I ordered a beer in 81 countries, from Austria to Zambia and everywhere in between.
Can you guess which country has the cheapest beer in the world?
The criteria for the “Cheapest Beer in the World Index” is:
- It has to be a beer that I actually drank, in a bar or restaurant. The price of a beer in a grocery store is not acceptable.
- Tipping cost is not factored in. Taxes are. The price in US dollars is calculated based on the market exchange rate on that day.
- It should be at least a 12 oz/330 ml beer, but if a larger beer is customary in that country, it will be listed at the actual price.
- Only the cheapest beer consumed in the country is listed, no matter how good or bad it might have been.
Drinking beers all over the the world is an arduous and thankless job,
but I do it just for you, the readers of Worldwide Wilbur.
Cheapest Beer in the World Index:
“28 Hopelessly High-Priced Hops”
These are the countries that might hurt your wallet
Kuwait – One Millllllion Dollars Kuwait is actually a dry country. There is no alcohol sold or allowed into the country. No beer was had here. I have to rank this as the most expensive beer, because the cost of getting caught with one would certainly be over $10. Read more about Kuwait here.
Brunei – A pile of bureaucratic red tape. Brunei is also a dry country. There is no alcohol sold here, BUT it is legal for non-muslims to bring in a small amount of beer. So, no beer was had here either. Read more about Brunei here.
Oman – $11.69 Oman is a lovely country, full of friendly people. Beer is hard to find, only available in expensive tourist hotels. Your best bet is to buy a case of beer in the airport duty free on your way into the country. In charming Muscat, the Intercontinental’s Al Ghazal pub has Carlsberg draft for 4.5 rial.
United Arab Emirates – $10.62 Any world traveler is going to pass through Dubai sooner or later. You can get beer here in most hotel bars and restaurants, and a few other high end bars and clubs. At the rooftop bar of the Crowne Plaza Deira a Stella draft is 39 AED.
Qatar – $9.89 In the Doha airport you can get a bottle of Tiger beer for 36 Rial. It’s very hard to find a beer in this strict Islamic country. Your only option is pricey five-star hotel bars and the airport.
Bahrain – $9.20 You might have guessed that due to the beer prices, the Gulf States aren’t at the top of my list of fun travel destinations. Bahrain is the sole exception. With 8,300 U.S. military personnel stationed here, Bahrain has wisely opted to let people have a little fun. It’s not in contention for the cheapest beer in the world, but you can listen to a kick-ass live band and get a pint of Harp at JJ’s Irish Restaurant in Manama for 3.5 Dinar.
Finland – $8.71 After the Gulf states, the most painful beer prices are found in the Nordic countries. I had a delicious Nightshift stout for 7.90 Euro in the Juova Hanahuone craft beer gastropub in Helsinki. I think I could beat this price with more time to search the dive bars, but this was the best I could do on a 24hr layover.
Norway – $8.39 Norway has some crazy expensive beer prices. $10 to $12 is the norm. My all-time record most expensive beer was a $16.48 pint at the Vinyl bar in Bergen. It’s generally much more expensive than Finland, but I did score a lovely Sumbel Porter at the stunning viking-decor Aegir Brewery in Flam for just 85 Kroner. It’s so unbelievably beautiful in Norway, the sky-high prices somehow seem reasonable.
Jordan – $7.05 Jordan is a lovely place to visit, with friendly people, and sights like Petra, The Dead Sea, and the beaches of Aqaba. They do have a tasty home-brewed beer called Carakale, another pretty bad local beer “Petra”, and locally brewed Amstel. Sadly, taxes are high on alcohol, and the cheapest I could find was 5 Jordanian Dinar at Bawabit Madaba restaurant in Madaba town.
Ireland – $6.81 Ireland is the home of one of the greatest beers of the world; Guinness. The brewery at St. James Gate has been churning out the good stuff since 1759. The Temple Bar area of Dublin is the most expensive place in the country to order a pint. And that is where I got this one for 6 Euro. If you make it to Dublin, don’t miss a tour of the Guinness Brewery. With a pre-booked ticket, you’ll skip the long lines, get to see how it’s brewed, learn to pour the perfect pint, and drink one at the end. And one piece of important advice, never order an Irish Car Bomb or a Black and Tan in an Irish pub in Ireland. The first drink should be self-explanatory, click to read more about the second.
Morocco – $6.42 Morocco is wonderfully cheap for hotels and great food, but not so much for beer. It is a more conservative society than most people realize, and beer is heavily taxed and hard to find. I spent 10 days in the country and almost never found a place serving beer. I finally broke down and paid 60 dirham for a bottle of the Philippines finest – San Miguel, at a rooftop bar just outside the medina of Marrakech.
Iceland – $6.02 I spent a day hopping the many excellent bars of lovely Reykjavik, and can confirm that beer in Iceland is VERY expensive. A normal price for a beer out on the town is at least $10. All the bars have happy hour specials, so if you go out early, you can get a Gull lager for 750 kroner at The Dubliner. Gull is bland at best, but the Kaldi Dark Lager pictured above is quite good. If I had more time in town, I would have liked to have done the Reykjavik Beer Tasting and Tapas Tour Read about how to save money in Iceland here.
Djibouti – $5.60 If you read my Djibouti Travel Guide, you’ll know exactly what I think of this dump. I paid 1000 francs for a nice Ethiopian beer that would have cost just $1.11 a couple hundred miles away in Addis Ababa.
Liechtenstein – $5.43 Why go to Liechtenstein? You got me. Tax evasion? Non-extradition treaties? It’s probably not for the beer. It’s basically a tiny subset of Switzerland with Swiss prices to match. I had a beer for 5 swiss Francs in BarDuz.
Russia – $5.24 I haven’t really been to Russia either, but I transited in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where you can get a bottle of Carlsberg for 295 rubles. I’m sure a back street bar in a no-name town is a lot cheaper. The next time I’m in Moscow, I’m going to do the Pub Crawl by Soviet van.
Canada – $5.20 I had a can of Moosehead for 6.00 Canadian Dollars + 15% tax at the Char and Chowder restaurant in lovely Saint Andrews, New Brunswick. I’m sure this price could come down if I’d had time to explore some less swanky joints.
Monaco – $5.04 This one shouldn’t be too surprising. Monaco is the richest country per capita in the world. In the land of Bentleys and Ferraris one should expect to pay 4.20 Euro for a draft beer in a harborside restaurant.
Maldives – $4.88 I’m not sure if the price was due to being captive audience on a resort island, or due to the Maldives strict Islamic law than bans alcohol everywhere in the country except the resort islands? Anyway, when you are on a tiny dot in the middle of the Indian Ocean, you are going to sip a Carlsberg whatever the cost.
Lebanon – $4.64 Ok, so Lebanon recently ended a war with Israel, and the country is effectively run by Hezbollah, an Islamic militia labeled a terrorist organization by the US, but blah blah blah, I’m telling you this place is FUN! Beirut has great bars. I enjoyed an Almaza for 7000 pounds at bar Ferdinand.
Luxembourg – $4.44 I only spent one day in Luxembourg, so I probably could have found a cheaper beer. The rude waiter in the pizza place served me some Bofferding for 3.70 Euro.
Switzerland – $4.43 You’ll be wowed by the stunning Swiss Alps, and even more wowed by the bill in every restaurant and bar! I love Switzerland, I just can’t afford to stay. You can get a 300ml glass of local beer for 4 Swiss Francs at the Avocado Bar in lovely Zermatt.
Sweden – $4.41 At the Central Bar in Stockholm, you can get a Falcon draft for 49 Swedish Krona. Falcon is pretty bad, it seems to be the loss leader in every bar in Stockholm, considerably cheaper than any other beer. This Swedish beer is half the price of a beer in any other Scandinavian/Nordic country so I can’t complain.
Israel – $4.22 Beer (and everything) is very expensive in fantastic Tel Aviv. Usually in the $7 to $8 dollar range in any bar. I lucked out at the tiny Theodorus Ethiopian Restaurant and had a Gold Star Lager for just 15 Shekels. Better to grab one from a corner store and take it across the street to the beach.
San Marino – $4.18 Where the heck is San Marino? It’s a tiny mountain country completely surrounded by Italy. It makes a living off tax evaders, weapons sales, and busloads of daytrip tourists. I had a 330ml bottle of local Titanbrau for 3.80 Euro at the little cafe at the top of the mountain.
United Kingdom – $4.02 The UK has a long tradition of great beer, even if they do drink some of it at room temperature. I had a lager at the Cardiff City Arms for three pounds sterling.
Palau – $4.00 The Pristine Paradise of Palau has one excellent national beer, Red Rooster. It comes in several flavors, and the Red Rooster Stout went down very smoothly at the Bottom Time bar after a full day of SCUBA diving with sharks.
Egypt – $3.87 In many Muslim majority countries, beer can be hard to find. Egypt is an exception. It has a sizeable christian population, and they brew their own national beer, Stella (not to be confused with the globally imported Stella Artois) It’s actually really good. You still have to look for the few licensed liquor stores or a hotel bar to buy it. At the Cairo Hilton a can of Stella is 105 Egyptian pounds.
Vatican City – $3.85 You can get a beer in the capitol of Catholicism? You sure can. You can’t take it into the Sistine Chapel, but I had a can of Peroni for 3.50 Euro at the lunch cart in St Peter’s Square.
Cheapest Beer in the World Index:
“25 Moderately Mediocre Malts”
Some decent bargain beers can be found here:
France – $3.09 We spent two weeks crossing France from north to south, so 2.5 Euro is a pretty fair indicator of “as cheap as it gets”. France makes terrible beer. I’ve tried to block out of my mind the brand names of the awful swill I tried. (Kronenbourg 1664) It’s my own fault for not switching to wine like any intelligent person would. Next time I’m going to get some professional advice on France’s better beers on the Paris Pub Crawl.
Malta – $3.09 Cisk, the national beer of Malta, isn’t going to win any awards, but Malta is such a cool place that I didn’t notice. 2.5 Euro was the cheapest suds on this fascinating Mediterranean island. Paceville is where the party is at. You should get a proper introduction to the nightlife on the Paceville Pub Crawl.
Belarus – $3.06 Belarusian beer was surprisingly expensive compared to its bargain basement neighbor Ukraine. I had hoped it could contend for the cheapest beer in the world. After five days here, I never paid less than 6 Rubles for excellent brown ale. Fun fact: Belarusians almost never smile, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they want to kill you. Next time I go, I’m doing the Minsk City Pub Crawl. Read more about Minsk here.
Micronesia – $3.00 Shed a tear for tiny Micronesia. They have no national beer. Or currency. On Pohnpei, you’ll pay three US dollars for a Steinlager at the Mangrove Bay bar. But the views are tropical, and the beer is cold.
Marshall Islands – $3.00 Another group of even smaller specks of land in the Pacific, the Marshall Islanders also consume US dollars and beer. On Kwajalein, you can sip a Bud Lite at the Ocean View Club for 3 bucks, while watching missiles splash into the lagoon. Read about how to get to off-limits Kwajalein here.
Lesotho – $2.87 Lesotho is a tiny, bleak, windswept country, completely surrounded by South Africa. If you hire a 4×4, you can drive up the Sani Pass and have a Maluti for 40 Rand at Sani Mountain Lodge, the highest pub in Africa at 9500 feet.
Austria – $2.84 Austria has a distinguished history of beer brewing, much like its neighbors to the north, Germany and Czech Republic. I found a bargain deal at Delights of India in Vienna; a big 500ml can of Steigl for 2.5 Euro.
Thailand – $2.55 By Southeast Asia standards, Thailand has very expensive beer. Especially in Bangkok. The best deal you can find is a Chang at Cheap Charlie’s Bar for 80 Baht. You can get a taste of the crazy nightlife on the Bangkok Bar Crawl.
Belgium – $2.53 Belgium is known as one of the greatest beer countries in the world. It regularly competes with Germany and Czech Republic for the best beer. Jupiler Pils is certainly not one of those beers, but you can get a bottle for 2.30 Euro at a side alley bar in lovely Bruges. Next time you find yourself in Brussels, I highly recommend the Belgian Beer Tasting Experience.
Tunisia – $2.53 After ten days in teetotaler Morocco, Tunisia was a breath of fresh air. And by air, I mean beer. Tunisia is an Islamic country, but much more liberal than any other I’ve visited. You can get a Celtia anywhere, and for as cheap as 6.10 Dinar.
Greece – $2.50 Greece’s national beer Mythos is truly awful. Fix Hellas is better. Alpha as well. At least it is all easy to find, and as cheap as 2 Euro.
Cyprus – $2.50 Cyprus is culturally the same as Greece, except with less Parthenon, and more Russian money-laundering. Thankfully instead of Mythos, they have a decent national beer of KEO for 2 Euro.
Mauritius – $2.46 Mauritius is a gorgeous tropical wonderland island way off the coast of Africa, populated by Indians and European expats. I don’t know what all that should mean for beer, but I could get a cold Phoenix for 85 rupees.
Benin – $2.40 The well-kept embassy neighborhood of Cotonou has a few restaurants where you can get a Castel for 1500 CFA. I’m sure I could find cheaper than this, but in my short stay, this was the best price I saw.
Bulgaria – $2.36 Beautiful Bulgaria offers some of the best value for your travels in Europe. Ski resorts, Black sea beaches, great food, it’s well worth a trip. If you make it to the capitol of Sofia, be sure to try the Sofia Pub Crawl. I found a Staropramen draft for just 4.10 Lev at the Dobro restaurant.
Sri Lanka – $2.27 Sri Lanka is beautiful, but most definitely NOT a drinking culture. In the culturally rich city of Kandy, only 2 or 3 places even serve alcohol. It was occasionally a struggle to find a beer, but you can usually find a Lion Lager for 350 rupees.
Kenya – $2.26 Oh Kenya, how i miss you. And your big bottles of Tusker baridi (cold). Nairobi is the nightlife capital of East Africa. Only Kampala can rival the fun to be had. And you can find a Tusker anywhere. I paid 230 shillings at a swanky bar the last time I was in town on a layover. You can find them as low as 150 shillings in the pitch-dark back-alley bars where the bartender sits behind a metal cage and slides your beer through an opening! Just watch your back. Nairobi is far from safe after the sun goes down! Let someone else do the planning with the Nairobi By Night tour.
Spain – $2.25 Spanish beer is much the same as the beer found in it’s many Latin American colonial offshoots; pale lager, little taste. One weird thing in Spain is you can buy beers in tiny 6.7 ounce / 200ml bottles. It can be fun to knock down a whole six-pack of little baby beers (known as cana), but actually only imbibe the equivalent of two and a half man-size German beers. At La Cabanita Park near Maspalomas, you can get a regular size 330ml bottle of Tropical for two euro.
Armenia – $2.25 I really enjoyed the tangy taste of Kilikia, the most popular beer in Armenia. Yerevan is a lovely cosmopolitan city, full of Kardashian look-alikes. You can get a bottle of Kilikia for just 900 Drams at Face Pub.
Croatia – $2.21 Croatia has your run of the mill light lagers found everywhere on earth, as well as some good imports from Czechia and other Balkan nations. I paid 16Kuna for this 0.3l draft of excellent Karlovacko Crno at Submarine restaurant in Zagreb.
Germany – $2.17 Ah, Germany. You’ll never have trouble finding a beer in Germany. You can even have one at a kids soccer game, during a business lunch, walking down the street, anywhere. The beers are excellent, and nearly always reasonably priced. The standard price for a quality 500ml draft at a Biergarten is 4-something euro. At lower end street-side bars you may find beers in the 3 euro range. After two years living in Germany, my all-time record for the cheapest beer is in the dive bars a block off the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. Specifically, at the “Trink Ba” formerly known as “Bar 99 cent”, where you can get a locally brewed Astra for just 2 Euro! Get the inside scoop on the best of German beer on the Berlin Beer Tasting Tour
Kazakhstan – $2.01 In lovely Almaty I got a pint of Harat’s Lager at the Guinness Pub for just 895 Tenge. Almaty has excellent nightlife, and a mix of Central Asian and Russian people having fun in the green city’s parks surrounded by snow-capped mountains.
Moldova – $2.01 Moldova is kinda the end-of-the-line on the Eastern European train. Not many get that far, but if you do, you’ll be glad you came. In Chisinau, a green city full of parks, you can get a bottle of Chisinau beer for 35 Leu.
Belize – $2.00 Come on down to Caye Caulker. We’ve got a bicycle and cold bottle of Belikin waiting for you at the ferry dock. At happy hour you can get one for just 4 Belizean dollars.
USA – $2.00 In Binghamton, New York you’ll find a tiny neighborhood bar called Abel’s Pub. They have Yuengling on draft for just two bucks! That’s tax included, cash only. I challenge my readers to find a a cheaper every-day bargain in the USA! Come for PorchFest next summer!
Cheapest Beer in the World Index:
“28 Lovely Low-cost Lagers”
Stretch your drinking dollar in these countries!
Mexico – $1.97 You can get a cold Carta Blanca on draft at Lucid bar in Sayulita for just 40 pesos. I’m sure you can find cheaper than this in a non-touristy town in the interior of the country, but this is a pretty good price for a classy bar just a few feet from the Pacific Ocean.
Slovenia – $1.83 Slovenia might be the most underrated destination in Europe. It sits at the foot of the Alps, wedged between Italy and Austria, with stunning alpine lakes, castles, 19th century Austro-Hungarian architecture, and excellent beer! You can get a cold Union Tamno Pivo (dark lager beer) on draft at the Levstik Pub in Ljubljana for just 1.80 Euro. This is quite possibly my favorite beer EVER! To find your favorite Slovenian craft beer, try the Beer Tasting Tour in Ljubljana. Read more about Slovenia here.
Georgia – $1.82 Georgia is a beautiful country, and riverside Tbilisi was my favorite city in the Caucasus. It’s got great food, friendly people, and cheap beer. I paid 5 Lari for an Ossetian draft beer at Alani restaurant in Tbilisi.
Romania – $1.74 Romania has some excellent Czech-style lagers. Ursus Black is one of my favorites. When I was in Timisoara, I got a glass of Timisoreana for just 8 Lei at the Timisoreana Brewery.
Kyrgyzstan – $1.71 In Bishkek I got a pint of Harat’s Lager at the Guinness Pub for just 150 Som. Bishkek has to be the cheapest city in Central Asia. Friendly people, and lots of cafes and bars around.
Kosovo – $1.64 Kosovo has come a long way since the war years of the 90’s. You’ll see snow-capped mountains, eat delicious Balkan food, and meet friendly people. They love Americans (if you happen to be one) and even have a statue of Bill Clinton. The national beer is Peja, and you can get one for just 1.5 Euro at the ski resort O’Deer Cafe Bar in Boge.
Zimbabwe – $1.50 Poor Zim has had some tough times these last twenty years or so. Hopefully things will turn around in this lovely country. There’s a lot to see here, and they need your tourist bucks. Stop into the Mutare Club and have a Golden Pilsener or a Castle Lager for $1.50 US. Yep, they use US dollars in Zimbabwe, as nobody trusts whatever garbage the government is printing these days.
North Macedonia – $1.43 This country with a brand new name deserves more tourists. Its charming little capital Skopje has more statues than any city on earth. And for just 80 Denars, you can find a cold bottle of Skopsko (I swear that’s what the label reads. It’s in Cyrillic).
Eswatini – $1.40 Don’t call it Swaziland if you want the barman to slide you a cold Sibebe Premium Lager for 20 Rand. Swazis like their beer, but they didn’t like their colonial national name, so the king changed it to Eswatini in 2018. Fun Fact: King Mswati III has 15 wives, and picks up a new one every couple of years at the Reed Festival.
Rwanda – $1.35 Sleepy Kigali may be the most pleasant, clean, safe, and boring city in Africa. The police don’t take bribes. The entire poulation is legally required to come out and clean the streets one day a month. The nightlife is missing something. Not much going on here. You can get a Mutzig for 1200 Francs at one of the few roadside bars.
Transnistria – $1.33 Ok, I know Transnistria is not a member of the U.N. and not recognized as a country, but this is my beer list, so I can do whatever I want. This fascinating place is as much of a country as anywhere else I’ve been. And it’s got great dark beer for just 20 Roubles. It isn’t quite the cheapest beer in the world, but probably the best value beer in the world. I didn’t get the name of the beer because the menu was in cyrillic, so I had to just point at the picture and grunt “BEEEER” like a moron. It all worked out.
Tanzania – $1.28 We spent six days hiking up and down 19,341 foot Mount Kilimanjaro. Note: There are no bars on the hike up Kilimanjaro. Major investment opportunity for someone there. After six days of much hiking, and no beer, we were sooo happy to pay 3000 Shillings for a Kilimanjaro Premium Lager in Moshi town. Serengeti, Safari, and Ndovu all taste about the same as this one.
South Africa – $1.22 South Africans like to party. Whoo yeah. Cape Town, Durban, anywhere you go, you’ll find some hopping bars. The bars look just like any you would find in America. Except white folks and black folks still often stay in different self-segregated bars, which I found shocking and sad. Their currency has taken a beating over the last few years, to your benefit. You can get a Carling Black Label for 17 Rand in the small town of Swellendam. And where else can you see rhino, lions, and giraffe AND craft beer on the same tour? Only on the Cape Town Game Drive and Craft Beer Tour.
Hungary – $1.20 Bootyfest, ahem, excuse me, BUDAPEST has phenomenal bars and clubs. I wouldn’t say beer is a Hungarian specialty, unlike their neighbors Czech Republic and Austria, but there is plenty of it, and it can be cheap if you pick the right bar. I found a draft Borsodi for only 390 forint in ruin bar Fuge Udvar. There are soooo many little interesting bars to explore, but the cool ones can be hard to find. I highly recommend doing the Budapest Pub Crawl to get to all the best spots, and have a fun time with new friends. I had so much fun, I went TWICE!
Azerbaijan – $1.18 I was really pleasantly surprised by Baku, the modern capitol of Azerbaijan. It’s a spotlessly clean seaside city, sort of a mini-Dubai full of interesting glass skyscrapers. Most Muslim-majority countries tax alcohol prohibitively, but not Azerbaijan. You can get a delicious Xirdalan draft at Road Pub for just 2 Manat.
Serbia – $1.14 Serbia has some outstanding nightlife and delicious beer. Belgrade is most famous for its Splavovi, riverside barge nightclubs that blast music till sunrise. You won’t find cheap beer in the Splavs, but on a side street in charming Zemun, you can find a draft Lav for only 120 Dinars. I recommend upgrading to a Niksicko Tamno dark lager. Belgrade is a big, wild city, and I started off my visit by joining the Belgrade Pub Crawl.
Italy – $1.11 Italy? A major Western European nation breaking into the cheapest beer locations in the world? I was surprised too, but it’s true. In Naples, you’ll find several bars in the Piazza Bellini area offering bottles of Peroni for just one Euro. Among them are the #11 Bar, the Amnesia Bar, and Bar Fiorillo. On weekends, Piazza Bellini packs in a thousand people hanging around mostly just outside the bars, with street performers, musicians, and an all around party atmosphere.
Ethiopia – $1.11 Addis Ababa has some strange nightlife. There are dirt floor, single-lightbulb, corrugated sheet metal shacks, blasting deafening African hip-hop with the bass turned to 11, and packed with people drinking beer for a dollar. And then there are high-class hotel rooftop bars with socialites drinking cocktails for $10. But nothing in-between. Weird. Anyway, at any bar or restaurant, you can find some quality Ethiopian brewed beer like St. George for as little as 30 Birr.
Uganda – $1.09 Kampala! I love your mud-filled alleys, your 2am rotisserie chicken salesmen, your friendly, talkative, beer-chugging, madly dancing people. I love that I can walk home on your pitch-black cracked streets at any hour and not fear for my life. You are Nairobi without the Nairobbery. This mzungu looks forward to his next Nile Special for 4000 Shillings.
Czech Republic – $1.05 While not quite #1 for cheapness, the Czech Republic is #1 for quality in my book. I love a Czech dark lager above all else. Staropramen, Krusovice, Budvar, Kozel, I love em all. If you only visit Prague, you’ll pay a lot more than a buck. Get out into the countryside and the prices drop quick. I had a pint of Eggenberg in a plastic cup at the top of the castle in Cesky Krumlov for just 23 Koruny.
Philippines – $1.02 You can sit on a Pacific beach and sip a bottle of San Miguel Light for just 60 pesos at Pito’s Sutokil, in Santiago Bay, Camotes Islands. You can even get a full meal for about three dollars more. The Philippines are warm, fun, friendly, and so so cheap.
Mozambique – $0.98 Oh, how I miss Tofo Beach! It ticks all my boxes for paradise. White sand. Warm Indian Ocean waves. Snorkeling, Diving. Expats managing delicious pizza joints, and laid back ocean-view bars. And you can get my absolute all-time favorite African beer, Laurentina Preta, for as low as 60 Meticals per beer. It didn’t win cheapest beer in the world, but it would be my top value pick as the “cheapest best beer”.. I gotta get back there before the South Africans buy up everything.
Madagascar – $0.96 This huge island feels like being at the far end of the world. Mountains and beaches, massive baobab trees and lemurs. It’s unlike anywhere else. It’s also one of the five poorest nations on Earth, and everything is very, very cheap. The nightlife is not so hot, as most people are struggling just to get by. Any bars will be filled with mostly European expats and a handful of tourists. You can always find a big bottle of Three Horses Beer for as low as 3000 Ariary.
Zambia – $0.90 If you are coming to Zambia, you are almost certainly coming to see Victoria Falls. Nearby Livingstone is where you’ll stay. It’s a fun town. Unpretentious bars with live music pack in both locals and tourists together. Zambians are friendly and fun-loving. And they love their Mosi Lager. I paid just 9 Kwacha for a Mosi in an empty bar where I took shelter from a rainstorm.
Ghana – $0.85 Friendly, fun Ghana has great deals on beer if you know where to look. At Duncan’s Pub in Accra, you can get a smooth Club from the tap for just 10 Cedis. Ghanians love their beer, and you’ll rarely drink alone, as you’ll have a local telling you “You are welcome!” in no time. Ghanians are at the top of my list of favorite people in Africa, and I can’t wait to see more of their country.
Togo – $0.80 The dusty, muddy, horn-honking, moto revving streets of Lome, Togo are difficult to love. But if you need a break from walking through the chaos, you can get a cold bottle of Castel for just 500 CFA at St Jacques Bar. We spent an hour here, shielded from the grime and noise just a bit.
Ukraine – $0.60 Kyiv is a wild, crazy, fun city. You can find upscale clubs where oligarchs are buying thousand dollar bottles of Cristal. And you can find back alley bars where broke students are buying draft beer for JUST 60 CENTS! At Bar Palata #6 I paid just 16 Hryvnia for a pint of local beer. Which is nearly the cheapest pint in the world. I was so confused by this bill (totaling $3.60 for the 6 pints my two friends and I drank), I told the bartender “I want to pay for ALL the beers, not just mine.” He looked at the bill, squinted and said, “That IS all the beers.” Our visit to this bar included a bizarre ritual of donning a flame retardant jumpsuit, an army helmet, drinking multicolored shots, having the bartender set our helmets ON FIRE, then blowing a fireball against the charred wall, and smashing an empty keg on our heads to extinguish the flames. If you want a guide to such places, try the Kiev Bar Crawl Tour. (Written in 2017 -Hoping for a peace to return to Ukraine soon!)
So where is the cheapest beer in the world?
Vietnam!
Vietnam – $0.43 It’s true what you have heard about beer in Vietnam. It is incredibly cheap. Actually most everything is extremely cheap in Vietnam. At a streetside outdoor restaurant in Nha Trang, I had this can of Tiger for just 10,000 Dong, which is 43 cents US! In fact Vietnam is so cheap, it blurs the lines of the standard I set of “a beer in a bar or restaurant”. This particular “restaurant” was a single tiny room in a side alley, with a food cart out front. The seating was outside in little plastic kids chairs that started to collapse each time I shifted my American size frame. A horde of rats crept one at a time out of the building, becoming bolder, and ever closer to our table as the night wore on. No Michelin stars were to be found here. Still, the food served was fresh and delicious, and the beer was cold. I think it counts.
But wait, it gets even cheaper than this! Vietnam has a unique type of beer. Draft-only ‘Bia Hoi” is brewed daily by local breweries and delivered to local bars in steel barrels. It has no preservatives and thus has to be consumed that day. You can find it at all the cheap streetside carts where locals eat. It usually isn’t served by the pint, but rather in two liter jugs set in a bucket of ice. I tried it and it’s very tasty, as good as any bottled light beer. I did the math on how much it costs per 330ml, and it came out to around 25 cents! Unquestionably the cheapest beer in the world. Why didn’t I list it then? For one, it generally has only 3% alcohol content. We have to draw a line in the sand that defines a “beer”, and I’m cutting it off at 4.0% alcohol. Secondly, it is rarely served in single servings of 330 to 500ml. As such, I’m not counting unregulated, very light beers like “Bia Hoi”. (But if I lived in Vietnam, I sure would drink them!)
And please, before you leave a comment on how stupid I am,
and that I could have gotten a beer much cheaper at XYZ bar,
remember that these are the actual prices I paid,
representing one persons experience,
and not a scientific measure of the beer of your fine country by any means.
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