Fake Alcohol in Saigon

I have heard of it before . One time i was in Danang and drank a bottle of Jim Beam at this bar and was not even drunk

I am sure that it exists and have had many people re live their experiences with it

Oh come on. Please don't tell me that you have not been warned about this.
Ask any of your Vietnamese colleagues or relatives and they will tell you.
Ask any drinkers and they'll tell you how to spot a fake bottle.

.... and what make you think you are any safer with drinking beer? 

You ain't in Kansas anymore.

Cause I drink saigon beer, 333, heineken and tiger and nothing happened.
If you drink a cocktails obviously u dont see the bottle lady? Im not that stupid but Vietnam shoudl stop counterfeiting everything! No wonder nobody wants to invest here ... scammers, muggers I can deal with them but risking my life while drinking a normal cocktails which wasnt cheap? Jesus ... btw i dont ask my older female mates (all married dont drink) about drinking. do u go to your boss and say SUP SEP hows the alcohol in vietnam?

So Anatta , how do you spot a fake bottle that sits on a shelf behind a bar ??

Happy8888 wrote:

So Anatta , how do you spot a fake bottle that sits on a shelf behind a bar ??

she doesnt spot it. She knows it since she is the bargirl u know:)

now now missmae , steady steady

LoL, be careful with wine at the bar. Most of them are fake ones. Vietnamese don't produce it, just import (illegally of course) from China. Also, be careful with heneiken also. I've heard that heineiken is a top counterfeit beer in Vietnam. Just stick to 333 and tigerbeer, Saigonexport (blue label). Haha good luck

TonyVu , sorry but i beg to differ about the wine . Wine is produced in Dalat , its called Vang Dalat , red and bloody good

To start with, I am not a drinker.
Here is what people tell me, as far as I remember.
- They don't order cocktails, since the risks for mixing fake alcohol is too great.
- One can buy chemicals in certain markets in Saigon to make up for any taste, so taste does not mean anything.
- If they drink alcohol, Vietnamese order the whole bottle. They will then look at the color, the seal and the air bubbles. A lot of specific details which I don't remember. One does stick out of my mind: they will look for tiny defects/scars at the bottom of the bottle. The sophisticated fakers will drill a tiny hole through the bottom. They suck out the alcohol, pump in the fake and seal the hole. This operation will leave a tiny scar where the hole was.

Thanks , i will make sure i carry my magnifying glass with me from now on

missmae wrote:

Happy8888 wrote:

So Anatta , how do you spot a fake bottle that sits on a shelf behind a bar ??

she doesnt spot it. She knows it since she is the bargirl u know:)

I have to laugh this one out. Everyone who has participated in this forum long enough knows that I am a guy.

Happy8888 wrote:

Thanks , i will make sure i carry my magnifying glass with me from now on

It is your health and your life, pal. Not mine 

Thanks for reminding me Anatta , i would have otherwise forgotten .

I think I have bad experience with Heineken, but will be fine if I try Saigon beer...

Want to be safe? Just never take a shot at bar, head to hotel to drink (althought it's probably more expensive, but safer). I've never imagined to inspect to every single detail to figure out the real and fake one. That make me look stupid.

missmae wrote:

Cause I drink saigon beer, 333, heineken and tiger and nothing happened.
If you drink a cocktails obviously u dont see the bottle lady? Im not that stupid but Vietnam shoudl stop counterfeiting everything! No wonder nobody wants to invest here ... scammers, muggers I can deal with them but risking my life while drinking a normal cocktails which wasnt cheap? Jesus ... btw i dont ask my older female mates (all married dont drink) about drinking. do u go to your boss and say SUP SEP hows the alcohol in vietnam?

When one comes to a country like Vietnam, one owes to oneself certain precautions, especially when it comes to one's own health. It does not help to moan about it later on, expect that things are different, especially when there are no shortage of warning signs. You don't go to the jungle and assume that there is no mosquitoes or say that you can tolerate this but not that. That is adaptation and survival skills are all about.

Anatta , now your starting to sound like Bear Grylls

Happy8888 wrote:

Anatta , now your starting to sound like Bear Grylls

Try rather Edward Snowden, one who knows the system from the inside better than most.

If you have not already got one , buy yourself a trumpet buddy

Whether you care to listen to me or not, it is up to you. I couldn't care less so spare your energy and sarcasm. Good luck surviving. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.

well mate , i have survived in Vietnam for 9 years and never had a problem , however because of your advice , i will start to become much more careful . Keep your nose in Thailand

Great, they're probably making it from methanol.  Lucky if you don't go blind.

I bought some Listerine at CoopMart that attracted ants to the sink.  Listerine isn't made with sugar.

Alcohol is a poison anyway, it's just that ethanol is the least poisonous of the bunch and you can kill yourself from the toxicity of alcohol very easily.  Try drinking isopropanol (don't) and see how nice it feels.  Only one more carbon.  And badly made booze has 1-pentanol ("fusel oil" in old literature), which causes really bad hangover.

BTW the worst effects of hangover come from being around smokers, not the acetaldehyde left over from alcohol.

I always prefer to open my own beer, I like the places that set a case in front of you and you pick and drink. With the good stuff, I am very picky about my scotch. Always bring my own.

For anyone who cares to read: here a warning I posted not so long ago on this very forum
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 46#1377346

To my knowledge, his exact cause of death is still not resolved today, 6 months after his death, to the agony of his family in the US.

many bars all over the world water down their liquor.   just avoid the bia hơi and home brewed rượu.

Watering down is different to adding dangerous chemicals, watering down wont kill you, it just cheats you out of what you paid for.

Food and drink adulteration is not a new thing 

The good old days of Saigon-tea comes to mind....

When I was a kid I snuck sips from the liquor cabinet, for an illicit thrill.  It tasted like gasoline.  I figured when you got older there was some change and it would taste different.  Ok, high school in Virginia, all my friends are drinking, I tried it.   Seriously tried it, drank a lot.  It still tasted like gasoline, a distinctly toxic flavor.  I couldn't get drunk, what little effect I could feel was distasteful and sloppy, my friends were acting stupid. No hangover.  It was about six months later having had no desire to try it again, I decided to be one of the people who didn't drink.

Along with exercising at the gym it's one of a few things I did right with my life.  I've never drank again, and the polite lip-touches taking part in toasts all tasted like some kind of neurotoxin.

Three years of college chemistry ., guess what.  All alcohols are toxins.  The 2-carbon one just happens to be the least toxic and that "pleasant buzz" is what toxicologists call subtoxic inebriation.

In college I watched my friends go from beautifully young to early middle age in four years.  I'm approaching 60 and don't look a day over 45.  One of youwho talks booze a lot is 53 and could be my dad. 

Yeah, I know.  Everyone does it.  I think you're nuts to drink that stuff.  Even if it's not watered down with Sterno and antifreeze.

If we meet it's gonna be coffee or sình tô fir me.  You can drink.  But if it's one after another, I don't wanna watch.  I've met an astounding number of alcoholics among the relatively few westerners I've met in three years and they're depressing as all hell.

I dont drink much. Just one cocktail when Im out with the girls but since realising that fake alcohol "toxic" is sold here I will stick to my lovely Sinh To Mang Cau and Cafe Sua Da.

Offtopic:Chris Ive been in Can Tho. Its such a lovely city. When Im back we should go for a Sinh To. What was the celebration last weekend? 10 years anniversary of what?

That'd be fantastic, look forward to meeting you. 

I saw those signs, I can read Vietnamese but there's a word or two I haven't looked up yet. 

I like Cà Phê Pha Lê, do you know where that is?  It's kind of European inside, and there's air conditioning.  Very good bò nướng place across the street.

Sình Tô sầu riêng for me.  My favorite.

@missmae It was the 10th Anniversary of Can Tho City's Becoming a City Directly under the Central Government.

Thanks Bud!
Chris, yeah I will drop you a message when I go to Mien Tay but I really love Can Thos flair. Its really an oasis compare to Saigon. And Sau Rieng is the best but unfortunately out of season here:(

I haven't experienced anything in saigon. But nha trang I went to the sailing club. And I'm not a light weight. I could down a bottle of wine and feel fine. After drinking one glass of vodka I was lights out. I don't know what was in my drink but I have never felt so wasted. And that is my story. I will never take another drink in vietnam again. And thank god I was with someone I trusted. I can't even tell you how I got back to the hotel. Take caution

When Noah was a boy,he would have spoke of this. Issue.
So really non genuine drinks at a bar in VN. is old news.
Hope your next big surprise isn't-
'is the beef in my salad from American cows?'

Isacameth wrote:

I haven't experienced anything in saigon. But nha trang I went to the sailing club. And I'm not a light weight. I could down a bottle of wine and feel fine. After drinking one glass of vodka I was lights out. I don't know what was in my drink but I have never felt so wasted. And that is my story. I will never take another drink in vietnam again. And thank god I was with someone I trusted. I can't even tell you how I got back to the hotel. Take caution

Glad nothing else happened.

Nothing like a bit of methanol instead of alcohol in your drink to make you seriously think about giving up the booze forever.               (IF you survive that is !  )

The number of total IDIOT Australians who go to Bali, then go straight to bars known to serve 'cocktails' made with methanol never ceases to amaze me !  The moron's keep on going and drinking in same bars linked to previous poisonings and/or deaths.
Must be something to do with 'DARWIN'S THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION'. 

10ml of the stuff can, and does cause permanent blindness. 30ml could kill, but it's usually around the 100ml dose that will have the drinkers family arranging the funeral. 

Didn't know Viet Nam was one of these places this can happen as well. 

We usually have only one bottle of red wine, never a 'house' carafe wine, between us on the occasional night dinning out at 'CHAM CHARM' restaurant, Tân Phú, District 7 and have never had any problems at all.

At one time, the Oz government travel warning site DID issue warnings of the risk of drinking 'cocktails' in Thailand and Indonesia.
Not sure if that list still exists - most probably been removed by the gutless wimps in the Oz government and public service, because it upset the tourist industry (and governments) of those countries too much. 

They should add the warnings into the Lonelyplanets, Marcopolo etc guides. Seriously this is a serious and dangerous topic!