The drinking question is a good one, and it's something i wanted to make a post about but haven't yet.
One of the niftiest things about cheap drinking in Taiwan is Japanese alcopops. I rarely know what's in them before i buy them because the labels are mostly Japanese and they usually have very art nouveau/abstract pictures on the front. They tend to have two percentages on them - the alcohol percentage (3%-9%) and the fruit juice percentage (5%-15%). They're refreshingly different from western (and, honestly, Chinese) alcopops in that they don't tend to be cloyingly sweet. They have strong fruit flavors, usually on the sour side, and don't taste quite as artificial as traditional alcopops or Canadian-style hard seltzers (White Claw etc). There is a great nashi pear one that just came out as a seasonal drink, like a Japanese pumpkin space latte, but some of my gotos are grapefruit flavor, melon flavor and apple flavor.
Of course i also drink the local cheap beer, which is just branded as 台灣啤酒 Taiwan Beer, or 台啤 taipi for short. Unlike Chinese beers, it's 4.5%-5%, which makes for a different drinking experience than i had in China, where it was common to buy several tall bottles of 2.5-3% beer and drink it in shooters. If i try to do the same thing with Taiwan beer, i get rather drunker rather faster. People drink more cans here.
Meanwhile if you were to go to a fancy bar, they sell very expensive imported beer from Japan and other countries, plus whiskey and sake and all the usual cocktail drinks. I haven't made it out to somewhere like that yet. I just haven't been feeling ready for it, with all the itchiness and butt-pain i am still experiencing.
So, you know, sad solo drinking at home is my life. I feel like this has become my modus operandi whenever i am working, which isn't great, but it is what it is, i suppose. Could be (and has been) much worse.
So cheap lager and pilsners? Sounds good to me except for the frequent peeing.
I absolutely CANNOT stand white claw! It’s horrible!!!! The Japanese Al poops sound interesting as it has real fruit juice in it? I’m sold and want to try. We have a really good liquor store nearby so I will have to check for those.
One of the niftiest things about cheap drinking in Taiwan is Japanese alcopops. I rarely know what's in them before i buy them because the labels are mostly Japanese and they usually have very art nouveau/abstract pictures on the front. They tend to have two percentages on them - the alcohol percentage (3%-9%) and the fruit juice percentage (5%-15%). They're refreshingly different from western (and, honestly, Chinese) alcopops in that they don't tend to be cloyingly sweet. They have strong fruit flavors, usually on the sour side, and don't taste quite as artificial as traditional alcopops or Canadian-style hard seltzers (White Claw etc). There is a great nashi pear one that just came out as a seasonal drink, like a Japanese pumpkin space latte, but some of my gotos are grapefruit flavor, melon flavor and apple flavor.
Of course i also drink the local cheap beer, which is just branded as 台灣啤酒 Taiwan Beer, or 台啤 taipi for short. Unlike Chinese beers, it's 4.5%-5%, which makes for a different drinking experience than i had in China, where it was common to buy several tall bottles of 2.5-3% beer and drink it in shooters. If i try to do the same thing with Taiwan beer, i get rather drunker rather faster. People drink more cans here.
Meanwhile if you were to go to a fancy bar, they sell very expensive imported beer from Japan and other countries, plus whiskey and sake and all the usual cocktail drinks. I haven't made it out to somewhere like that yet. I just haven't been feeling ready for it, with all the itchiness and butt-pain i am still experiencing.
So, you know, sad solo drinking at home is my life. I feel like this has become my modus operandi whenever i am working, which isn't great, but it is what it is, i suppose. Could be (and has been) much worse.
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I absolutely CANNOT stand white claw! It’s horrible!!!! The Japanese Al poops sound interesting as it has real fruit juice in it? I’m sold and want to try. We have a really good liquor store nearby so I will have to check for those.
Thank you for the interesting answer!
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