🍷 A Culture Where Alcohol Sits at the Edge
The Cocos (Keeling) Islands produce no wine and have no drinking culture to speak of in the conventional travel-guide sense. Home Island's population is overwhelmingly Cocos Malay and predominantly Muslim, descended from the Malay laborers John Clunies-Ross brought to work the copra plantations from the 1820s onward — and for that community, alcohol has never been culturally central. West Island, home to the territory's small population of mainland Australians and expatriate government workers, is a different story: beer, imported from Australia at a real premium given the shipping distance, gets served at the handful of social venues there.
There's no bar scene to seek out and no local spirit to try. If a drink matters to your trip, it's a low-key one at a West Island gathering — not a destination in itself.
