Chinese Blood Liquor
Once you’ve been in China a while, few things catch you quite as off-guard as what I found in the refrigerator of my new apartment. I’ve been in a bus that hit a van, [seen] men hanging out of windows attached to ropes (cleaning windows), a car in Xinjiang that was such a poor knock-off that the name “Citroen” was spelled incorrectly, and so many other oddities that it is difficult to recount. Yet what I discovered this weekend was truly bizarre.
Moving into a new apartment is always an adventure, because you never know what kind of person lived there before. You only get the slightest glimpses of someone whose life does not quite intersect your own, despite the uniquely s
hared experience of spending so much of your time in the same surroundings. Finding out something bizarre about a previous tenant is sort of akin to learning that your ex-girlfriend is now dating a Scientologist-type.
So imagine my surprise when I opened my fridge and saw a little bottle of red liquid. It looked halfway between cough medicine and a bottle of Red Stripe beer. And indeed it was.
As I looked carefully at the label I noticed the character for blood (血). As you can imagine, that piqued my interest. Yet as I studied it more carefully, I noticed another character, this one for liquor (酒). And I started to piece it together. It began to become clear that this was something pretty creepy indeed: deer-blood liquor.
Saying it became clear to me is a bit misleading, because in fact, only the top half of the bottle was clear. The bottom half was a thick, red liquid, the blood cells apparently sinking to the bottom. It is difficult to express exactly how you react when you find deer-blood liquor in your refrigerator, but I’d say “bemused horror” is the best way I can think of to say it.
When I began asking around, no one seemed to have heard of this mammalian beverage. The most common response was, “do you mean snake liquor?” I assured them it was not. The next most common response was “You should throw that out?”
It’s true, I wouldn’t want my deer-blood liquor to spoil in the fridge.
Chuck responds:
Posted: March 18th, 2008 at 9:50 pm →
I just showed this to a chinese person who says it is from the blood from freshly grown deer antlers. Apparently very good for your health. Drink up!
Matthew Stinson responds:
Posted: March 18th, 2008 at 9:58 pm →
I had deer blood wine (sounds Klingonish!) during a dinner with public officials one time. They poured it out in wine glasses and made it into a test of manhood. I passed, but I wish I hadn’t…
David responds:
Posted: March 19th, 2008 at 8:09 am →
Hey,
Let us know how it tastes. I am curious if it is better or worse than baijiu. Just shake it up, and pretend it is sloe gin.
Cheers!
Jean-Marie responds:
Posted: March 19th, 2008 at 9:53 am →
Last time I was in Shanghai, my colleagues gave me deer blood liqueur as well. That however was yellow in color and didn’t seem to have much in common beside the name with what you show here (I had to leave it at the airport, so I don’t know what’s actually in it.)
Stuart responds:
Posted: March 20th, 2008 at 7:30 pm →
“seem men hanging out of windows”
A freudian slip, Josh? Also very good for your health – or so I tell my girlfriend.