Moving Past Baijiu (Thank God)
This year I’m spending Spring Festival in Ningbo (about three hours from Shanghai). I was a bit concerned that I was going to get stuck in those horrible toasting dinners where everyone is forced to drink baijiu (grain alcohol), but fortunately, most people here seem to prefer red wine. There are still a lot of toasts, but wine is a 1000% upgrade over Chinese liquor.
Now I don’t want to over-sell the wine I’ve been drinking. It’s not exactly Italian Chianti or Australian Cabernet. On the contrary: it’s all been Great Wall. Nonetheless, anyone who has ever had baijiu knows there is no comparison between the stinky, clear, semi-toxic liquor, and very mediocre red wine.
So hopefully this is a nation-wide shift, and not simply an isolated serendipitous event for me. Either way, I’ll sure happy to avoid the rough stuff during my holidays.
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nanheyangrouchuan responds:
Posted: February 8th, 2008 at 3:59 pm →
Hey, at least you are not forced to put down Dynasty. That stuff is just red Baijiu.
Craig responds:
Posted: February 9th, 2008 at 11:05 am →
Try this: next time you get served Dynasty wine, cover the first two letters with your fingers and let your neighbor read the label out loud.
And if you’re stuck in Ningbo for the holiday, pick up a copy of the local rag “Ningbo Guide”, or if you can’t find one check out the website at http://www.NingboGuide.com/
Josh responds:
Posted: February 11th, 2008 at 8:59 pm →
@craig:
Didn’t get a chance to pick one up, but I loved it when you used to send it to me at CEX.
chriswaugh_bj responds:
Posted: February 13th, 2008 at 11:52 am →
Of course there’s no comparison between mediocre red wine and Chinese liquor. Good baijiu is far superior. I have on top of my fridge an almost empty bottle of 衡水老白干 and two bottles of 汝阳杜康, both of which are far superior to anything produced by Great Wall or Dynasty. I can think of plenty of other baijiu’s I’d rather be drinking.
Apart from the obvious fact that not all people share the same tastes (not all people appreciate wine, for example, and there are those who prefer red or white or whatever), I think baijiu’s bad reputation among China expats is due to underexposure to good baijiu and overexposure to those bloody ganbei banquets. Good baijiu should be sipped slowly over the course of a meal.
Josh responds:
Posted: February 17th, 2008 at 4:26 pm →
@Chris,
Fair enough, but I’ve had a fair amount and tend to break it down into two categories: horrid and vaguely passable. I guess you’ll have to invite me over some time and teach me the real deal.