Hanoi’s humble beer glass and the memory of a nation

AT first glance, the Bia hơi served in the Ba Dinh Sports Center is the same light draft lager served in every shop on every street in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi. Like everywhere else in the city, the beer comes from a state-owned company that has brewed it fresh daily since the ’60s and it is served in the same handmade, sturdy, blue-green glass cup–the Bia hơi cốc. But regulars at the sports center will tell you that the beer here is better, fresher, and unlike anywhere else in this city of nearly 9 million people. 

An angular Nguyễn Văn Long—in his 70’s, wispy white goatee, matching moustache, puffing out thick plumes of local cigar smoke—explained why. It’s because the beer is “blood-cut” he said in Vietnamese, gesturing to his cốc as he raised it one humid June afternoon. Bia hơi (pronounced “bee-ah hoy” and meaning “fresh beer”) is brewed without preservatives or added carbonation. The kegs in which it is stored aren’t pressurized, which means the beer has to be consumed within 24 hours of leaving the brewery. The finest Bia hơi, blood cut, is the kind tapped and poured as soon as it is brewed. The Ba Đình Sports Center has always gotten exactly that.