Drinking like the locals

I'm sure that I'm not the only person for whom a significant chunk of the vacation budget is spent on beverages. Now, there are some times that said beverages are of the "nice bottle of wine" variety. Most of the time, it's not.

A lesson that I learned a long time ago is that if you're inflexible about your drink of choice, you might end up being dinged hard at the bar. When I first moved to Canada, I was a fan of straight Jim Beam, while everyone else was sharing pitchers of beer. Guess who ended up developing a taste for beer?


So, my point here is that by drinking the local specialty, you'll save a bit of money. And with that in mind, here are my five favourite vacation drinks of choice:

1. First place goes to the mojito, best enjoyed in Cuba. If you're drinking anything else there, it's likely a crude rip-off of whatever spirit you think it is. Every cocktail that you order there comes with rum in it (yes, even a gin and tonic), and don't even attempt wine. Beer is the only other thing to drink. This is a terrible place to find out that you have a weird skin reaction to rum. (Yes, that happened).
2. Capirinhas in Brazil - cachaca is not exactly something that I would enjoy straight up, but with some lime and sugar, sure! They also make a fantastic version with passionfruit (which they call maracuja). Brazil is a bad place to find out that you have a weird skin reaction to cachaca. (Seriously, what's the deal with these sugar cane alcohols?!)
3. Beer in Asia - unless you're in a really nice restaurant with a decent list, stick with the beer. Something light and refreshing - depending on where you are, maybe a Tiger or a Tsingtao or even the very economical Chang Beer from Thailand. Extra points if you're a backpacker wearing a t-shirt matching the beer you have in your hand.
4. Wine in South America - obviously I mean wine from the region visiting. It's very cheap and you'll find fantastic wines that are not available at home.
5. In the UK, drink all the "real ale" that you can. Hand pulled ales can be really hard to find in North America, but in the UK you'll find loads of pubs with lots of different choices on tap. And the weird thing is that these amazing handcrafted ales are often cheaper than a pint of Carling or Stella.