a strong opinion about which is the best one. Oktoberfest is celebrated annually in Munich, Bavaria and more than 6 million people attend. I was fortunate to partake in the festivities back in 2014.

A delicious amber brew

Hofbrau Festzelt

Lederhosen worn by most

Oktoberfest was definitely one of the better festivals I've attended. There are amusement rides, games, pretzels and beer. Lots and lots of beer. The 16 day event is extremely well organized. I was most impressed with the waitresses carrying around 10 1-litre steins at a time!

SLAINTE: Guinness used to be given out to new mothers in maternity hospitals. That practice has since ceased but this particular beer is a meal in a glass, and an acquired taste.

Look closely, you can see the shamrock in the foam

I'm not a huge fan of the beer, but I do like Jameson, Irish whisky. If you'd like to sample a bit of the Irish favourites, try an Irish Car Bomb. This drink features a half pint of Guinness, with a shot of Jameson and Bailey's Irish Cream mixed together. The name is offensive, referring to troubles of Northern Ireland. The drink is essentially unheard of in Ireland. Most would find it distasteful to mix Guinness with anything.

Stay tuned for the next instalment which will feature drinking snake wine in Vietnam!

~MT