Bia Hoi

Fresh Beer: Think you've had the freshest? Unless you've been to Vietnam, probably not. In Viet Nam, they take 'fresh' to a whole new level. Bia Hoi is draft beer resembling a Pilsner that has no preservatives and therefore MUST be consumed within a couple days of being born. This has a few positive effects on the Bia Hoi culture. First, the beer is forced to remain relatively local, as lengthy transports are not feasible. Second, a local "microbrew" culture is facilitated. Andmost importantly, the beer is fresh, tasty, light, and leaves you feeling oddly healthy in a way. Of course, this last point could drum up about fifty negative effects on the Bia Hoi culture, but we will leave those for a different website to address.

In Hanoi, the Bia Hoi culture runs deep. Every Bia Hoi establishment has their own brew. This means that Bia Hoi in tweo adjacent stores may be completely different tasting. The only way to find out which ones are good, I'm going to have to sample many different places.....And I will do this (out of the kindness of my heart) to bring you--the reader--the straight scoop.

I'm not entirely sure who makes these beers, but they are sold usually in tiny little stalls or store fronts. Little chairs and tables are out in front of the store and people sit down to swig back a few of these glasses. The brew costs about 3000 dong per 8 oz glass (about 16 cents), so needless to say, the experience is designed for the average Westerner to 'go to town'. Many of these establishments also sell an item or two of food (maybe spare ribs or spring rolls) to go along with the beer

We went to Bia Hoi junction, which is on the corner of Tha Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen. This link will show you a video of me in the middle of the junction when we were drinking.  It tends to have more foreigners here, but there are three establishments on three corners of this busy intersection. We knocked back two Bia Hoi's at one of the stores and we all enjoyed. It was light, sweet, COLD, and not too alcoholic. We left feeling energized and ready to find some street food.

Here is a cool link to get some more knowledge about Bia Hoi in Hanoi. Next time, we will discuss Vietnamese coffee!