The Great Secret of Vietnam

The great secret of Vietnam is R&T.  Satisfied?  If not please read on.

Vietnam has two well known lagers, Saigon Export and 33.  Many cities have regional beers.  In Hoi An and Hanoi you can drink fresh beer, often with locals.  Fresh beer is only good for a day.  Fresh beer places have kegs of the brew.  The beer is light, but cheap.  The price in Hoi An was as low as 3000 Dong, fifteen cents.   The price in Hanoi is about triple that.

But the best drink I had in Vietnam was local dark rum, sometimes hard to find.  The rum is not spiced, but has strong vanilla and carmel overtones.  The rum is a good mixer.  Eschewing the common, but to my palate not very satisfying rum and coke, I drank rum and tonic.  The best I have ever had.  I believe the rum is called Caribbean Rum.  This is an oddity since it is an imported French Rum blended and distributed by Viet beverages.