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This is a discount offering from Wuliangye – it’s a little rough around the edges, but has a nice complicated flavor profile. To our palate, this is less wheatey than the other Wuliangyes that we’ve tried! It’s got a light burn, a fairly mild funkiness, and a prominent sweetness that starts out like a caramel […]
Te Chu Chiew (‘特曲’) is another delicious offering from Luzhou Laojiao, available in the US market. The marketing copy for this product always mentions its designation as ‘one of the four famous strong aroma liquors,’ which I don’t know exactly how to interpret. But this is a great example of the strong aroma baijiu category. […]
Lian Zhou Gong Jiu has been in business since 1944 in Hebei, and they are just starting to export to the west. In fact, the exporter kindly sent us a sample to review, but they didn’t yet have final bottle design samples – thus the mockup versions shown here. The ‘Dade’ product (can this be […]
The Luzhou Laojiao Bainian is so named: bai nian = 百年 = century or 100 years. Hold your horses, though – this isn’t a product that’s been aged for one hundred years. But it has been procesed through a pit at Luzhou that’s been in operation for 100 years, so there’s a nice buildup of […]
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, […]
This is a tiny 100mL bottle of Jiannan Laojiao; presumably related to Jian Nan Chun Chiew (which is delicious). Note: this is a discontinued product, and if you see it in stores, it’s the tail end of this stock. Grab it if you can! It’s another strong aroma, Sichuan-style baijiu, and it’s tasty: layered, with […]
Jian Nun Chun is: REALLY GREAT. This strong-aroma baijiu has tons of flavor. This is a great example of a baijiu that explodes on the tongue. Once you get past the initial blast, there’s maybe some nuttiness? Perhaps some warm papaya? You’ll definitely find a big barnyard aftertaste, but this layered, complicated flavor is part of […]
Apparently, the big brand Wuliangye – the heavyweightiest heavyweight next to Kweichow Moutai – spun off Jinliufu as a separate brand in China. But this bottle is cobranded – Wulianye on the front, Jinliufu on the side. Maybe an expert can set us straight here, but this is a mid-tier baijiu that packs a lot […]
This is a lower-end Luzhou Laojiao and it is still, in my opinion, great. It’s got the same well-balanced flavor profile that the pricier options from this baijiu-maker have. But the alchohol burn is more prominent, and the finish is pretty raw. Probably not the Luzhou to start with, unless your only comparison is Red […]
This is a really delicious baijiu, with a strong flavor profile and lots of balance. It’s sweet without being saccharine, horsey without excessive barnyard tang. There’s a burst of big flavor on your tongue, and the alcohol burn happens at the end – and even that is relatively muted. Luzhou Laojiao is one of the […]