For those of you who don’t live in China (according to my site stats, about 80% of you), baijiu, or “white alcohol”, is the traditional liquor of China. Every corner shop will sell a wide range of baijiu from stomach churning 3 yuan (40 cent) bottles of rot-gut made from formaldehyde mixed with rubbing alcohol, up to 1000 yuan ($125) bottles (at nice shops) of smooth distilled flavor.

Most foreigners I’ve met here in China despise the stuff. Actually, I’m the only foreigner I can think of that likes baijiu at all, and in fact, I love it! It’s my opinion that most foreigners never really gave it a chance. Think about it: the first time you tasted your favorite alcohol, it probably tasted pretty awful… but later on it probably grew on you until it became your favorite drink. Baijiu has grown on me, and for better or worse, I have become a baijiu connoisseur. It’s my favorite alcohol– even replacing whiskey! Given that my college nickname was “Chriskey”, it’s really saying a lot that I’d disown the Kentucky classic for Vodka’s retarded Asian cousin.

Baijiu is extremely strong alcohol. Most bottles run at about 55% alcohol per bottle. And unlike fine whiskeys, you actually have to pay more money to get weaker proofs. My favorite, and quite expensive, store bought baijiu comes at the minimum level of 42% alcohol per bottle.

Anyway, I’ve started brewing my own blend of baijiu, in part to save money, and in part for the experience of doing it. I made my first batch last year around the time that I really started loving the stuff, and started making my second batch tonight. The base of the baijiu is already made up, so I’m not doing any fermenting of sorghum (the grain baijiu is made from), just adding flavors and “medicine”. I suppose I’m making a baijiu “blend”.

The Chinese (or “traditional Chinese”, I suppose) believe you can add herbal medicine to most things to get good benefits. That’s why almost every brand of cigarette here is fortified with “traditional Chinese herbal medicine”. The idea of medicine in cigarettes is pretty oxymoronic, unless that “herbal medicine” is in fact a packet of stem cells crammed into the filter that will replace the damage to your lungs not only from the cigarettes but also breathing the thick layers of smog that constantly surround you in China. Baijiu is no different, in restaurants most baijiu comes loaded up with “herbal medicine.” Yet again, unless these medicines are really stem cells traveling straight to your liver, this “medicine” probably won’t do you much good. However, John, my Chinese buddy, says that there are many clinics where the doctor will prescribe baijiu loaded with medicine for most ailments.

So after buying a pretty decent baijiu stock from a local hot pot restaurant tonight, I went to a health clinic to find the medicine for my new blend. I’ll walk you through the simple process of putting it all together:

ingredients

1) Buy some baijiu stock from a local restaurant then assemble your choice of “medicine”. For my first batch, last year, I used ginseng and some little red dried berries. The ginseng, of course, helps your brain function (the more you drink, the smarter you get!), and the little red berries help improve your immune system. For this, my second batch, I tried a different set of ingredients. Once again I used the red berries (at about 11 o’clock in the above picture), some sort of wood chip/root thing that smelled like weed and is supposed to help kidney functions, some sort of black thing that John couldn’t translate and had never even heard of (I think it’s a fungus of some sort) that will help kidneys and muscle functions , and some expensive “red flower” (no one said what flower it was–sister Carrie suggests saffron) that would add a decent flavor to the whole concoction (that’s the one at about 9 o’clock in the picture).

We talked to the clinician for a long time discussing the various merits and flavors of each ingredient before choosing these. I’m pretty pumped, since the last batch turned out so well. I’m really excited about the “Red Flowers,” which will supposedly add a good flavor!

By the way, that’s the baijiu in the jug that looks like it’s for gasoline.

put your ingredients in

2) Dump all your ingredients into a big ass glass jug. This picture is really unnecessary, but I thought it was pretty, so I’ll include this as it’s own step in the instructions.

add baijiu and let sit

3) Add the baijiu, then wait a few days. Your baijiu will only get better with age (or at least my last batch did). It’s ready to drink when all that stuff at the top settles down to the bottom. Yum Yum!