There is nothing quite like washing down a good bowl of chicken feet with a sickly sweet, pungent swig of baijiu you bought from the corner store for a few RMB to show that you’ve successfully adapted to the local Chinese culture. But if you think that Chinese drinking always starts and stops with baijiu, then you’re sorely mistaken. China is home to wide variety of unusual beers and liquors. For this article, I have completed hours of painstaking “research” in order to bring you the very best of uniquely Chinese alcohols. So go beyond baijiu and participate in the following adventurous romp through the world of wild Chinese alcohol.
1) Guang’s pineapple beer (广氏菠萝啤)
There are actually several varieties of pineapple beer in China, but I chose Guang’s because the bright yellow logo helps get me in the mood to drink some crazy fruit beer. Brewed down in Guangdong by the folks at San Miguel Brewing Company, the pineapple beer is, all things considered, pretty tasty. It’s not too terribly sweet, and the pineapple flavor really comes in at the end.
ABV: 0.75-0.8%
Where to buy: uncommon at local shops; available in larger supermarkets like Carrefour to Lian Hua
Price: 2-3 RMB per can
Bottom line: You may not want to drink it all the time, but it’s certainly an interesting detour from Tsing Tao
2) Kumis/airag (马奶酒)
This unconventional drink is popular in areas of Inner Mongolia (where it is called Airag) and in Xinjiang. Kumis is made from mare’s milk, or, on more massive scale, from cow’s milk. If you’re not into automated production, you can always have Kumis in its traditional container; a horse-skin bag left out in the sun to ferment.
ABV: This one varies pretty wildly. Traditionally only around 2.5%, but some of the massed produced ones can get significantly higher
Where to buy: Inner Mongolia or Xinjiang, or if you’re not keen on that, Taobao.com
Price: 25-168 RMB on Taobao
Bottom line: A bit sour, but not terrible. Plus some of them come in really cool wineskins with Ghengis Khan plastered on the front
