SIDE ADVENTURES: Brum or Tapai? Pick your poison. Pare your read with your favorite libation to immerse yourself in the adventure.

Drunk Monkey Old Street Bar in Kuching, Borneo.

Jake liked the local rum or “brum”, a drink produced by the Malay people thousands of years ago. Katherine took a liking to tapai, a gentle rice wine – with the potential of being so much more so. Whatever you choose make it a tall one because, once you’ve started, you won’t want to get up.

Jake’s rum: Among the Malay people, a fermented sugarcane spirit called brum had been drunk for thousands of years. Rum’s ties to Asia arguably stretch back even longer than in the Caribbean.

Tapai is a gentle rice wine. It’s traditionally made with rice, rice milk and water. Every region has its own variations. Some add various spices or fruit flavors, mixing in tinctures during the brewing. Different mixing ratios and techniques mean that batches can vary widely in alcohol content – as Katherine found out.

Traditionally, tapai is only made by women in Iban communities. Second, when someone offers you tapai in a longhouse, especially during the Gawai (harvest) festival, you have to drink it. Borneans also make a variety of small-batch liquors that rarely make it past their villages. Essentially, locals just brew whatever’s in season when it’s ripe and ready: apples, pineapples, or sugar cane.

The Dayak peoples in Sabah Borneo have long histories of brewing up wickedly unpredictable concoctions from ingredients found in their gardens and jungles. If after your read you’re drawn to Borneo, it’s still easy to find local bars offering up the most famous of the island’s traditional drinks.

Langkau is much harder to find in your average bar than tuak but is a significant part of the local liquor heritage. Occasionally you will find langkau with bits floating in it—crocodile parts or scorpions. These don’t do anything for the flavor. Instead, they’re claimed to be aphrodisiacs, making them popular amongst men. Don’t get your hopes up, though—it’s just a good way for urban barkeeps to charge a bit more for strong hooch.

Every bar leans heavily upon Anchor and Tiger beer. Brewed and bottled nearby, and thus easy to import (legally or illegally), it’s a cheap and efficient way to get drunk. These brews are common across every drinking demographic in Borneo.