Spirits are not as popular in the East as in the West, despite remarkable historical exceptions, such as the hard-drinking Mongols, who have even been credited with the discovery of distillation. The lukewarm eastern attitude toward liquor has existed in part because of the popularity of tea, in part because opium, betel nut, and other stimulants have historically substituted for strong drink, and in part because of a widespread devotion to beer. Another reason may be that the livers of Asian peoples tend to be low in aldehyde dehydrogenase isozyme (ALDHI), which helps to metabolize alcohol. This condition can cause the face to flush with the ingestion of even very moderate amounts of alcohol - a telltale signal among many who live by Confucian rules of conduct that frown on intoxication. In nineteenth-century imperial China, when strong drink was served, a gentleman not wishing to offend his host might pay someone else to drink it for him (Chang 1977).
Nonetheless, several grain alcohols are produced in the East. In China, mao tai - a whiskey made from millet and wheat - is the best known, and has been known to the world since it was served to U. S. President Richard Nixon during his 1972 visit there (Simoons 1991). San-shao, meaning “three times burnt,” is another Chinese liquor. It is made from sorghum and distilled three times, but is not to be confused with shao-chiu, which is distilled from grain ale (Simoons 1991). In Japan, the latter is called shochu and competes with local whiskey that is modeled on Scotch (Jackson 1988).
In Mongolia and Siberia, the drink best known from lore and literature is kumyss (or kumiss), an alcoholic beverage (fermented and sometimes distilled) made from mare’s milk. In about the seventh century, the Mongols introduced it in China, where it was popular for a time. Later, however, it acquired a reputation as a drink of barbarians and was so regarded after the Mongols conquered China in the thirteenth century (Chang 1977). A high level of lactose intolerance among the Chinese may also help to explain the disdain for kumyss, as well as for other milk products. The distilled form of the drink is sometimes called arak, a common Asian name for all kinds of liquor (Lichine 1981).
In Southeast Asia,“toddy,” a distilled palm wine made from fermented sap, appears in many varieties that may actually be thought of as brandies. Historically, toddies have been made in primitive stills, although a few are commercially produced (Lichine 1981). However, toddy, and other distilled beverages that exist in Oceania, are poorly documented. The latter have resulted from the distillation by Europeans of local alcoholic beverages; one example is the okelahao of Hawaii. This drink, made from ti roots fermented in the bilge of a canoe and distilled in a ship’s cookpot, has yet to find a market outside the islands (Grossman 1977).
World History
