Chinese Booze - as promised, but first a few random comments:

Please note: The topics in this blog are in no particular order . They do not consist of a sequential journal of my sojourn in China.

ALSO: The first entries of this blog are pretty basic: transportation, food, booze; fear not! I’ll eventually tackle politics, the economy and the environment! Woohoo!

Addendum to the last post: Did I really write that entry about food in China without mentioning scorpions on a stick? On our first day out, walking between Bandung Hutong and the Forbidden City, I saw them. For some silly reason I didnt take a picture. We were on a tear to get our itinerary under way and I thought I’d probably see these things all over the place. In fact, this was the one and only time that I saw them, but it left an impression ( as Mr Don said Chinese people eat everthing!”) If you google scorpions on a stick”, you will see lots of photos, such as this:

Crunchy scorpions on sticks:  high protein, low cal, crunchy snack!

Finally - let's consider ethyl alcohol, Chinese style:
Three penis liquor. comes to mind.
I assume that I have your attention now. Of the varieties of alcohol that we sampled in China (part of the cultural experience, don’t you know!?) Three Penis is the one I’ll always remember ...and I never actually took a sip! Go figure.
In addition to ingesting a broad and esoteric range of food substances, as previously noted, the Chinese, not surprisingly, have created some delightful alcohol products. I discovered this early n my trip. In fact, on the flight to Beijing, the two Chinese gentlemen with whom I practiced my wobbly Mandarin skills (see entry # 1)  started right in withTsingdao beer, so I figured I should do likewise ( "when in Rome, or on the way to China....”)
Tsingdao is not a remarkable beer. I must digress briefly to a trip to Germany during which Mitch and I spontaneously documented each daily beer tasting event.

I can't find the amusing video that Mitch made of the beer tasting  :(  if/when I do locate it I will  post it here.  Just fyi, it consists of grinning photos of us holding various frothy glasses of German beer, accompanied by some German marcing music!  BTW, our favorite was Arlberger - a great whie beer!

Germans make good beer. (Perhaps you have heard of Octoberfest?) They make ...interesting beer. Even the one weissbier that we had at the German castle that I might have described as not great, possibly even bad, was, at least interesting in that it was a unique sensory experience. I relate this to state what is perhaps obvious: it’s hard to live up to German beer. Nevertheless, I drank several Tsingdaos and found them acceptable, even refreshing. It’s a light tasting inoffensive brew. Plus it’s made in Qingdao (pronounced the same way as the beer; is this maybe the Pinyin spelling? That’s a topic for another entry) And it comes in a spectacularly large bottle. To add to the excitement, each time I ordered one, I used this cool little ring bottle opener. 

Just as the seller was about to open the bottle, I politely waved their opener away and opened the bottle with my bare hand! At least that’s the way it appeared! ( Wow! It’s as exciting as having a secret decoder ring!) I am so easily amused! And, so evidently, are the Chinese. This silly little trick never failed to result in a broad Chinese smile. It would have been really sweet if they had been amused enough to give me a freeTsingdao!   But wait a minute. What am I complaining about, beer is very cheap in China, maybe 6RMB, or the equivalent of $1 USD for that large bottle!  Needless to say, since I still becoming accustomed to my newly acquired  pauper status, this inexpensive beverage became a staple.

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But what of hard liquor and the fruit of the vine? Every country seems to have its hooch or moonshine. In Brazil, it was Cachaca; in Peru, Pisco; in France, Calvados; in Tanzania - Konyagi. ETC.   (I’m really not a complete lush; I just like to try out the stuff that the locals imbibe; it’s fun and I do it mostly in moderation, for educational purposes of course!)

So what was China’s version? At Frands’ birtday (see entry # 2   ) Glen was chatting it up with the kid from Tenessee who filled him in: “Three Penis liquor.” Yep, it’s brewed with, just as the name suggests, 3 penises. Penises of what species, you might want to know. The bottle that Glen bought specified on the label: Cantonese dog, seal and deer, if I remember correctly. You probably don’t need to strain your imagination to discern the special properties that this particular hooch might confer upon those consuming it!    And one more point worth mentioning: it makes a great stocking stuffer!

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It was our last night in Shanghai. I had not had a glass of Chardonnay, my preferred poison, since leaving the states.  Wine was not readily available by the glass and buying a whole bottle to drink by myself could only lead to disaster so I made do with the aforementioned beer. 
 Glen and I stopped by the hotel bar where I tasted the best Chardonnay ever ..and I have tried a lot of Chardonnays. Dynasty Winery makes it. (good name for a Chinese winery don’t you think!?
Here's a link to their web site:
http://www.dynasty-wines.com/en/default.htm
I tried desperately to find a bottle to bring home; even emailed the company after getting home to see if I might find an American distributor. Alas, no reply. Maybe I need to send my message in Mandarin.
I won’t even try to describe the bouquet, color, legs, but my mouth is watering just thinking about that wine!   I wonder...was the Chard really that good? Or was it just the particular biochemisty of the moment? (have you noticed that wine/beer etc taste really really good sometimes. And the very same beverage quaffed on another occasion just doesn’ t cut it? I attribute this to one’s particular fluctuating chemical status as wine molecules contact olfactory and gustatory apparatus. Maybe. Or maybe it’s just a bad bottle?) Whatever.
I must procure a bottle of this stuff....to determine...was it really that good???? I’ll let you know when I find out.