A national drink is a distinct beverage that is strongly associated with a particular country, and can be part of their national identity and self-image. These drinks can be either alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Alcoholic national drinks might be spirits consumed straight (like vodka in Russia), but more often, they are mixed drinks (such as caipirinhas in Brazil and Singapore Slings in Singapore), beer, or wine. Non-alcoholic national drinks include Coca-Cola in the United States, boba tea in Taiwan, and Thai iced tea in Thailand.
Several factors can qualify a beverage as a national drink:
Choosing a single national drink can be challenging for some countries due to their diverse cultures and populations, such as Mexico or India. Conversely, some beverages, like pisco sour, are claimed by more than one country—both Peru and Chile, in this case.
Below is a list of national drinks categorized within geo-political regions modified from the United Nations' five "regional groups". This list generally excludes moonshines or illicitly produced alcoholic beverages.
The "beer belt" in Europe includes Belgium, Germany, the UK, and Ireland, whereas the "wine belt" includes the Mediterranean countries like Spain, Italy, and Greece. Several drinks are common and particular to Slavic countries. Vodka is a clear alcoholic beverage made most often by distilling the liquid from fermented cereal grains and potatoes. Countries where vodka is identified as a national beverage have been referred to as the "vodka belt". Kvass is a traditional fermented non-alcoholic beverage commonly made from rye bread and is drunk in many Slavic countries, as well as Latvia and Lithuania. Kompot is another drink that is traditionally popular throughout this region and made by boiling together different fruit including strawberries, apricots, peaches, apples, and raisins in large volume of water and served hot or cold, depending on tradition and season. Fruit brandies are popular in the Balkans, while Brännvin and Akvavit are popular in Scandinavia.
The Rum Swizzle is probably the most well known swizzled cocktail. It's the national drink of Bermuda and uses Bermuda Rum.
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has generic name (help)Surprisingly little is known for sure about the origin of Taiwan's national drink
It can almost be considered a national drink in Taiwan where it originated and took by storm in the 1980's
Milo Dinosaur's name appears to have originated in Singapore-based Indian-Muslim eateries during the mid-1990s. Labelling a turbo-charged version of ice Milo as Milo Dinosaur may have been a way to riff on Singapore's cinema culture, which during the 1990s was saturated with the exploits of giant reptiles in Jurassic Park and its sequels.
Turkey's national drink isn't just a beverage—it's an experience. A clear anise liquor that turns milky white with water and ice (sometimes referred to as "lion's milk")
Meet raki – otherwise known as Lion's Milk – the Turkish national drink made of twice-distilled grapes and aniseed.
That is what Turkey's often divisive prime minister did late on Friday when he pronounced that the national drink was not beer, nor the aniseed spirit raki – choice tipple of Turkey's founding father – but the non-alcoholic yoghurt drink ayran.
Ayran, which is also known as the non-alcoholic national drink of Turkey, is made of yogurt, water and salt.