More than a decade ago I did a post for this blog entitled, “What Were the Chinese Drinking?” It was an exploration of the origins of a ceramic bottle, like the one shown here, widely found in the United States and often identified by American collectors as a Chinese wine bottle. As the result of personal experience, I was convinced that the Chinese were drinking a distilled spirit that I had imbibed in China in July 1976.
I was among a group of U.S. Congress staff aides that had been invited to China and were staying in Beijing’s Peace Hotel when the Great China Earthquake, one estimated to have killed a half million or more people, shook the city and caused our group hastily to leave the next day by special train to sites further south. After two weeks on the road, we returned to the capital and the Peace Hotel.
During our trip we had been feted with a drink our hosts called “moutai.” Several of us had developed a taste for it. This highly potent liquor is made from rice or sometimes sorghum. It has an aroma and taste that some have called reminiscent of turpentine and cat urine. Famously, President Richard Nixon swallowed maotai and grimaced as he toasted Zhou Enlai during his groundbreaking trip to China.
On our last night in Shanghai before returning home, a several of us were partying with maotai but quickly ran out. Very enthusiastic, I ran to a nearby tourist store to buy another bottle. My recollection is that it cost only a dollar or two. Four of us continued to drink up the new bottle before going to bed. The next morning I woke up with what has been called the “dreaded maotai sweats.” A not-so-subtle aroma seemed to be exuding from every pore of my body. And my head was pounding. The experience even 44 years later is unforgettable.
My analysis that the Chinese in America were importing a liquor called maotai was only partially right. Moutai is a brand name for a particular distilled spirit, the generic name for which is “baijiu,” pronounced something like “bye joe.” Despite this mistake, that post has been one of my most popular, attracting some 5,300 “hits” to date. Among those looking in was an anonymous descendent of the Wing Lee family, apparently prompted by the image of the bottle shown here. That individual provided this additional information:
“My grandfather was the third generation owner of the Wing Lee Wai company, producing Chinese wine and spirits in China, Hong Kong and Macau. The twin storks on the bottle are our family crest. It is the mark of a clan of high standing, and my grandfather's uncle was a Mandarin, an advisor to the Chinese Emperor.
“One of the most famous of the Wing Lee Wai concoctions was a rose liquor, which was brewed from the finest Rosa Damascena petals sourced in their native Turkey. Other popular beverages they made included an alcoholic cola drink, long before Coca Cola hit the mainstream.
“My father still holds the handwritten recipes for these amazing concoctions, many of which contained unusual Chinese herbs. The simple ceramic bottles were hand thrown and glazed on the family property and the shape was traditionally determined by the kind of spirit they contained.”
More recently the subject of Chinese tippling was exhaustively covered by author Derek Sandhaus in his 2019 book, “Drunk in China: Baijiu and the World’s Oldest Drinking Culture.” The book takes an lively and encompassng look at the ages old tradition of Chinese drinking such spirits. They come in many forms and may contain as high as 53 percent alcohol, registering them at 106 proof. Compare that to 80 proof for most gins and vodkas.
Sandhaus notes that despite its potency many Chinese contend that baijiu does not leave a heavy drinker with after effects. He points out that Kweichow Moutai, the very one of my 1976 imbibing, for years has claimed its liquor is hangover proof. He suggests, however, that by overindulging “you will feel like a fish slapped against the sidewalk the next morning.” I can relate to that.
Perhaps the most startling information in the book is the revelation that the bottle of Kweichow Moutai that I bought for a couple of bucks in Shanghai has become the prestige libation of Chinese elites. Today that same baijiu sells for about $300 a bottle and might have gone higher if the Communist regime had not acted to rein in the cost. Recently a bottle of Kweichow Moutai, vintage 1966, was up for sale on eBay at $2,800.
Despite biujiu’s popularity and the number of Americans of Chinese ancestry, there is only one U.S. outfit distilling the spirits. In Wilsonville, Oregon, the Ly family make several varieties of baijiu in a barn behind their home. Shown here are the senior Lys, who are assisted by their five children. Called Vinn Baijiu, a bottle retails for about $40 but is sold mostly in the Northwest. The curious might wish to try some but, on my advice, not too much at one time.
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