I thought I had found a hard liquor that I actually enjoyed and didn’t give me a ferocious hangover the next day - sake. I’ve been regularly enjoying a hot cup or two (or three) at my favorite Japanese restaurant after a sumptous meal. At 100NT per cup (that’s about $3, and around 3-4 shotglasses full), a good deal, and since I enjoyed it, I picked some rice wine at a local supermarket. Cheapskate I am, I picked up a 600ml bottle for 38NT (that’s 1.14). Ugh. I don't know whether it's because I skimped for the cheap #%! or that I’m drinking it at room temperature (the hot coffee warmth makes the sake down much smoother) or a combination of both, but this tastes - literally - like swallowing salt water. On the positive side, after only a couple of small glasses, this is going straight to my head. It only takes me a couple of cups of hot sake at the Japanese joint to get me well lit. Keep in mind I’m beer, not liquor, drinker, so my tolerance for the hard stuff is pretty low. I think I have discovered the cheapest drunk ever. Who knows what this rotgut is going to make me feel like tomorrow…oh well, it’s only one coca-cola sized bottle, and believe me, this is the last one (most likely ever). Next time I’m splurging wildly and going for the $3 bottle of wine.
“To hell with poverty! / Let’s get drunk on cheap wine!” - the Gang of Four (the U.K. rock’n’roll band, not Jiang Qing & co.).
Actually, I understand why rice wine would be radically cheaper than other wines in Asia, for obvious reasons. Doesn’t make it easier on the palate.
Ah, the eternal quest for the cheapest escape from reality.
Are you drinking Abo Champagne, i.e. “cooking” rice wine? That’s the cheap stuff - less potent and saltier than the regular. It’s not really supposed to be drunk.
[quote=“Quentin”]I thought I had found a hard liquor that I actually enjoyed and didn’t give me a ferocious hangover the next day - sake. I’ve been regularly enjoying a hot cup or two (or three) at my favorite Japanese restaurant after a sumptous meal. At 100NT per cup (that’s about $3, and around 3-4 shotglasses full), a good deal, and since I enjoyed it, I picked some rice wine at a local supermarket. Cheapskate I am, I picked up a 600ml bottle for 38NT (that’s 1.14). Ugh. I don't know whether it's because I skimped for the cheap #%! or that I’m drinking it at room temperature (the hot coffee warmth makes the sake down much smoother) or a combination of both, but this tastes - literally - like swallowing salt water. On the positive side, after only a couple of small glasses, this is going straight to my head. It only takes me a couple of cups of hot sake at the Japanese joint to get me well lit. Keep in mind I’m beer, not liquor, drinker, so my tolerance for the hard stuff is pretty low. I think I have discovered the cheapest drunk ever. Who knows what this rotgut is going to make me feel like tomorrow…oh well, it’s only one coca-cola sized bottle, and believe me, this is the last one (most likely ever). Next time I’m splurging wildly and going for the $3 bottle of wine.
“To hell with poverty! / Let’s get drunk on cheap wine!” - the Gang of Four (the U.K. rock’n’roll band, not Jiang Qing & co.).
Actually, I understand why rice wine would be radically cheaper than other wines in Asia, for obvious reasons. Doesn’t make it easier on the palate.[/quote]
Dude, that’s probably cooking wine you bought. Most rice wines are crap, but the bottles they come in are highly decorative. I’ve got several in the room as I type this. Never drank the shit, though.
Yes, indeed, this is the cheapest I’ve ever gotten this f@#$%! up in my life. One $1.14 bottle gets me this wasted?! I started drinking only around 10 o’clock and it’s only 11:20 and I’m already finished for the night. Either I have an extremely low tolerance for hard liquor (understandable, since I haven’t drank any liquor for 4? 5? 6? years or so), or 20% alcohol content rice wine is potent stuff. I suppose if you stick strictly to one form of alcohol - in my case, beer - your tolerance goes way up, in that I’m able to drink a couple dozen beers in one night and wake up the next morning…puking. But give me a touch of wine or whiskey and I’m totally screwed.
I feel like a teenager sucking down his first bottle of Boone’s Farm right now.
Fortunately, in my experience, sake does not give me a hangover. I’ve talked to some of my friends and they agree on this assessment - sake doesn’t give them much of a hangover, either. I wonder why that is.
Like I said, only a couple of small cups at the Japanese restaurant goes straight to my head, and as you all know, I’m a man who is quite familiar with the demon bottle. My brain is totally fried at this moment. Don’t expect anything more coherent out of me the rest of the night. Right now, I’m sitting at home cranking up the Black Sabbath…this is simple music at just about my mental level right now. Any music more complex or sophisticated would just confuse my Frozen Caveman Lawyer brain.
This is cooking wine? Damn if it doesn’t pack a punch! It was in the same section as the beer and other wines. It was in a plain plastic bottle. No fancy decorations whatsoever…it was if it was saying, “This is cheap and simple and generic. You want to get f#%# up at the least possible cost, the most bang for your buck? Here ya go.” It was labeled the same as those generic “Beer” cans were in Repo Man.
Anyway, my alcohol budget has just been reduced by 500%. If ever I want to seriously want to get practically comatose, it only takes 38NT to do it.
I am dreading, dreading the hangover this rotgut HAS to bring…
Mmm. Could be time for me to cook a nice little “chicken soup” tomorrow.
Thanks for your research Quentin.
I live in the sticks about half an hour from Chiayi City surrounded by fields of sugar cane. I’ve often thought that it’s a shame that Taiwan doesn’t produce a nice rum.
I recently met a train conductor at a city that will remail nameless. I was waiting for the train on the platform and the struck up a conversation. Nice guy. I had a a small bottle that was being sipped on and offerred him a drink. It was accepted with a smile. He went into a private area and came out with a clear bottle, unlabelled, of what looked like shine. He explained that his family has been making this rice wine for a hundred years.
Now, I have drunk shine from many makers around the N.W. U.S… One taste, and I knew this was the real deal. It was made from rice so absolutely clear and will put you on your ass before you know what hit you. Normally, I would be a bit worried about “radiator stills” and the like but he was helping me out and also supplied a nice bag of homemade peanut butter cookies that his wife had made, complete with her thumbprint in the middle of each cookie. Hell of a nice guy.
Point is, rice wine will put you on your ass as fast as any other well made potent still made alcohol. If you got drunk on this stuff, well, good on ya. So did I. And not just once. Damned good.
Mmm. Could be time for me to cook a nice little “chicken soup” tomorrow.
Thanks for your research Quentin.
I live in the sticks about half an hour from Jiayi City surrounded by fields of sugar cane. I’ve often thought that it’s a shame that Taiwan doesn’t produce a nice rum.[/quote]
But they do. God damn it, doesn’t anyone but me read LP cover to cover? Taiwan 2004 clearly states that the Hsinyi whiskey tastes like a decent rum.
Rum? Come on it is everywhere. Don’t look for it in traditional Western spots. Wellcome has some reasonable rum. Go to any traditional grocery store. You know, you see no lights and bags of crap sitting everywhere? Look around. You will usually see rum form TTL and some vodka and gin.
Good? After the first drink, it’s damned good. So, a good brand and age for the first drink and TTL stuff after that.
GIN, Vodka, Bourban and Rum at 260 NT per bottle. Kidneys will probably complain but it ain’t too bad and damned cheap. Don’t complain about the hangover. It hurts, Really bad.
BTW, Find a “Drinks” store. I call it “Kegs” because their logo and sign shows a keg. You find the basics, Bacardi light and dark, Meyers and maybe one or two others. You can talk them out of a VIP card on the first purchase if you buy 2-3 bottles. This will get you a small discount next time. Gotta have my rum when I want it and I usually just get the cheap shit at Wellcome
I stayed on rice wine up to the day I left Taiwan…No joke. Being cheap I stuck with Tunnel 88 from 7-11 mixed with that Ocean spray red juice.
Two glasses(6oz) after work would have me on my butt in an hour.
I’ve always liked sake, but i have NEVER drunk as much of it as I have in TW.
I really love it bitterly cold with a tonne of fresh sashimi…
I usually have 2 or 3 bottles at home that I’ve bought from somewhere over-priced…Jasons or the like. The worst problem I have with it is trying to remember which one I really like…as usually the labels are completely written in Japanese. Thusly, I am left to memorise pretty bottles and label colours! And stupidly I bought a sake pot and 4 tokkuri - which for me are far too small. I go through them far too quickly.
A girl did make me drink hot sake at Peoples’ Restaurant one night thought…and I really liked it. Have to pick my spot where I have it hot now, but either way, it’s about 12 months from heading off shiraz as my fave tipple!
[quote=“Namahottie”]I stayed on rice wine up to the day I left Taiwan…No joke. Being cheap I stuck with Tunnel 88 from 7-11 mixed with that Ocean spray red juice.
Two glasses(6oz) after work would have me on my butt in an hour. [/quote]
Tunnel 88, but that’s Kaoliang, made from one of the ugliest and foulest tasting grains on the planet. The thing that stops me from drinking that, aside from the head the next day that feels like you were squashed by a bus, is the taste of it in each and every belch, swallow and frightful regurgitation the following day.
Nama, I have a profound new respect for you . . . I think.
Actually they are all ethanol. Unless of course you are drinking methanol which you can get in barrels at places such as B1. Drink Rum, Vodka, Whisky, Kaoliang at 40%/per volume and it will all have the same effect. Merely a psychosomatic reaction to preconceived ideas of what particular spirits do: “Whisky makes you mellow, Brandy makes you violent, Tequilla is an upper, etc”. Perhaps, as far as hangovers go, one should look at what mix is being used.
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