Hanoi among world's five best cities for beer lovers
Hanoi, famous for its iconic lager (bia hoi), was one of the top five beer destinations in the world endorsed by global travelers of online travel agency Booking.com.
Hanoi, home to one of the first breweries in Vietnam under French colonial rule in the late nineteenth century, is a must-visit beer paradise, Vietnam News Agency reported, citing U.S.-based Booking.com.
The first brewery in Hanoi opened in the 1890s. After the Hanoi beer brewing factory was set up, beer culture caught on quickly. Bia hoi, roughly translated as fresh beer, is locally-brewed and made fresh every day, containing only 3 percent alcohol.
According to Booking.com, the intersection of Ta Hien and Luong Ngoc Quyen streets in Hanoi's Old Quarter, dubbed a 'beer hub," is a famous address to enjoy ice-cold glasses of bia hoi on plastic chairs, which has become part of Hanoi culture.
The area is home to dozens of bars, restaurants and street beer stalls, which were often fully packed up until 1-2 a.m. before the pandemic broke out in Vietnam. Most bia hoi joints also serve inexpensive street food like prawns barbecued with chili and salt, clams steamed with lemongrass, or green mango with a prawn-chili-salt dip.
A glass of bia hoi, of about 300 milliliters, costs between VND7,000-10,000 ($0.30-0.43), while a bottle or a can of beer can cost anywhere between VND25,000-200,000.
Other best beer cities in the list are Prague in the Czech Republic, Munich in Germany, Brussels in Belgium and Dublin in Ireland.
Vietnam consumed more than 4.6 billion liters of beer in 2019, an increase of more than 10 percent from 2018. The country spends an average $3.4 billion on alcohol each year, translating to $300 per capita, according to the Ministry of Health.
