Week 7 - A Change of Pace, Baijiu

I have gotten a little behind in posting, so here comes the excuses, or actually, one big excuse. I was in China, South Korea, and Japan. That means I was not making cocktails. I did not drink too many cocktails either, but I did try some local alcoholic beverages, so the next couple postings will be about some liquors specific to Asia.

Let's start with China. I was in Shanghai, a bustling city with many people trying to make lots of money. Many foreign companies are investing large amounts of money in Shanghai right now, but I am not sure how many of them are actually making money. In the words of our host, "In China, the government has lots of money, but the people have little." That said, there are many new cars on the road - mainly Volkswagen, BMW, Lexus, and Buick. (Which one of those seems out of place?)

Our hosts were eager to have me sample some Chinese "wine." As they planned our dinner for the evening, they asked me several times if I liked to drink wine, and if I had ever tried Chinese wine. I do like wine, but I had never had Chinese wine before. I did not even know they grew grapes there.

At dinner, they selected a wine and it was brought out to the table in a bottle inside a box. The bottle was square and clear, and it contained a clear liquid that looked more like gin or vodka than wine. It was baijiu, and it turns out that the translation for wine in Chinese is actually just liquor. Baijiu is not made from grapes. It is distilled from sorghum. You probably already know this, but sorghum tastes very different than grapes. Likewise, baijiu tastes much different than western wines. The best description of baijiu I can come up with is it tastes like lighter fluid that has had a piece of rancid bacon soaked in it. In other words, not pleasant.

Luckily, the baijiu was served in tiny, thimble-sized cups so I could toss it down with very little of it actually touching my taste buds. Our hosts seemed a little amazed that I would drink baijiu with them. Apparently, even Chinese people do not like the taste of baijiu. They only drink it for the intoxicating effect.

Another piece of luck is that the food in Shanghai is excellent, so occasionally tossing down a thimble of vile fluid was only a small distraction from enjoying a wonderful meal with lots of fresh seafood.