Sorry America: McDonald's Sells Beer In These International Countries

American beer connoisseurs are likely well aware of the fact that very few fast food restaurants serve alcohol in the United States. Restaurants like Chipotle and Taco Bell Cantina have experimented with the concept of having alcoholic beverages on the menu, but for industry giants like McDonald's, the United States has yet to see beer or alcohol of any kind arrive on its menu.

There's a decent argument to be made that McDonald's and other fast food chains don't sell beer in the United States because of the cost (both financial and logistical) of acquiring a liquor license for so many locations across the country. But there's also the desire on the part of the company to maintain a family-friendly reputation, not to mention the drive-thru liabilities, all of which are good reasons for dry fast food restaurants. Ultimately, due to McDonald's lack of an official statement on not serving beer in the United States, the true reason the fast food giant stays away from alcohol in its home country remains a relative mystery to the public.

However, this unfortunate reality that American drinkers must deal with isn't the case across the world. Many other countries (including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Japan, among others) also do not serve alcohol at their McDonald's restaurants, but there are a handful that do offer beer to their customers to enjoy alongside their meals. Currently, three key countries across Europe include beer on their official McDonald's menus alongside their other culturally unique specialty items: Spain, Belgium, and Portugal.

That's right, three countries have beer on their local McDonald's menu, and all three are in Europe. While some might be shocked at how high or low that number is (depending on their experience with drinking), the tally is not quite as it seems. To elaborate, those three countries do include alcohol on their official nationwide menus, thus offering the beverage at the vast majority of locations. However, in the same way that certain locations in the United States feature specialty items that aren't featured on the official nationwide menu, some individual McDonald's restaurants across the world have served beer even though it wasn't on their national menu.

Perhaps the most notable example of this comes from South Korea, where, of their 399 McDonald's locations, only one has ever sold beer. Starting in 2016, a McDonald's location in Seongnam began offering one beer per purchase of a premium burger meal, with the beer taking the place of one of McDonald's beloved fountain drinks. However, because the beer could only be purchased as a part of a combo at that singular location, it's never claimed its own place on the official menu (which means the practice may have been discontinued, as it has in so many other countries).

Once upon a time, there were over a dozen countries that experimented with selling beer, but it appears that a lack of demand has led to its downfall. Much to the dismay of beer lovers, places like Germany (the very first to offer beer at McDonald's) have discontinued beer at the majority of locations in the country.