The enduring appeal of Hanoi’s 'subsidized' beer

By the time Son returned to his table, his three friends had already set up glasses and snacks, a simple spread of boiled peanuts and rice crackers.

After pouring the beer into the mint green glasses typically used for bia hoi, they raised a toast."After playing sport, a glass of beer refreshes the body," Son claimed.

Customers line up to purchase tokens, obtain beer, and secure a table at the refreshment stall in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Sports Center, Aug. 6, 2024 . Photo by VnExpress/Phan Duong

In another corner of Hanoi's Ba Dinh Sports Center, a group known as B&B (short for the Vietnamese phrase "Swim and Beer") gathered at their regular spot. Nearly 10 retirees, men and women, were having beer with boiled peanuts.

They said the group formed when the center relocated to that place in 2010 and has been gathering for 14 years. Regardless of the season, the group always sits in this corner for a few glasses of beer after swimming before heading home.

"We like drinking here because the beer quality is good, and the experience of queuing reminds us of the subsidy era," Hoang Ngoc Sinh, 74, said with evident nostalgia.

As times passed the queue at the payment and beer collection counter grew longer. Between 5 and 6 p.m. every day the place is packed with people, making it difficult to find a table or chair.

Originally, the shop was a refreshment counter run by the Ba Dinh Sports Center, an institution established in the 1980s to serve retired mid- and senior-level officials playing sport. After moving several times, the shop retained the "subsidized beer" model when it moved to its current location at 115 Quan Thanh, and customers still have to use coupons, queue and find their own seats.

The beer here, at VND12,000 (US$0.48) per glass and VND60,000 per jug, is cheaper than at most other places. It only opens at 4-6:30 p.m. daily, closed on holidays. Most customers here have been coming for decades. For them, drinking bia hoi here is not just a post-exercise treat but also a way to relive cherished memories.

People queue to purchase tokens, which they then trade for beer. Photo by VnExpress/Phan Duong

Son, a retired diplomat, recalled that in the 1960s, when the brewery on Hoang Hoa Tham Street first began selling to the public, many people were unfamiliar with beer and criticized it for its "pungent smell and bitter taste." Consequently, a glass of beer, which cost 1.2 hao, required 8 xu worth of syrup to make it drinkable.

Hao and xu were currency units in 1945-1946, with one hao equivalent to 10 xu or VND0.1. Due to their very low denomination, the State Bank of Vietnam ceased issuing these currencies from 1986 onwards.

Gradually bia hoi became a part of Hanoians’ lives, turning into a luxury item that required queuing to buy in limited quantities. The price increased to 3 hao per glass.

According to Hoang Ngoc Sinh, a former official at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, beer shops once used two tanks: one for dispensing beer and the other for adding carbon dioxide to the glass at a standard temperature of 2-4 degrees C, creating a frothy and refreshing drink. Today beer and CO2 are integrated into a single unit.

"And it would be incomplete to enjoy bia hoi without the iconic mint green glass, which can hold half a liter. The glass, with its surface dotted with bubbles, makes a satisfying 'clink' sound when toasting."

At 82, Nguyen Cao Nghin walks three kilometers daily from his home to Ngoc Ha Street, takes a bus to the center to exercise and then drinks a few glasses of beer. Despite having tried many expensive imported beers, he prefers this simple local beer.

Bich Thuy, 75, lives eight kilometers away in Xuan Thuy, Cau Giay District, and takes two buses to reach the center.

Despite the distance, she and her husband visit the place two to three times a week to savor the beer and buy another three to five liters to take home to have on the days they cannot make it there. Thuy said she developed a fondness for the drink as a little girl when she used to accompany her father to the center. "At this age I sometimes skip meals but never miss my beer."

Despite the longish commute, the couple continue to visit the place because they feel the beer has retained its original flavor.

Nguyen Cao Nghin, 82, relaxes with a beer after swimming and playing chess at Hanoi's Ba Dinh Sports Center on Aug. 6, 2024. Photo by VnExpress/Phan Duong

Initially a spot for club members to socialize after sports, the Ba Dinh Sports Center beer stall has become a cultural landmark, drawing people, including many from younger generations.

Recently it has also started attracting foreign tourists, who come to experience the subsidized beer culture as part of their Hanoi tour. "We often say to each other that perhaps this is the last stronghold of subsidized beer in all of Hanoi," Nghin said.