Moutai Yingbin.

Moutai liquor is apparently quite renowned and well-known among Chinese liquors. The classic Moutai goes for over $100 a bottle, but the proprietor at my favorite Chinese corner store suggested this one which runs for $14. I had been looking at some interesting "White Gold" bottles which had a VSOP rating but was not a brandy or cognac but some sorghum-based liquor. The wife said it smelled bad and was 15 years old; supposedly, these particular bottles were worth more than their $15 price tag indicated but she had simply never bothered to adjust the price because no one ever wanted them. In any case, I had been planning on trying this Moutai eventually and there are several very similar looking packages with widely varying prices, so I figured now was as good as time as any to try this fairly cheap version I had been offered. It was still the standard 53%ABV, but I suspect much of the price difference arises in the refining and aging processes. This must be the quick version to be produced for the masses.

The bottle of a solid white with plastic gold cap, sticker sealed over the breakaway plastic ring. The label indicates it's distilled from 80% sorghum and 20% wheat. The first thing that comes to mind when sorghum is mentioned is Redbridge which was fucking awful. I also apparently never reviewed and posted it because it was that bad. Redbridge, by the way is a gluten-free beer brewed from sorghum. It is terrible, and you should probably just have soda water.

Back to the Moutai:

• Appearance: Clear.
• Smell: Obviously a strong alcohol component but a bit of sake and a lot of sweet.
• Taste: A sharp punch at the beginning but if you can hold on to it for a bit, there is a strong plum sweetness, an wide assortment of sweetness, apple, raisin, fig, prune, very pleasant despite the ABV. Finish is naturally intense.
• Mouthfeel: Oily.
• Drinkability and Overall: I think this would be a great drink to have in small half shots with friends over spicy foods and Korean BBQ to close out a night of drinking with lots of friends.