How to Properly Drink Around The World

[PAcpl]

I have heard for years that you want to go counter clockwise when drinking around the world and start at Canada. Which makes sense, starting with the tequila in Mexico could be a painful start. But I have also always gone with the age old saying "beer before liquor you've never been sicker, liquor before beer you're in the clear". If one were to start at Canada and the UK you're going to be starting with beer and ending with liquor, so is that a really good decision? Has anyone tried both directions and had better results traveling one way over the other?

PSA - Next week is my nieces 21st birthday and since our trip was canceled we are going to do our own version of drinking and eating around the world, responsibly. I've figured out the menu, now I just need some advice on which direction to go. Hopefully from guests that have some experience with this challenge.

Thanks!

 

[KingSpeedy]

I've always understood the "liquor before beer vs beer before liquor" thing to be more about pacing. The tipsier you get, the faster you're likely to drink, so finishing with beer is likely to be gentler on your body than finishing by throwing back a shot. Both might have the same amount of alcohol, but the beer will take longer to drink and absorb. If you're pacing out the countries and not rushing from one drink to the next, I think you'd be ok in either direction.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Don't think I've ever really managed to have a drink in every country - that couldn't possibly go well for me.... College was more than 20 years ago and even back then more than a dozen drinks led to blackouts and liquid laughter...

Anyway, for me, it's not so much where to start, but deciding on the types of drinks. If I want to drink more, I tend to focus on slushes and wines - low volume and low octane.

 

[loves to dive]

We have actually done it three different ways. We've done beer around the world and I can't tell which way we went because we just sort of did it. There were three of us and we actually shared one beer in each country and made sure we got something to eat about every 2nd or 3rd country and we all made sure we drank water. We also did liquer, in some countries we had to go into the bar to do it but we did it with 3 people again. We have done wine as well, again we had to go into the bar at some countries and it was just two of us so it took a little longer and we actually stopped once for a full out meal instead of snacks.

 

[PAcpl]

Thanks for the replies, I get it, regardless of the direction food & pacing is the key. And I agree with you Schnee, I like the concept of drinking around the world, but at 43 I couldn't imagine taking on that challenge. I am usually good with a nice tequila in Mexico (Thank you Fran, Pepe and Humberto), a glass of wine or Limoncello in Italy and then a double Grey Goose Citron slushy in France at the end of the day. Although, I think I would be up to the drinking around the world wine challenge, I never considered that. I might have to steal that idea, thanks.

Our plan is to have the 11 drinks from around the world with food from the same country (Margarita and Nachos, Canto Loopy and Potstickers, etc.). She will be making this trek with her boyfriend so the two of them will be splitting the drink in each country. I figured we can pull off two countries an hour so the drinking window would be 5-6 hours which is a good enough pace.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Spirits before beer and factor in ‘grain or grape but never the twain ’. Have lots of fun.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

I have heard for years that you want to go counter clockwise when drinking around the world and start at Canada. Which makes sense, starting with the tequila in Mexico could be a painful start. But I have also always gone with the age old saying "beer before liquor you've never been sicker, liquor before beer you're in the clear". If one were to start at Canada and the UK you're going to be starting with beer and ending with liquor, so is that a really good decision? Has anyone tried both directions and had better results traveling one way over the other?

PSA - Next week is my nieces 21st birthday and since our trip was canceled we are going to do our own version of drinking and eating around the world, responsibly. I've figured out the menu, now I just need some advice on which direction to go. Hopefully from guests that have some experience with this challenge.

Thanks!

We did this two years ago in July for my daughter's 21st birthday. There were five (5) of us total - two of use in our 40's and three of us in our 20's. It was a HOT summer day - and we live in Texas so we do know "hot".

We went slowwww around the worlds (read: it was DARK by the time that we hit Mexico) and started out counterclockwise in Canada.

**Actually, we started in Mexico with drinks and then had a FP across Epcot so we decided to re-start in Canada.

Starting in Canada, I hounded everyone and made everyone drink one one bottle of water per alcoholic beverage (yes, they still talk about it to this day). We even ate around the world (having a sit down at Rose & Crown for fish and chips) because we are foodies. By the time we got to Japan one of the 20 somethings was overheated and so we all got a Kakigori shaved ice and I didn't force them to drink water after the sake. lol

By the time we got to Mexico we were definitely feeling our drinks....

I hope that you have a BLAST!

Edited to add that I'm from PA, outside of Philly too, but live in humid, hot Texas.