Baijiu Brief: Getting Familiar With the White Spirit

Haterz gonna hate, wrote Li Bai or Tao Qian or some other ancient deep thinker/drinker on the topic of baijiu bashers. Thing is, some haters end up drinking more and hating less. And some even start liking.

Such was the case with Derek Sandhaus, whose introduction to baijiu came via those ganbei sessions that blur vision and slur speech, sear the throat and shock the liver, and leave a telltale aroma wafting from the pores for a day or two. Too many bottoms ups typically leave one curled under the table with a growing resentment of the booze responsible.

But unlike many of us with nightmarish experiences of