So, I've got two tea presentations ready to go, but because I'm too lazy to do all the writing today, I'll be holding off on those until I upload one of them tomorrow.

Today instead I present some booze.

Because when I'm not enjoy the sweet brew of Camelia sinensis I'm getting my brain damaged by sweet, sweet ethanol.

(OK, I'm not quite as much a lush as I make myself out to be. I rarely have more than two shots a week, sometimes three.)

Today's hooch is a 52%ABV 浓香 (nóngxiāng or "strong scented") 白酒 (báijiǔ or "liver? I hardly know'er!") from Sichuan. This is a multigrain one with sorghum (of course!), but also rice, sticky rice, wheat, and maize. The 大曲 (dàqū or "fermentation starter") is likely made of wheat and barley infested with the right microbes: a complex of bacterial and fungal spores. The production technique is of the 老窖 (lǎojiào or "old cellar") variety where the fermented and distilled product is stored in huge pottery jars buried in clay pits for up to three years before bottling (or further aging directly in clay in the case of very expensive booze).

This particular example is made in 四川德阳绵竹 (Mianzhu, Deyang, Sichuan), a region (justly) famed for its alcoholic beverage production. I got it for a steal as a loss leader from the distillery; they really put their best foot forward for this one; consult the alt text for details.

As usual alt text has description and details. As UNusual, Mastodon users don't have to click through. All the pictures are visible.

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#白酒 #四川 #浓香 #老窖 #baijiu #Sichuan #StrongScented #OldCellar

@ZDL@mstdn.social

I don't just drink tea it turns out.

I got two kinds of hard liquor this weekend. This is the first that arrived.

This is the 浓香 (nóng xiāng or "strong aroma") style and stems from 江苏宿迁 (Suqian, Jiangsu).

Strong aroma styles of 白酒 (báijiǔ, the local hard liquor) are very strong and complex in flavour profiles and have a pronounced, almost unctuous sweet flavour despite there being no sugar in the final product. Other flavours that tease the tongue through the 52% (104 proof) alcohol burn include pineapple, banana, and other tropical fruits (with a bit of an overripe sensation), and even hints of anise or the like.

Of course the flavour profile is very alien to western palates and tends to result in recoiling on first contact. But not for me. I've loved the insanely complicated world of Chinese liquor since I first tasted it.

This particular one is a sorghum base (like most hard liquor in China) and its "qu" (the mechanism by which fermentation is started) is made of wheat, barley, and peas. (This is typical for "strong aroma" liquors.)

As usual alt text has more information and Mastodon users will have to click through to get all the pictures.

#白酒 #浓香型 #江苏宿迁 #liquor #baijiu #StrongAroma #SuqianJiangsu

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@zdl@mastodon.online

Two bottles of 52%ABV #泰裕昌(Tàiyùchāng)-style #baijiu, which is in the family of #浓香型(nóng xiāng xíng or "strong aroma style") liquors (the most famous of the breed being #泸香型 (lúxiāng xíng) from #Luzhou, Sichuan).

One of the interesting side effects of the crackdown on #corruption that's been going on over the past several years is that the price of #liquor has plummeted. A lot of liquor that used to be used in ostentatious displays of wealth or as #bribery is now having to be sold at actual market-established prices. These two bottles cost me the equivalent of US$2 or so, including shipping. As little as five years ago I'd probably have to have spent $10 or more for a single bottle.

There was almost a crisis yesterday. I was down to literally my last shot of #booze. (The [52%/104 proof tea-infused liquor](https://pixelfed.social/i/web/post/604557243348466661).) And while I had its replacement on the way, it hadn't yet arrived so I was feeling a bit nervous at facing #sobriety while I waited.

But the #delivery company came through! And by 1030hrs I had in my hands a 2.5l (!) container of 68%/136 proof (!!) #Mongolian #liquor!

This is one of two Mongolian brands I really like. It's powerful stuff, but because #sorghum is such a kick to the head, flavour-wise, the super-high #alcohol concentration doesn't actually mask the flavour. It just kills brain cells dead. Really dead. Really fast. This is booze that verges on #HandSanitizer levels. (Hand sanitizers here, at any rate, start at 70%.)

A 2.5l "hip flask" is unwieldy to use, so I decanted it into a 700ml bottle. As soon as I opened that flask the room filled with the scent of sorghum molasses and open flame. My immediate vicinity was filled almost instantaneously, it seemed, and the office space in just a few seconds. (There are a *lot* of aromatics in Chinese liquors.)

The best part of this for me is that because Mongolians aren't Han, people here don't value their stuff much outside of the stereotypical: beef, milk products, etc. So, although flavour-wise I'd pit this against any mid-grade #baijiu that isn't Luzhou or Maotai style and it would likely win, this monstrosity of a flask set me back the equivalent of just a bit under US$10.

Including shipping.

I know this is starting to make me look like a lush, but today's #Baijiu delivery is a 62% monstrosity from #InnerMongolia. I've had liquor from three different major Mongolian brands and ... dammit, they're probably the pinnacle of price vs. performance. This bottle here cost me about three US dollars including shipping. And yet, I'd pit this in a blind taste test against any comparable flavour profile baijiu from a Han-dominant #Chinese company that costs ten times as much … and it would **win**.

This stuff is delicious. Despite being a mind-melting 62%ABV (124 proof) it is milder in mouthfeel than many 53% (106 proof) Luzhou-style or Shanxi-style liquors. The only thing that really gives it away is a very powerful "booze breath" aftereffect as the fumes fill the back of your throat and your sinuses.

You *will* realize you've just been kicked in the head when that strikes!

I promise that all the booze that I'm buying and showing? It will be around for months. I'm not a drunkard, honest!

From the #Taobao listing: "红高粱酒53度山西特产陈年白酒老酒纯粮食酒清香型90年代正宗整箱". Roughly translated: "Red sorghum wine 53 degree #Shanxi specialty aged #Baijiu, old wine, pure grain wine, light fragrance, 90's authentic whole box". I only got one bottle (at ~US$4 … after delivery), not a whole box, but if this is as good as the other Shanxi liquors I've tried I'll likely get a box.

I've started to make a habit of getting vintage #Chinese liquors. This is the third such liquor I've obtained in the Shanxi style: one bottled in 1989, this one bottled in 1994, and a third one bottled in 2004. Unusually for baijiu, this is not just made of sorghum, but also with barley and peas, giving it an interesting, complicated flavour that's a little less in your face than the Maotai style liquors but without the cloying sweetness of the Luzhou style liquors.

And here is where I say something that will get me cancelled.

I disagree with an awful lot of what #XiJinping is doing in China. (I disagree with a lot of people in a lot of governments, so this isn't the "GOTCHA!" the #ChinaWatchers are likely to think it to be.) But his anti-corruption drive is one I do agree with, and you can see the impact of that drive in a variety of areas, including liquor prices.

It used to be fancy liquors and vintage liquors were horrifically expensive because they were used for bribes. Now bribery is so toxic that the bottom has dropped out of the expensive liquor market and I can find wonderful finds like this at ludicrously low prices.

Another impulse purchase paired with a very lucky accident.

The liquor culture in China, as with everything, it seems, is incredibly complex and ornate. There's a LOT of kinds of 白酒 (lit. "white alcohol" but meaning "spirits") and they all have different flavour profiles, mouthfeels, aromas, and burns. When I found some 山西杏花酒 ("Shanxi apricot flower spirits"—not made with apricot flowers, it's just a descriptor of the bouquet), a style I wasn't familiar with, at 53%ABV made in 2004 for only 28元, I accounted myself lucky.

I was luckier than I thought.

By accident they sent me a bottle of 60%ABV stuff made for the People's Liberation Army. In **1989!** (1989/06/26, to be specific.)

So I reached for a mid-shelf item that was discounted (thanks to Xi Jinping, alcohol prices have plummeted in China in recent years) and was handed a top-shelf item by accident instead.

And the seller, when I told them about it, just shrugged and said "I hope you enjoy it". No talk of making up the difference or shipping the bottle back in exchange for what I originally ordered. If I like this stuff, this shop has a customer for life!

#baijiu #StrongHooch #serendipity #GoodSalesmanship

I'm starting to stock up for #SpringFestival (#ChineseNewYear). This #Chinese liquor (白酒 or #baijiu) is 泸香 or #Luxiang style (a.k.a. 浓香 or #Nongxiang), the former being a reference to its origins in 泸州 or #Luzhou and the latter meaning "strong aroma".

This particular bottle is 52% and aged in the 1-3 year category. (It's not the highest grade by far; at the price this is no surprise: I paid the equivalent of about US$6 for it.)

Luxiang baijiu is very different from the types of baijiu most westerners know of, which is the kind made famous by the eponymous Maotai (archaically transcribed Moutai). The former is stronger and sweeter, tasting, as one friend put it once, "like what diesel would taste like if diesel actually tasted good". (Maotai, by contrast, tastes like what diesel would taste like if diesel tasted good and someone added soy sauce.)

I wonder where I could find #baijiu.