And what better place to indulge than at a festival where
These are the kinds of parties where beer showers count as hydration, wine glasses double as workout weights (fill ‘em up), and sleeping it off on a curb somehow feels perfectly acceptable.
1. It's the Ship
Singapore
Step onto It’s The Ship and instantly forget every idea you ever had about ‘normal’ festivals.
From the moment you board, this party is a blur of neon lights, bass so loud it rattles your teeth, and a crowd dressed like pirates, unicorns, or literally nothing at all. Everywhere you look, someone is sliding into a pool, dancing on a bar, or mid-air on a zip line while confetti rains down.
There are DJs blasting everything from trance to trap, water slides that double as dance floors, and cocktails flying in every direction. Let’s be honest: it’s not really a boozy festival - it’s a festival that just happens to serve dangerously generous amounts of alcohol.
But how can we not include it in this list when your senses are assaulted in the best possible way with music, lights, motion, chaos, sweat, laughter, and the odd existential question about how you ended up salsa dancing in the spa?
The Gulp Gauge
1. Sensible sipper
2. Tipsy tourist
3. Boozy blur
4. Full throttle fiesta
5. Liver meltdown
2. Haro Wine Flight
Spain
White shirts? Gone. Shoes? Missing. Everyone’s screaming. Wine is everywhere. Your hands, your hair, your face, it’s a Pinot Picasso in motion. You climb the hills. You throw. Strangers become allies. Strangers become targets. Bottles fly. Someone trips. Laughter explodes. Chaos reigns. By noon, the town is a river of red.
And just when you think you’re done? Music kicks in. Dancing. Feasting. More wine. Someone hugs you. You hug back. You have no idea who anyone is anymore. You’re in the middle of La Batalla del Vino in Haro, Spain: a gloriously messy, absurd, and utterly unforgettable wine fight that people travel thousands of miles for, just to get drenched, laugh until they cry, and feel like part of the world’s most intoxicating street art. And we’ve already booked our ticket.
The Gulp Gauge
1. Sensible sipper
2. Tipsy tourist
3. Boozy blur
4. Full throttle fiesta
5. Liver meltdown
3. Tales of the Cocktail
USA
Walking into the Tales of the Cocktail festival in New Orleans feels a bit like being handed the keys to Willy Wonka’s factory except everything’s boozy and no one’s judging you for drinking at 10am.
Bartenders, distillers, and cocktail nerds from all over the world swarm the French Quarter, swapping secrets, pouring samples, and enthusiastically trying to prove to everyone that mixology is an extreme sport. One minute you’re at a panel about the future of rum, the next you’re double-parking negronis at a pop-up you accidentally wandered into.
Nights blur into rooftop parties, underground tastings, and conversations with strangers who may or may not turn into lifelong drinking buddies. And by the time the Spirited Awards roll around, it’s less about who wins and more about who’s still standing, and somehow still holding a drink.
The Gulp Gauge
1. Sensible sipper
2. Tipsy tourist
3. Boozy blur
4. Full throttle fiesta
5. Liver meltdown
4. Marathon du Medoc
France
Only in France could a marathon involve more corkscrews than stopwatches.
The Marathon du Médoc is 42 kilometres of vineyards, costumes, and an unholy amount of wine. You’ll see runners dressed as bananas, ballerinas, and superheroes, all weaving through Bordeaux’s grand châteaux like it’s a tipsy masquerade parade.
Forget protein gels, here you’re fuelled by red wine, hunks of cheese, oysters on ice, and, halfway through, an actual slab of steak. Bands blast music along the route, which is handy when your legs are shot but your glass is still half full. Nobody’s chasing personal bests; the real victory is making it across the finish line upright, medal clanking and bottle of Bordeaux swinging from your hand. Kinda like a marathon where the real competition isn’t the other racers beside you, but wondering whether it’ll be your liver or your legs that hold out the longest.
The Gulp Gauge
1. Sensible sipper
2. Tipsy tourist
3. Boozy blur
4. Full throttle fiesta
5. Liver meltdown
5. Qingdoa International Beer Festival
China
Some festivals celebrate music, others food, but Qingdao goes big on beer, and we’re here for it. The Qingdao International Beer Festival turns the coastal city into one giant frothy playground, with thousands of visitors swinging steins, sampling beers from over 40 countries, and pretending they’re professional drinkers.
Think Oktoberfest meets neon-lit beach party: there’s craft beer, mass singalongs, crazy beer-drinking competitions, and art parades that somehow involve hops. Streets are lined with giant beer tents, live music thrums through the air, and yes, you will likely make friends with complete strangers over a shared love of foam.
It’s not subtle. It’s not refined. It’s loud, messy, and gloriously unhinged, and that’s exactly why you’d want to book a flight, put on your party pants (make sure they have sequins!), and join the world’s biggest celebration of fermentation.
The Gulp Gauge
1. Sensible sipper
2. Tipsy tourist
3. Boozy blur
4. Full throttle fiesta
5. Liver meltdown
get in the know Back in the 1800s, booze was so bad (and sometimes poisonous) that bartenders added sugar, bitters, and fruit to make it taste drinkable. And bam, the cocktail was born.
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