Confidential to TGS:

January

China:
Tsingtao is pretty much swill. It's affiliated in some sort of marketing/distribution arrangement with Anheuser-Busch, if that tells you anything. Might want to look for Tsingtao Dark or Tsingtao Premium, which I haven't had either, but they couldn't suck any worse than regular Tsingtao.
"Sedrin beer" is described here thusly: "Weak as piss-2%, drank from thimbles, slight musky aftertaste, tolerable and drinkable in high dosages. How many bottles can you get down? 5 to 6".
I'd probably look for this Chinese liquor: "The most famous Chinese liquor is Maotai, a 55% spirit made of wheat and sorghum that, for centuries, has been produced in Maotai Town, Guizhou province." I presume 55% means 55% alcohol, which would make it 110 proof, so go slow and low, eh?
Take-home: let me know what you else you find in China, but take your flask, okay?

Vietnam:
Their primary beer seems to be Saigon, or Saigon Export (as had in the U.S., so it's not guaranteed to taste like this at all. I haven't had it. Saigon Beer has a website , which, to my great relief, indicates that their "333 Premium Beer is now... widely accepted in The United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, and Australia."
And WHOA! There's a BREWPUB in Ho Chi Min City! To wit: Hoa Vien Brauhaus Restaurant, 28 Mac Dinh Chi Street, District 1, Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, phone: 84 8-8290585, Hours: 7:30am-midnight. TGS: you will be SEVERELY punished if you don't check this place out. ¿Claro?
Here is a somewhat boring article about brewing in Ho Chi Min City. The author indicates that in Vietnam "The omnipresent draught beer is Tiger, which is your standard issue light lager - average but quite refreshing after walking around District 1 in the heat of the afternoon." He writes about designing the brewhouse for "Diplomat Garden Restaurant & Brewhouse, a German-themed restaurant and brewpub. Things German carry a lot of cache in Vietnam." I couldn't find any information whatsoever about this apparent brewpub startup, but his article was only from March 2005, so it may not really exist yet.
Maybe try the local liquor made in Yen Van village called Ruou Van, whose recipe has been kept secret since the 18th or 19th century and is passed on only to male children and daughter-in-laws." Locals claim that "Van liquor never gives drinkers a headache." Please report back on this.

Laos:
While Beer Lao is alleged to be among the betters beers in Southeast Asia, that says very little.
You should probably just check in to Lao Lao, the fermented rice "strong local liquor [made] in Ban Xang Hai village, Laos". It's also known as Ban Sang Hai. A much scarier image of Lao Lao distillation can be found at the bottom of this page.

Cambodia:
Angkor Beer sounds pretty dismal, but give it a shot, preferably on tap. You should be hotter than hell by this leg of the SE Asia trip, so you'll need some cold beer. The same company, Cambrew, makes a beer more worth searching out called Black Panther Premium Stout , apparently an 8.0% ABV beer. Definitely look for Angkor Extra Stout, which sounds better.
Take-home advice: ALWAYS seek out the dark beers when traveling internationally. This applies when traveling in most parts of Europe too, Belgium (and perhaps France) notwithstanding.
Liquor: as a believer in the rights of all living creatures, I can't endorse what appears to be the local liquor, a rice wine cocktail made with fried/mushed spiders, specifically, the "a-ping" - a breed of palm-sized tarantula." Fuckinghell.

Indonesia:
Primary beer seems to be Bali Hai, and some sort of piss apparently made by Heinekin called Bintang.
Local liquors are discussed here :
"mildly alcoholic tuak (palm toddy), brewed from various palm sugars a month before consumption, provides you a mellow slow-motion high. Tuak is prepared by filling a length of hollow bamboo with palm juice, then burying it for a week to allow fermentation to take place. Very popular in non-Muslim regions of Indonesia. Brem, usually home-produced, is rice wine made from glutinous rice and coconut milk. Old brem (more than three days old) is sour and contains more alcohol; new brem is sweeter and packs less of a kick. Badek is another fermented liquor obtained from rice. Tipple arak is an insidiously potent distilled rice spirit made from fermented molasses. Tourists like to drink arak with Sprite or 7UP."

To be continued...

February
Oz/NZ:
India:
Nepal:

March
Tibet:
Mongolia:
CIS:

April-June
Russia:
Baltics/Eastern Europe:
North Africa:

July-August
Central America:
Venezuela:
Colombia:
Bolivia:
Argentina:
Chile/Patagonia: