Honestly, I'm not sure how soon I'm going to have the ability to stomach making cocktails from this stuff, this did me pretty dirty. But I will get around to it in the not *too* distant future. Patreon: bit.ly/H2DPatreon Midnight Local: @MidnightLocal Curiada: bit.ly/DogDaysofAugustDrinks Twitch: bit.ly/2VsOi3d H2D2: bit.ly/YTH2D2 twitter: bit.ly/H2DTwit instagram: bit.ly/H2dIG Blog: bit.ly/H2DBlog Gear: amzn.to/2LeQCbW Can anything good come from this?: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RtTysUdghmg.htmlsi=NHc_6C4hC5BMxUDG Big Trouble in Little China Drink: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-iaOQUSudf38.htmlsi=6gsYJx_3VVoZqym2 Can I make good drinks from Malört: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Aq6jxlOO1nY.htmlsi=m5aordd5VUoon3uM
When Ming River was introduced here, the bartenders went through a big phase of it. The only way I've found it to be palatable is in small quantities (like a quarter ounce max) in tiki drinks. Thanks for the video, always wondered about the real stuff and now I really don't have to!
"It's not meant to be enjoyed." This reminds me of an Irish joke. A man is hitchhiking at night and gets picked up by a man on a country road. They are driving along and the driver hands the man a bottle of homemade poitin whiskey. He tells the man to take a drink, and the man declines. The driver asks more insistently, and the man declines again. Finally, the driver pulls out a gun, holds it to the man's head, and says "IF YOU DON'T TAKE A DRINK, I'LL KILL YOU!" The man takes a swig of the poitin and starts gagging and coughing violently. The driver laughs, hands the man the gun and takes the bottle. "Okay, now you do me!"
So the thing with Baijiu is that I *completely* understand people's initial reactions to it. I've literally never met anyone in my life that, upon their first baijiu shot, went "this is pleasant and agreeable! Please fill me up with some more!" It's one of those things that HAS to sit within its cultural context. People have tried to make baijiu cocktails - the practice inevitably fails because Baijiu is not meant to be sipped as a cocktail. Trying to smooth out Baijiu's rough edges would be like re-doing a Jackson Pollock painting in pastel watercolor. The thing is supposed to be kind of affronting - the violence is the point. Try to enjoy Baijiu this way - go to the most authentically Sichuan hotpot restaurant you have in your city. Order the pot 'special-numbing, special-spicy' (特麻特辣). As you go through the meal, things'll begin to build... and when your mouth is on fire, when you're lips are tingling, when your heart is pounding and sweat's pouring down your face, when you've gone so far your brain is triggering a runner's high... THEN have a shot of baijiu. Compare against a shot of Jack Daniels. I think you'll go back to the baijiu.
'render your entire body nearly insensate with heat and numbness, combined with the mental certitude of truly horrific digestive system consequences in a few hours, combined with an intense physical sensation of being in imminent danger, and THEN drink this, which is repulsive otherwise but just what you need to add to the endorphin-based chemical emergency valve that your body has tripped because you may well be dying but your brain isn't sure yet' that honestly sounds like the only time baijiu is appropriate yes. and I say that as a ma la hot pot enjoyer. ;D
When I moved to Taiwan, my first taste of Kaohliang was the 58 and it was HORRIBLE. Then I visited Kinmen and got to taste good EXPENSIVE Kaohliang (like USD $200/bottle as opposed to $1.25/bottle) and it was AMAZING!!!! In China I had the barrel-aged Moutai, and it too, was fantastic! Over the years I acquired a bit of a taste for it, but it always drank it neat.
Hi Greg, I don't usually comment, but I just wanted to say as someone who actually enjoys the funk of baijiu I actually find Kinmen to be one of the more mild ones. That being said, if you ever want to try something that literally was made for the hardest of stomachs, try some Jiuguijiu. It's a brand of Baijiu that literally translates to "liquor for liquor demons". It's the only thing to date that has come back up after 1 shot.
When you say "it's like eating bees" at 16:00 and then say "I know what that is. I lived in New Jersey and growing up.." made it sound like you were going to segue into a story about how you would eat bees as a child growing up in New Jersey
@@howtodrink In Taiwan they have a bee dish in which you eat bees, and in Thailand people eat bee larva. Both are old dishes that are really only made in the rural countryside with the same frequency as possum pie in the US, but still, people do eat bees!
24:42 the line "That is the taste of a certain kind of decay" goes so hard That's like the opening monologue of a incredibly gritty noir story that starts with a suicide
airag/kumis is an acquired taste, but because mongolian politeness will force you to at least take a sip everytime you enter a mongolian home, the taste is acquired quite quickly, no matter if you want to or not
@@kinsmarts2217 acquiring a taste is literally about teaching your body that what you are consuming is not poison with repeated exposure. After the body is not screaming at you to remove it from your system you can finally taste what it actually is.
Baijiu is it's own taste category, steaming compost and 1970's unregulated oven cleaner. Treat yourself to something nice after this experience.... you..... you've earned it.
@@ArmandKarlsen As a guy from Beijing, that would be the "You now understand the inherent terrors of the universe from the collective knowledge of a thousand generations of my people" kind of way.
@@ArmandKarlsenAsian American here, and for me it’s both. I like Ming River and Moutai, but it was a very acquired taste. Watching my friends try it and react always get a laugh out of me.
@@Kedai610 ming river gives me rotton tropical fruit but in a good way vibes. I don't get how people can't love this stuff, 白酒 is just genuinely good. Maybe I'm weird.
on today's episode, greg re-enacts the scene from that one star trek movie where data tries alcohol. "Ugh...this...this is terrible...I HATE this. Whoa! I...HATE This!" Guinan: "Would you like some more?" Data: "please!"
😂 yep That's exactly what went through my mind as he was the very first one. When Data first gets his emotion chip and he's trying to experience new things.
During a beer tasting of some lambic, there was a consensus of the predominant tasting note to be "goat blanket" No one could define it, but we all agreed that's what a goat blanket would taste like.
Summer Maggot Garbage Can sounds like a great name for a Grindcore band. Mebbe even Grindcore Pop. Yes, I know those two genres are as diametrically opposed to each other as any two musical styles can be without resorting to John Cage's _4'33",_ but I believe in people's creativity, _especially_ when it's just shitposting.
Back in ‘07, I got to spend three months teaching in China. After a fourteen hour flight to Beijing, our guide took us out to dinner, and gave us a TALL glass of baijiu. After combination of rich food, no sleep, and too much Chinese wine, I’m surprised I could stand up from the table.
My ex-wife grew up on a dairy farm. When some friends brought some sorghum liquor to a party (to ruin it I guess) she said "It smells like spoiled silage" - fermented animal feed. When I did my shot my body tried to reject it before it hit my mouth when the smell hit my nose. It's far and away the worst thing I have ever intentionally put in my mouth. Greg describing his mouth-watering as a method to purge the obviously toxic substance is spot on.
I had a long ride with an uber driver in San Francisco who was from Mongolia. We got on the topic of Airag/Kumis and their sales pitch was essentially: we eat a high protein diet in mongolia (and it stops you up), when that happens you will drink copious amounts of Airag and it totally and completely cleanses the body. IE they would spew from both ends and feel much better afterwards. I will say they were truly genuine on how that it was a positive, i remain morbidly curious on trying Airag to this day.
Hey Greg, just wanted to chime in that cheap baiju is often meant as a test of endurance along the lines of say, tequila. But "good" baiju is absolutely meant to be enjoyed and savored in Chinese culture. I got married in Shanghai and my father in law had a case of the good stuff stashed specially for the wedding. I actually thought it was quite enjoyable and extremely fragrant. Most novice drinkers will hate it but anyone used to say, a high proof bourbon should have no trouble. Unfortunately the good stuff starts $600 a bottle and up from there.
you can get "the good stuff" for far less than $600. i got a few different ones from the historic distillery that's in the big-ass park in hangzhou that were great.
if you are drink the just basic swill, its very fun to drink out of incredibly fancy teacups, like the kind used for tea ceremonies. or at least thats what my friends and I did in college
It's always entertaining to watch westerners react to baijiu. I'm a westerner, and I've never had any connection to China, but for some crazy reason, I love the stuff and I loved it the very first time I tasted it. I live in southern California, so I have access to a wide variety. 99 Ranch grocery stores have a good selection, and some of the better ones show up at Total Wine. I currently have about fifteen different ones in my collection, and I want to increase this collection a little. The closest 99 Ranch is about an hour away. I suppose I'll have to make a pilgrimage there. I would like to explore huangjiu and mijiu (rice wine) a bit more as well, so I should pick up a few bottles. With huangjiu and mijiu, the cooking wine is best avoided if you aren't planning on cooking with it since it is lower quality and has a lot of added salt. The labels are hard to decipher, so it is rather challenging to figure out which is which, though the higher cost of the drinkable stuff is a clue. Unfortunately, the cooking huangjiu and mijiu tend to be found alongside the stuff that is meant for drinking. This probably isn't an issue for most people since people who can't read Chinese don't normally seek out this sort of booze. Baijiu is a rather complicated spirit. The production method is fascinating, and there is a wide stylistic range. There are four main categories, and they differ significantly from each other. The lightest style is rice aroma. It is made from rice, unlike the others which are usually sorghum-based. It is also harder to find than the others. Strangely, the only one I have in my collection is made in Oregon. This style is a lot more westerner-friendly than the others. The next category on the intensity scale is light aroma. Erguotou and gaoliang/kaoliang are the most prominent examples and the only ones I've had. I have two different bottles of erguotou (both are variants of Red Star) and two different bottles of Taiwanese kaoliang. I find Red Star to be quite pleasant, and it is a good value even for higher end versions. For a cold, refreshing drink, Red Star on the rocks is good. Kaoliang is somewhat more challenging, and it seems to have more stylistic variation. The two bottles I have are quite different from each other. One is earthy, and the other has a floral/medicinal note. I enjoy both of them. The next category, and the one most likely to be encountered, is strong aroma. It has intense rotten fruit and barnyard notes, and there is typically a lot of earth too. Ming River is an example, though it is somewhat toned down for western taste. I have a bottle of Guojiao 1573, which is a higher end, more hard core product from the same distillery (Luzhou Laojiao). This distillery's products are among my favorites. And finally, there is the famous (or infamous) sauce aroma baijiu, which has a lot of umami funk and has been compared to fermented fish sauce. Kweichow Moutai is the famous, and very expensive, sauce aroma baijiu that is popular as a lavish gift and commonly used for bribery. It figures prominently in stories and legends of the Long March, so it is naturally popular with Communist Party officials, though it was famous well before the Communists marched through the town where it is made. Moutai Prince and Moutai Yingbin are less expensive and simpler versions for those who can't afford the flagship product. There are also luxury versions that cost thousands of dollars. I'm not rich enough for those, but I have a bottle of the main version, which goes for around $300 for a half-bottle lately. It is intense and complex, but its unique and potent flavor isn't particularly compatible with western taste. I love it even though I don't relish the prospect of having to pry loose so much money when the time comes to buy a new bottle. I haven't tried making many cocktails from baijiu. I'm usually too lazy to make cocktails, so I almost always drink my spirits neat. I once made a margarita variant with kaoliang instead of tequila; it worked out reasonably well but could probably use some adjustment. A baijiu negroni (with sauce aroma baijiu in place of gin) worked - the bitterness of Campari complemented the baijiu funk well. Also, sauce aroma baijiu with grapefruit juice works. Again, the bitterness complements the funk, and the citrus cuts through the richness. The sauce aroma baijiu I have used in mixed drinks in Moutai Yingbin. Moutai Prince should work too. I won't use the expensive standard version in mixed drinks. Of course, the mixed drinks that I like might not work for others since I like baijiu and want it to be prominent in the drink. I could go into a lot more, as I have spent some time researching baijiu, but I am far from an expert. Though I have a lot more experience with it than most westerners, I still feel like a novice.
I tried Moutai Prince while I was studying abroad, long before I got into mixing/hard liquor generally. I don't remember much of its flavor profile, but I distinctly remember "gasoline" jumping out at me.
In the mid 1990's I was invited to lecture in China at a number of universities for a few months. I knew little about China, at the time. My first meal/dinner was with a number of people from the first university where I was going to be presenting. It consisted mostly of feet (pig's, chicken, duck) and copious quantities of tripe dishes. I was asked if I would like "wine" with my meal and hoping that a nice dry white might help me down some of the food I gladly said "yes please". Shortly thereafter, the server placed a very small glass - perhaps 1/2 - 3/4 ounces that looked like an over-sized thimble. My thought was "Wow - these folks really must not handle their alcohol very well..." then a clay jug-like bottle appeared and the server filled the tiny glasses. The main guy at the table then raised his glass with a toast of "Gan Bei" and we all drank our "wine". About the time it got to the back of my throat, I realized that what I was drinking was unlike any wine I had ever tasted. The burn, as it passed my throat and entered my stomach was memorable. About 20 minutes later came a second call for "Gan Bei".... then a third and so on, over the next 2 hours. I had never experienced anything quite like it and I will say that it did get me through a challenging meal and left me sh*t-faced, in the process. I later came to realize that this was pretty much par for the course at every banquet-style dinner I would have over the next 3 months. I purchased a bottle of the stuff on my way out of china and shared it with friends who... well, let's just say it is an acquired taste. I must say though that this wasn't the worst alcohol I was served in China. The jars/bottles with very large scorpions and/or clearly dead snakes floating around in it was decidedly worse.
Oh, Kumıs) As a Russian person I would say it is great) All Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kirgizstan, Altai, Mongolia, Tatarstan, Kalmykia are drinking kumıs Try this combo: eaux de villes de william (pear alcohol) 1 , kumys 2, almond syrop 0,5-1: mix, shake with ice, serve with big ice cubes and mint garnish)
@@1lomi901I'm not russian, but was friends with a few in high school and college. it's a shorthand for :), so when someone wants to "smile" after a message, they'll end it with something like this)))
@@erzsebetkovacs2527 Normally the eau de vie de William is not sweet (theoretically you can use another fruity distillate: calvados(apple) or or even kirsch(cherry); I also saw a recipe with bourbon instead). Almond syrop: I use Orgead (Monin), but anything in this category would do I think. Enjoy)
@@dasaanithey are brackets. They are used when you want to make breaks in the sentence when listing things. When done that way you only use one like this ) or it can be used to add descriptions that otherwise do not belong in the sentences, and they would be closed, like this () with the description put inside the brackets.
Don't know if you'd want any cocktail recipes to try for baijou, but I'm happy to share a couple that I enjoyed first one: 0.5 oz plum wine, 1.5 oz kaoliang, 1.5 oz green plum syrup, and top off with pineapple juice the other one is tea based: 2 oz woolong tea infused vodka, 0.25 oz kaoliang, 0.5 oz grand marnier, 1 oz sweet & sour, and 0.25 oz yuzu wine hopefully you can find enjoyment out of these XD
American born Chinese here. I most definitely needed to practice a few days with my then fiance before the wedding so we could shoot it with each table with a straight face. The (non-Chinese) photographers assured us that they were very familiar with the photos we wanted to catch with my wife's non-Chinese family on taking those moutai prince mini shots. There were other drinks, too. My first words the morning after were "everything tastes like baijiao". I've had one or two hangovers that lasted longer, but none so unpleasant. Your extensive monologue captures but a fraction of the horror.
Hi Greg, I'd like to bring to your attention that vanilla extract is legally required to be at least 35% alcohol by volume, and is a cooking ingredient and therefore technically drinkable. Cheers!
😂 this reminds me of the time right before the plague when young people who were not of age to drink yet figured out that there was real bourbon in the Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract. At least there was back then I don't know if they changed it now. But there were certainly a lot fewer brands all of a sudden.
Like a year ago my roommate bought a 1-liter bottle of pure vanilla extract from Costco because both of us bakes regularly and we figured it'd be a worthwhile purchase. Out of sheer curiosity knowing that it's basically vodka with vanilla beans steeped in it, I poured a tiny amount into a shot glass. Legitimately one of the worst things I have tasted in my life. I can't even describe it in words... bitter, astringent, a flavor like fermented tea mixed with the liquid from a fermenting trash bag. How can something that smells that amazing taste so fucking terrible jfc
BTW, my understanding of how that stuff is made is that, 1) often not just the kernels of the sorghum are used 2) because no enzymes exist in the sorghum to break down the starches into sugars, a controlled rotting/fermentation is used to create the sugars for the yeast to feed on. This is responsible for the rotting garbage pail flavors, because it's literally rotting to create the sugars for the ferment. This produces many of the foul flavors in the final product. 3) yeast fermentation takes place on top of the rotting once you get enough sugars created, much like with any other alcohol production. 4) distillation takes place, and many of the disgusting aromatics created by the "rotting it into having sugars to ferment" step go right through into the final distillation uninhibited or even concentrated. Thus the scent, flavors, and mouth feel. I hope this explains some of the sensations occurring when you drink it.
Even my most adventurous brew friends haven't been able to make a decent beer out of the stuff with more 'modern' methods, because you end up with, basically, 'dirty sugars' no matter how you break them down - and that crap sticks around through fermentation (and apparently distillation). But, ahh, get used to the taste, because it grows better than wheat and barley in arid conditions.
@@gravit8ed yes the intrinsic unpleasantness certainly plays a role on top of the "decomposing in a trash barrel" part of the process. It's funny because if handled well, a very similar process used on rice creates very clean sugars that ferment into delicious sake and other rice wines.
Chinese Yeast is called Qu, and it's a mix of molds and yeasts, like Koji over in Japan. The pre-ferment is a growth of the molds from the yeast cakes that convert the starches into sugars that amylase from malt would have done otherwise. The pre-fermented rice can actually be used as an ingredient before the yeast grows, and it is very sweet. Then the yeast kicks in. This is what gives various rice wines their distinctive flavors, and it gives distilled spirit their _very_ distinctive flavors
@@TheWhiteDragon3 that's cool to know I was never clear on if it was a bacteria doing the sugar creation part or a fungus, so that answers it. Amazing how much better rice does with it than sorghum.
My biggest exposure to sorghum has been sorghum syrup, but apparently that isn’t made from sorghum grain but from the sugary stems of certain types of sorghum. That stuff would ferment once diluted, just as honey ferments to mead! Then distilling that would yield a sort of brandy? Clearly they’re not making the stuff by starting with the stems…
So. From my understanding (which may be flawed), baijiu's unique flavors come from a few different processes. The sorghum itself is responsible for a lot of the "wet dog" notes. The funky earthy notes often come from using something like koji as the primary vehicle for fermentation. Combining that with the sorghum is enough to produce a lot of the "rot" and "manure" tastes. The odd fruity notes as well as the harsher metallic, chemical, solvent, spicy, and grassy notes come from the distillation process. Baijiu distilleries often keep some parts that are the first to come off the still. Those first bits contain a lot of the brighter fruitier esters, but also trace amounts of methanol, acetone, and a bunch of other unpleasant things.
I always thought of Baiju as being dominated by 2 flavors: a sweet-acidic pineapple note and the mustiness of black mold. A lot of cocktails lean into the pineapple angle.
Here is how we were served it by the locals. It is normally poured over ice into something like a mixing glass. It is served in little glasses like "shot" glasses that hold at a max 3/4 of an ounce. You are not allowed to pour your own glass, and you are meant to shoot it whenever someone makes a toast.
I've had it in a similar manner, but instead I was served very cold ice water alongside neat kaoliang. You'd drink a bit of the ice water then a bit of the spirit, apparently it's common to do it this way when eating a particular spicy cuisine in Taiwan, although we didn't have any of those dishes
I have done some distilling, those wet dog/rotten grass notes come from the low ABV end of the distillation (tails), and the fruity/shoe polish vibes come from the high ABV end of the distillation (heads). You get this a lot with low quality spirits because you get more alcohol from the process by taking more alcohol out of the original fermented wash, at the expense of unpleasant flavour. It's a feature in a lot of traditional distilled spirits like baijou, raki, grappa etc because traditionally the entire goal was to get drunk as fast as possible as cheaply as possible.
Scene - Greg is now the bartender and sole proprietor of a saloon that has somehow anchored into the outskirts of the same universe where Cthulhu has awakened, and the lower denizens are demanding his descriptions of what intoxicants the elder gods are allowing in this moment.
Could we possibly get country spesific episodes at some point? Popular flavoured alcoholic beverages from different countries one at a time where you taste trst them and try to use them in cocktails? Obviously, as a Finn, I'd nominate Finland first. And the list would definately have to include: -Kyrö Gin (formerlly known as Napue) -Kyrö Whiskey -Jaloviina (sorry, also there are 1 and 3 star versions) -Shamans Terva (tar liquor, DELICIOUS when mixed with vodka for a shot OR we Finns are just a bit weird. Seriously tho, you COULD love this stuff) -Minttuviina (Leijona Minttu) -Original Long Drink (there are many versions of it but the original blue stripe one is just so iconic) -Fisushotti (fishermans friend -candy liquor) -Koskenkorva Salmiakki (salmari) -Metsänhenki -Gambina -Koskenkorva Mustikka I might've forgotten some other classics, but these are ones that are either so iconic or possibly so fun that I'd love to see you try them. Postal fees might be big so you could/should also definately taste test some Finnish candy and rye bread (100% rye) as it is so popular in Finland. 🇫🇮
That description of a freshly opened pack of cigarettes immediately brought me back to childhood when my mom would open a pack. Definitely a sort of raisin-y tinge to that smell.
That’s what that is? :/ Was leaving a Wallgreens once, This girl was leaving too. She looked, smiled, looked back than was sad :| Her face was peppered w/those marks. I moved (FL > KY) recently
@@carlsoll Apparently that drug makes you think there's ants crawling all over you so they scratch themselves raw. For face, that could just be unfortunate Acne problems she had. Normally it's the arms and legs that are scratched up. Some do do the face, but if she was missing teeth, then possibly.
I used to have Kirschwasser on the list of worst liquors ever because I bought some, sampled it straight, and it was absolutely vile. People kept telling me to try it in coke for a cherry coke and I said no, I didn't want to ruin the coke. Until I finally tried it, and it was very good. I guess it's just a good remind that all these different liquors have their purposes.
"1680... I don't think baijiu goes back that far" Baijiu's history apparently goes back ~2000 years, which might explain part of why it feels so alien. Like, not only is it made to suit another country's/culture's palate, it's ancient, and the past is also another country. It's foreign palate squared.
When I was a sophomore in college I turned 21 just in time to take a 2 week trip to China for school. This was back in 2005. Whole class thing. 30-odd students and 4 teachers/chaperones. Me and 3 others in the group get together one night in one of our hotel rooms to drink. I had acquired a bottle of baiju from the local store around the block from our hotel for about 20 bucks local. We each got a big glass and filled it and began to drink while talking about whatever 21 year Olds tall about until we had finished our first glasses. At this point I announced that I didn't feel anything and that baiju sucks. I stood up and immediately fell over and the rest of the night is one long drunk blurr. Absolutely fantastic experience. 11/10. Wouldn't change anything
A bar in my area had a Ming River Baiju cocktail on their menu last year and I had to try it. Not gonna lie, it was drinkable but I didn't order another. Their menu said it was mixed with Chinola, peach liqueur, and lime juice in case you need some inspiration.
I distinctly remember my off campus roommate in college, who was a Chinese languages minor, busting this out one night and ruining years of my life from the memory and many of my tastebuds. Of all the horrible alcohol we consumed in that house, including black velvet, rubinoff, Mr. Boston, old Tom, and many varieties of unidentifiable jungle juice, the Baijiu was by far the worst. Burns like hell and has the cloyingly sweet taste of fermented, funky, moldy grease from behind the stove.
You started with the one I've always found to be the worst. The Kaioiang grew on me after living in Taiwan for 20 years, but Maotai brings me back to a friend's wedding in China and the worst multi day hangover I've ever had
"Distant hint of horse manure" Are words I never thought I'd hear in a drink review. You certainly know how to describe the features very vividly and make me never want to have Kaoliang Wine let alone be in the same room as it.
The testors blue tube is linonene. the red tube is xylene, butyl acetate, ethylbenzene(this smells like gasoline), naphtha, cumene, tetramethylbenezene, and Dimethylindan. Tamiya extra thin is acetone and butyl acetate, GW glue is butyl acetate(most others are too). A lot of plastic glues also contain toluene and/or methyl ethyl ketone which both smell really bad like you can get cancer by smelling them bad.
I do love a content creator putting themselves through hell for entertainment - similar to those James Hoffman videos where he drinks/eats all those awful coffee products.
Oh my god YES. Baiju breakdown!! The deep cut we didn't know we deserved, and that Greg probably doesn't deserve either. We love you Greg. We see that you've sacrificed for us today
I think the phrase you've been searching for is my grandmother's, "That would gag a maggot." Gross, true, but your noises and expressions exemplify it.
I'll be honest, as a white dude who lived in China and attended *many* banquets in northern China where toasting with baijiu was essentially mandatory, I found this to be a relatively inoffensive spirit. I hate vodka and would prefer baijiu over it. Yes it's got an intense up front aroma but good ones have subtle sweetness and malty, herbal flavors that are not that bad. Now cheap baijiu on the other hand... Really curious exactly what makes Greg hate it so much.
Drinking (and enjoying) Baiju is extremely common in South East Asia, no idea what an even moderately experienced bartender would have to complain about with it.
I think even if he manages to make the awful notes of these disappear in a cocktail, I get the feeling the aftertaste will still be pretty abhorrent. Good luck recording the next one in this series Greg!
Usually it is “Wu Liang Ye Baijiu” used at Epcot the cocktail is called Byejoe Punch it is made from Baijiu, lychee, coconut water and pineapple juice. Hope this helps😊
When you do finally do the baijiu cocktail episode, while I know the point is to use the worst one, I'd love to see you try the cocktails you come up with using the baijiu you thought was most palatable as well, as kind of a control for the experiment. That seems like it'd be really interesting, to show the difference the brand could make.
Sorghum is not the reason this tastes "bad" because sorghum can be quite good and has a complex, albeit light and neutral flavor profile. It can be nutty. So a proper deep dive on it is very much necessary to properly understand it and its varieties. It can be pretty good from what I heard, albeit an acquired taste. Again, it has a lot of variety and classification so there might be a type you like but it might just be hard to find in the US. Some of them *are* intended to be medical with certain infusions. As for Airag/Kumis, one can learn to enjoy it.
Every bar storeroom should have a shelf for liquors like these labeled "Use for molotovs before all else". That way no one goes for the Johnny Walker by mistake.
Slivovitz is considered either a delicacy or undrinkable depending on who makes it and who's drinking it. My Serbian father in law makes his own, and I like the stuff personally. It's a kind of high proof brandy made from small plums. Would love to see an episode on this.
On rotation in the Balkan region, it acquired the nickname “sleep-in-a-ditch”. Powerful homebrew supplies were widely available, requiring a designated drinker when meeting locals.
the ones poorly distilled contain a lot of fermentation byproducts that make them taste a bit like paint thinner, and they smell a lot like paint thinner. the well made ones are very good though, a bit sweet, some dried fruit taste, raisins, plums and no chemical smell. and you can drink them neat like water even though they are 65%. it's made through the whole eastern europe so i recommend to at least try it when visiting. perhaps with thin slices of slanina/spek (the smoked one, not the salted one) as side dish.
I've recommended Greg try slivovitz as well. I think it's delicious (but I am biased, being Serbian) but also challenging from a cocktail making perspective because the taste is so overwhelmingly strong. It also has a very wide range in taste even among commercial distillers.
There's not really a Frenchy 'zh' like the s in treasure sound in Chinese. The closest thing the j sounds like, is just a normal j in English. So Baijiu sounds pretty similar to like, bye-je-oh, with that je-oh being really fast. Apologies if that's not very clear, it's the best I can do!
I consider myself warned. Sorghum brings out aromas of unpleasantness, but i guess it tastes like "whoah, that's some strong stuff", which sort of works in the context?
Chinese coworker at a former job brought in a bottle for people to try at work which was inadvisable in an office. I think we all agreed it tasted like what we imagine jet fuel to taste like. I never forgot that taste. It was like getting hit in the face with a sledgehammer with a flash grenade stuck to the head of it.
