Some unusual drinks

It’s one of the joys of travelling – discovering the pleasures of the local palate, sampling regional fare and bringing home recipes. Of course, everyone knows that dishes inevitably fail to taste quite as appealing when you cook them up at home – cue embarrassing pauses at dinner parties, followed by guests asking if the guinea pig tasted quite so chewy in Peru.

Nonetheless, a browse of menus and local shops is never less than interesting: stumbling upon cans or cartons covered in nothing but an alien language and mind-boggling photos: a cartoon of a rodent (mouse juice?), perhaps, or a cactus and lizard (fruits of the desert?), or maybe a toddler (oh please lord no). So you stand there with the item in your hand, debating whether to venture off piste in your diet, and wishing you had genned up on the rudiments of the local dialect. So, in the interests of public health, we bring you a few choice drink selections to look out for on your globetrotting...

Bilk, Japan

You could write a whole blog, possibly an entire book, on Japan’s love of the eccentric tipple. This is after all the country where Pepsi introduced a cucumber-flavoured drink. Remember though, leave your cultural relativism at home – such eminently quaffable liquids as Cheese Drink, Eel fizzy pop and Curry Lemonade are really nothing unusual at all in the land of the rising sun. Honestly.

Our personal favourite – Bilk. The simple-yet-brilliantly named beer-and-milk combo hails from Japan's northern province of Hokkaido, and is obviously the brainchild of some tastebud-free evil genius. Alcohol increases your chances of osteoporosis, which calcium helps combat, so Bilk makes perfect sense. Unfortunately , it also sounds revolting.

Mekong Whiskey, Thailand

The scourge of many a gap year, this derailing potion is closer to rum than scotch. In fact, it’s arguably closer to a natural gas than either.  A mixture of fermented molasses and rice, invariably washed down with coke, take a look down Bangkok’s Khao San Road any morning of the week to appreciate just how criminal the hangovers dished out by Mekong can be – scores of bleary-eyed travellers trying to remember where they misplaced their brain the night before and wondering how much longer their legs can possibly keep them upright.

Golden Corn Juice, China

The bottle has a very pleased looking bear carrying off a husk of corn. Thankfully, this Chinese soft drink only involves the latter as an ingredient. If you’ve ever been out and about on a blisteringly hot day, your throat as parched as the Gobi, and thinking to yourself ‘what I really need now is a cool gloopy substance that tastes exactly like sweetened corn chowder’ then this is undoubtedly the beverage for you. A blend of water, corn and sugar, this has, last time we checked, so far failed to rival Coke’s worldwide dominion.

Banana beer, Kenya

Mash up two kinds of banana, then ferment – easy! Drink and enjoy, arguably less easy. East Africa is the place to sample it – you’ll find it in Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. As essential to any visit to the region as a safari drive. Maybe. 

Chibuku Shake Shake, Malawi

Venture a little further south in Africa and you’ll come across this, hands down winner of the Best Name of Drink award (if that exists). Chibuku defies easy categorisation – drink or food? – and is damn near tobeing indescribable.Imagine a beer that arrives in a milk carton. Now imagine that beer was of a porridge consistency. Now hold that thought, but change the drink’s colour to an odd pinky-grey. Add a few lumps of maize and an unlikely low-level effervescence and voila! ‘The beer of good cheer’, or alcoholic cottage cheese, the cruel might argue.  

Five of the best, but there are heaps more – let us know your favourites on twitter @GeckosTales and on facebook

For our contacts list click here or email us here.

• Tweet