Drink like a local

At the Qingdao International Beer Festival, you can learn to power sip in a city known for its local brew.

As reported by CNN, learning to drink like a local can be challenging, and not just for a liver. The CNN piece exploring the beer-y culture of Qingdao -- home to popular Tsingtao beer, brewed on Beer Street -- got us thinking about our own local drinking customs. 

A quick poll of CNNGo city editors produced the following insights:

CNNGo Bangkok city editor Karla Cripps: "If you mean the majority of Bangkok's working-class drinkers, 'drinking like a local' would mean hitting a roadside food stall on a sidewalk after 7pm. Or a Ya Dong (Thai whiskey) stand if you can stomach the hard stuff."

Kingfisher beer unites us all!

-- Sita Wadhwani, Mumbai

CNNGo Shanghai city editor Jessica Beaton: "Traditionally, locals don't really drink at bars, they drink at restaurants around large tables with a lot of friends. It's a social event that can last for hours. Although Western alcohol is a status symbol today -- wine and whiskey have both made inroads here -- most locals drink local beer, baijiu and hangjiu."

CNNGo Singapore city editor Larry Loh: "The best place to learn to drink like a local in Singapore is in a coffee shop on Keong Saik street or in Chinatown. We drink beer with ice. It's weird but because it's so hot, there's no way to keep beer chilled for long."

CNNGo Mumbai city editor Sita Wadhwani: "Kingfisher beer unites us all! The taste of India's glycerine-heavy domestic beer varies from state to state, but put an ice cold pint next to a plate of tandoori in the north and prawn curry in the south and the differences between India's various races, religions and regions vanish."

CNNGo Hong Kong city editor Zoe Li: "The second floor of the Java Road Munipal Services Building in North Point (Java Road Market Cooked Food Centre 2/F, Java Road Municipal Services Building, 99 Java Road, North Point, Hong Kong). The cooked food stalls serve amazing food and the working-class foodies go there, drink ice cold beers and eat seafood."

CNNGo Tokyo city editor W. David Marx: "Locals young and old tend to hit their neighborhood izakaya. Chains like Watami and Shirokiya offer super-duper cheap drinks and snack foods. Everyone starts with a beer and either descends into suspicious sweet drinks or goes for the bottle of whisky/shochu with a bucket of ice."

About the author: Chris Anderson is the Associate Editor of CNNGo. He manages the regional content, writes (when he has time,) and manages the main page.

Read more about Chris Anderson