What is Myanmar’s national tipple?
A strong contender would be toddy palm wine, taken from the sap of—you guessed it—the toddy palm tree.
One of the best places in the country to sip the tangy booze (about 4 percent alcohol) is around temple town Bagan, near the Ayeyarwady River—preferably while sitting at the top of a towering tree.
About 20 minutes by e-bike from the gateway to Bagan, Nyaung Oo, on the Kyaukpadaung-Nyaung Oo road is a collection of “sky bars”—platforms fastened to the palms where you can enjoy the toddy or “sky beer.”
Myanmar blogger “I Love Travelling” recently visited one of the bars, Anyar Latt Saung, to enjoy the heady sap that is retrieved daily by toddy tappers.
Their typical method is to tie a small earthen pot underneath the sliced tip of a sealed palm flower in the evening and collect the juice in the morning.
Filtration is optional and depends on the area, as regions across Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent have their own version of toddy wine.
The tree’s sap, leaves, and trunk are also used for housing, art, furniture, toys and palm sugar, also known as jaggery.
