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Here we have a special bottling of Red Star Erguotou, without much other context! If any baijiu fans have something to add, please fill us in! This is a milder, smoother, version of the typical Red Star, which we think is mostly attributable to its slightly lower alcohol content. This bottle comes in at 50%, […]
Tiensin Dragon is a pretty low-shelf kaoliang baijiu. It’s fairly rough with a hot alcohol burn – but has some interesting flavor notes. You can find it for ~$15 for 750mL, so you know it’s a budget buy. It’s a kaoliang, which is roughly equivalent to the light aroma category. You might want to compare […]
Firewater is a bit of a mysterious entry here: it’s found in the Phoenix market, but hasn’t made much information available. It’s repped by the Sazerac brand, which is the second-largest conglomerate in the US. It’s clearly marketed to be a Western-friendly intro to baijiu; it’s got some of the hallmarks of baijiu, but otherwise […]
Snowbridge has two new editions available: we’re reviewing them both! Snowbridge selects and imports baijiu from small producers in China, and bottles them under the Snowbridge name. Their next available offering is this, ‘No. 6 Light Aroma’, produced by Donkey Creek Distillery in Jiangjin, Chongqing. The light aroma category as a whole has a lot […]
Golden Bell is a Kaoliiang – a light aroma baijiu that mostly comes from Taiwan. You can find it pretty widely distributed here in the US, though, and this one in particular is made in Tianjin. The bottle is notable because it’s got an older, traditional jar shape, including a wonky plastic cap that pressure-fits […]
[ed. note: this review comes in from brent1334 – thanks Brent! ] This aged light-aroma baijiu pours clear, lest anyone think its aging was done in barrels. It has a nutty aroma with sweet-potato undertones. The pallet surprisingly comes across to me as a single flavor note: a sweet but mellow nuttiness similar to […]
This baijiu – I don’t really know which aroma category this belongs to, but it seems like a light aroma – is the bottom-shelf version of a well-known brand. The higher-end products win big spirit awards, so they’re probably better. It’s made in Hebei province in the north of China, and uses wheat qu. This […]
JOYOUTH from Xianglaobai is a light-aroma baijiu, and one of the most prominent that’s targeting younger drinkers. The founder Tao Shiquan is on a mission to get baijiu into the hands – and glasses, and cocktails – of China’s millennial. Their baijiu is in very non-traditional bottle designs, and they do a lot of event […]
Peppery! Actually quite delicious despite the low end bottling. Horsey smell but no detectable barnyard taste. Warm but not fiery. There’s a sharp, greenish flavor here – this is pretty delightful. Interestingly, this is neither Strong nor Light aroma, but ‘Phoenix Aroma’ – one of the smaller subcategories. The baijiu is fermented in mud pits, […]
If you know Red Star, you’ll appreciate this Beijing Erguotou; you’ll immediately recognize a similar flavor profile, but a marked quality increase. It’s clearly an upgrade from the cheap-but-everywhere baijiu. And there’s a reason for the similarity! Beijing was formed by former employees and executives at Red Star, creating a new company that could focus more […]