A musing on Azerbaijan drinking games...

Aside from last year (when I was far too busy/lazy - dependent upon viewpoint) it has been something of a tradition for me to create a drinking game for the Eurovision song contest as I find that the consumption of hideous amounts of alcohol gradually turns the whole thing from unbearable, to bearable to wildly enjoyable (a theory which seems to hold for a broad range of activities, it must be said).

It started in 2009, and the Russian Eurovision drinking game, and was then followed in 2010 with the Norwegian Eurovision drinking game - both countries I was fairly familiar with and so could easily come up with vaguely stereotypical possibilities (bears and cossack dancing for Russia, elks for Norway, etc). But Eurovision 2012 is to be held in Azerbaijan and - call me a complete ignoramus - but, aside from knowing it was a former state of the Soviet Union, has a capital called Baku and lies on the Caspian Sea, I don't know an awful lot about Azerbaijan...

And, since it's only three months until the Eurovision song contest debacle kicks off again, I decided I should do a bit of research.

First stop - the all important national drink; the balm to soothe the aural assault that is Eurovision. For Russia, we had (obviously) vodka, for Norway we had Akevitt...and for Azerbaijan? Well, according to the Azerbaijan Tour Agency, the national drink of Azerbaijan is black tea. Black tea??? I double checked. Yes, it would appear that Azerbaijan's national drink is chay or black tea. Realising that no amount of black tea was going to be enough to drown out the horror of Eurovision, I investigated further.

It would seem that the favoured tipples of Russia - vodka and brandy - are still pretty popular in Azerbaijan so I'm going to say that any 40% proof spirit should be up to the job for this year's Eurovision. And, if you want be completely authentic, you can always looks out for some Xan vodka, which is made in Azerbaijan.

I'll continue to busy myself with aimless Azerbaijan related research in the next months to ensure that the Eurovision drinking game for 2012 is bigger and better than ever...