While street food is our main travel concern, drinks come a close second, so what are the best Cambodian drinks? We’ve put together our 7 best Cambodian drinks to try within the Kingdom.
To read about Cambodian Cuisine click here.
Cambodian Drinks – 7 of the best
Sp for this list, it is not a 1-7 type deal, but the best drink in various categories! Covering locally brewed hooch, to the most refreshing drinks you can buy on the street. Here’s the Cambodian drinks list.
Cambodian Drinks – Best Lager
OK, so for this one we are ignoring the craft beer scene, which we will cover later. This is the best of the locally brewed beers in the country. The beer scene largely consists of Angkor Beer, Cambodia Beer, Ganzberg and Mattrid.
Of these only the first two are palatable. Overall I would say Cambodia beer is the best mass produced beer in the Kingdom, particularly when a draft is but 50 cents.
To read about Cambodia beer click here.
Best Craft Beer in Cambodia
Cambodia might not have a great craft beer scene when compared with say, Seattle, but for Asia it is damned good. There are a number of great brewers, such as Fuzzy Logic, who I will cover later. The best craft beer in Cambodia though is Durian Beer, made b Stine Head,w which you can read about here.
Best alcopop in Cambodia
Best drinks of Cambodia would not be complete without including a Hard Lemonade. Fuzzy Logic Hard Lemonade is the best that there is and alarmingly refreshing. I have not given it an article yet, but it shall happen.
Cambodian Drinks – Best Whisky
There is a thing called Khmer Whisky. It costs under $2, will get your drunk, but is horrendous. There is though a new whisky which has won awards called Holly Creek. Based out of Siem Reap they have copied Jack Daniels, or rather emulated would be a better way of putting it. A fine whisky and one that is likely to take the region by storm at some point – probably post-pandemic…
Cambodian Drinks – Most lethal
Cambodian Rice Wine is not found everywhere like in China, or Vietnam, in fact I have yet to try it. There is though an almost monthly occurrence where someone dies after drinking it. I still want to try Cambodian Rice Wine though because I am a dare-devil.
To read about death by Rice Wine click here
Best Cambodian Soft-drink
Of course you can buy Coke, Sprite and the like, but Cambodia also make their very own Cola called Ize. Ive even done a taste test and it fared better than Pepsi. They also make a few other flavours, but Ize Cola is the best indigenous soft-drink in the Kingdom.
To read about Ize click here.
Best fruit juice in Cambodia
Cambodia do fruit juice and they do it very very well. Therefore while it is hard to pick a favorite, there is one that is the most iconic. Sugar cane juice can be found in the boonies and in the heart of the cities. They have special machines and this goes perfectly with street food in Cambodia. It only further begs the question though, “why no Cambodian rum”?
Bonus Round – Can you drink the water in Cambodia?
This is technically a no and people will have water delivered cheaply to their homes, or it can picked up in big 5 liter bottles from stores. Of course there is also lots of locally made smaller bottles that are more than palatable.
Extra Bonus Round – Cambodian Drinks – Soju?
OK, so yes we get it Soju is Korean, BUT Ginro is the biggest selling liquor brand in the world. Soju is available in most corner stores and is basically the default liquor of Cambodia! I remember having raw shrimp soaked in Soju, a real treat!
Can you drink tap-water in Cambodia? Not really, but if you’ve in the big cities and the water looks clear enough then I personally boil and drink the water in Cambodia, still less deadly than local rice wine.
And that is the Cambodian drinks scene! You will not go thirsty drinking in Cambodia.