Drinking in Thailand is usually a joyous occasion filled with laughter, food, and friendly gestures.
Unsurprisingly, Thai beer pairs well with spicy dishes and tropical humidity; Local rum is celebrated by Thais and budget travelers who appreciate the price.
Drinking sessions in Thailand are certainly sanuk (fun), but they are often late – brace yourself and know how to survive!
Drink the Thai way
Rather than ordering individual cocktails, groups of Thais often prefer to order a bottle of spirits to share. An ice bucket and optional mixers are ordered and placed on the table. Popular mixers are carbonated water and Coca-Cola or Sprite. The staff will replace the ice cube several times as it melts overnight. Ice is even added to beer glasses to combat hot, sticky weather.
Tip: Putting ice in everyone’s glass at the beginning is a very polite gesture.
By drinking communally, each person can control the potency and flavor of their automix cocktails, thus avoiding any potential face loss scenarios.
Drinking etiquette
Drinking etiquette in Thailand is much less rigid than in China or Japan, but some rules of status and ‘showing up’ apply.
Pouring a drink for someone else is a good gesture; Complete the glasses of the people around you if you fill yours. Chances are if someone at the table doesn’t make it to you, the bar or restaurant staff will continue to top up your drink every time it drops below half, don’t drain your glass unless you want a refill!
If you happen to be the guest of honor, you are probably expected to sit in the center of the table rather than in the head. The guest of honor is also expected to make a toast at some point. Toasts are often given during a drinking session, not just at the beginning.
When clinking glasses with someone, consider age and condition. If someone is your highest or highest status, hold your glass a little lower and take it low.
How to say greetings
The easiest toast and the way to say “cheers” in Thai is to simply raise your glass (but not too high) and offer a chone gaow (touching glasses) smile.
There are a few ways to say hello in Thai. This list is roughly transcribed the way they are pronounced:
- Chone gaow (touch glasses) – When someone wants to propose a toast, sometimes they just yell chone! so that everything on a table raises a glass.
- Mote gaow (empty glass / bottom)
- Chok dee (good luck)
- Chai Yo (winner, success; many different meanings depending on the context)
Other things to know
- In 2006, the legal drinking age in Thailand increased from 18 to 20 years. Bars rarely, if ever, check tourist IDs.
- Drugs happen in Thailand, particularly with drink cubes. Be careful when taking drinks from strangers or leaving a drink unattended on the table. Staff in “girls” bars have been known to drug and rob Western men.
- Unless posted (the moat around the Old City in Chiang Mai is a notable exception), you can legally carry an open drink on the street in most places in Thailand.
- Glass beer bottles have a small deposit refund in Thailand, prompting people to collect them for recycling. When you’re done, leave your bottle on the counter or place it next to a garbage container where someone interested can find it.
Beer
Pale, medium bodied beers are the obvious choice to balance the burn of those famous spicy noodle dishes. Lager is the name of the game in Thailand, and there are three very popular local options:
- Singha – Thailand’s oldest beer is pronounced as ‘Sing’, the name is derived from the Sanskrit word for lion. With a standard ABV of 5%, Singha is typically the most expensive local beer option.
- Leo: It is no accident that the maker of Singha, Thailand’s “lion” beer, also makes a beer called Leo. Leo is a cheaper beer from the same brewery and has an ABV of 5%.
- Chang: Chang, the backpacker’s favorite beer in Thailand, is typically a bit cheaper and has a bit more bite, both in alcohol and flavor, than its competition. Chang Classic, the original beer with an ABV of 6.4%, was once rumored to have quality control issues. Chang (pronounced: “Chahng”) means elephant in Thai, leading backpackers to fear the dreaded “hangover” that feels like an elephant standing on its head.
The popularity of Chang Classic is followed by Chang Export (ABV 5%), Chang Draft (ABV 5%) and Chang Light (ABV 4.2%). Many other beers are made or available in Thailand, especially Heineken, Carlsberg, San Miguel, and Tiger. Beer is often drunk over ice.
Bucket drinks
Thai buckets started out as a way for backpackers to carry a lot of alcohol during island parties, such as the Full Moon Party, but are now celebrated throughout Southeast Asia.
You’ll find those colorful alcohol-filled plastic sand buckets and a handful of straws (presumably to share) from Vang Vieng in Laos to the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia. Plastic bucket drinks can be found pretty much anywhere along the Banana Pancake Trail where backpackers like to party.
The idea behind bucket drinks is solid – a traveler table can share one, everyone grabs a straw, and socializing is easy, especially when the heart-stirring local Redbull starts to work magic. With a high volume of alcohol masked by sweet mixers and caffeine, many travelers have found the hard way that cubes are supposed to be shared rather than consumed unaided.
The original Thai Bucket drink consisted of a full small bottle (300ml) of Sangsom or some other local rum, Thai Redbull and Coca-Cola. Now, cube drinks are available with any combination of spirits and mixers.
In places like Khao San Road in Bangkok, cube prices keep getting cheaper, sometimes US $ 5 or less! Inevitably, these offers that seem too good to be true actually are; cubes often turn out to be more sugar and caffeine than alcohol.
Thai Redbull
Redbull originated in Thailand; Local things sold in small glass bottles are rumored to be stronger and more effective than the Redbull sold in cans in the west. Thai Redbull contains a different formula, has more caffeine content, and tastes sweeter. Unlike Redbull sold in western countries, Thai Redbull is not carbonated.
Without the carbonation, those compact glass bottles from Redbull are incredibly easy to drink in one gulp, but be mindful of how much you consume! Shark and M150 are competitive energy drinks that sometimes replace Redbull.
Hard Spirits
The local spirit of choice is Sangsom, a popular rum, with an ABV of 40%. Although Sangsom is often referred to as a whiskey, it is made from sugar cane and aged in oak barrels, categorizing it as a rum.
Hong Thong and Mekhong are two other popular brown spirits that are cheaper offerings from Thai Beverage, the makers of Sangsom.
Local moonshine
Almost every place in Asia has a cheap local whiskey made from fermented rice, and the one in Thailand is infamous.
Popular with the villagers and anyone else who appreciates a cheap drink, lao khao is made from sticky fermented rice. The power varies depending on who made it. Commercially bottled varieties are available, but many villages brew their own beers. Locals often enjoy watching a farang (foreigner) struggle to handle a shot of lao khao!
Sale of alcohol in Thailand
With one of the biggest alcohol and alcohol consumption problems in the world, Thailand is putting increasing pressure on alcohol sales and accountability across the country. Individual provinces like Chiang Mai have stepped up restrictions in addition to national requirements. In 2006, the legal drinking age was increased to 20 years, one of the strictest in the region.
Bar closing times are set at midnight in many places in Thailand, although law enforcement often depends on the whim of the bar and whether any “fines” are paid to local police that night.
Minimarts like 7-Eleven are only allowed to legally sell alcohol from 11 am to 2 pm and then from 5 pm to midnight. Corporate minimarts and grocery stores adhere closely to these official hours, however independently owned stores and vendors generally continue to quietly sell alcohol.
The sale of alcohol is prohibited during provincial and national elections, Buddhist holidays, and certain public holidays such as the king’s birthday. During these times, only a few brave bars and restaurants will sell alcohol. Many Buddhist holidays occur throughout the year, often coinciding with full moons, causing the dates of the Full Moon Festival on Koh Phangan to be changed by a day or two.
Where to buy wine
You won’t find wine for sale in many places outside of big-city liquor stores and large supermarkets that often cater to Western expats. Large supermarket chains such as Tops, Rimping, and Big C often have the largest selection of imported wines.
Thailand has three thriving wine regions that are slowly gaining international acceptance. Siam Winery is located an hour south of Bangkok and is famous for its floating vineyards in the delta of the Chao Phraya River. Vineyard tours are available in Khao Yai National Park, and a wine scene is developing in the northeast corner of Thailand, near the Laos border.
