# Chinese Whiskey and SNAKES!?!? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465 "2002-07-05T07:33:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kgriffey79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@kgriffey79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kgriffey79)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/1 "2002-07-05T07:33:09Z")
I just got back from Thailand, most time spent in Pattaya and a small amount in Bangkok. What a crazy place for a 17 year old! Anyway, some friends and I were in the grocery store, when I saw a bottle that caught my eye. It had three snakes in it! All the writing was in Mandarin(I think…not sure…) It seemed to be whiskey, although the color was more yellow than most. It was “Yang Ling” or something like this. Now I’ve had mexican tequila with the worms, but these weren’t small snakes! What’s up with that! This some kind of cultural tradition or anything, or did somebody think it was cool? Anybody seen this before? (question! not a poll! 🙂 ) Thanks ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/2 "2002-07-05T07:43:50Z")
Not uncommon here in China. Usually, the snakes are poisonous as well. Some of this could fall under a "Chinese medicine’ moniker. Usually it is not whiskey but a type of “baijiu” or distilled grain alcohol. Often it is in big old 2-3 gallon sized glass bottles. See 'em all the time but never bought one. Next time I have a business trip to the US, I might take a bottle back for my boss. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/3 "2002-07-05T09:14:34Z")
Tradtional and not uncommon in Japan as well, though I’ve never had it myself. Generally they use _mamushi_ which I believe is a pit viper. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/4 "2002-07-05T12:30:13Z")
hmm… when I first saw this thread I was reminded of the old chinese folk story with the whiskey and the snakes. ---
**Author:** ![Osakadave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f07891/32.png) [@Osakadave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osakadave)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/5 "2002-07-05T13:39:47Z")
I haven’t had the Chinese, but I have tried the Japanese stuff. Tastes pretty much like straight white liquor. IIRC it’s usually from Okinawa, and supposedly increases “potency”. My friend bought it during his Okinawan honeymoon. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/6 "2002-07-05T16:46:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shalmanese \* > \*\*hmm… when I first saw this thread I was reminded of the old chinese folk story with the whiskey and the snakes. \*\* I don’t think I know that one. Could you post it? I love a good folk story. Is there any place to buy this stuff in the US? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/7 "2002-07-05T18:44:53Z")
In Okinawa it is called Habu Sake. The Habu being their local (poisonous) snake. I have a bottle of it in my kitchen 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/8 "2002-07-06T09:06:14Z")
They also do it with lizards. I keep a bottle at home. If I want to get rid of a guest, I get out the bottle and 2 glasses and say “OK, let’s have a drink.” Probably works with Jehova’s Witnesses, too. ---
**Author:** ![Urban\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Urban\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urban_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/9 "2002-07-06T12:37:00Z")
Snakes are nothing. Baby mice are a lot more interesting. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DRS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8e7dd6/32.png) [@DRS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DRS)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/10 "2002-07-06T12:58:55Z")
Snakes? That’s nothing. My wife brought home from Shanghai a bottle of deer penis wine as a gag gift for a friend. No actual deer penis floating in the bottle, fortunately or unfortunately–infusion only. Tasted like cognac. I’m with the herbal medicine interpretation of the point of it all, snake, deer penis, or anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/11 "2002-07-06T14:06:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hemlock \* > \*\*They also do it with lizards…Probably works with Jehova’s Witnesses, too. \*\* Isn’t pickling a JW in whisky against laws in some places? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/12 "2002-07-06T20:34:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\*kgriffey79: \*\*All the writing was in Mandarin(I think…not sure…) [OFF-TOPIC, NOT-PARTICULARLY-HELPFUL NITPICK] Chinese dialects are only _pronounced_ differently – because chinese writing is ideogrammatical, it is the same for all dialects. (Unless of course the writing is in pinyen, or some other phonetic romanization.) [/OFF-TOPIC, NOT-PARTICULARLY-HELPFUL NITPICK] ---
**Author:** ![wslines](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a4c791/32.png) [@wslines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wslines)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/13 "2013-06-29T02:12:32Z")
What’s crazy is when reading your experience, I thought it could be me writing it! I had the exact EXACT same experience. I was there in 2003 for “Cobra Gold” in the Army. I don’t drink, but when I saw the bottle with three snakes in it, I had to have it. I bought it, and it came with a case with a little latch on the top… I just pulled it out to verify and confirm it is exactly as described! Here’s a little more about it: The UPC Code on it is: 6914313020027 Label: Yang Ling Name: P.B.J.B. Produced by the Jihua Brewery Yangchun Guangdong 70ml, 39% (V/V) On the bottle it has: SAN SHE TAN CHI CHIEW, 38 And it looks like I paid 695 baht. Well that’s it… It’s still sealed… I wanna sell it but don’t even know if it’s legal to sell it… lol… ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/14 "2013-06-29T06:22:44Z")
There’s also Cobra Scorpion Whiskey, I believe, which has the added bonus of another poisonous creature. ---
**Author:** ![thicksantorum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@thicksantorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thicksantorum)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/15 "2013-06-29T06:35:40Z")
Venomous, not poisonous. **They do not mean the same thing.** ---
**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/16 "2013-06-29T07:29:18Z")
> [@thicksantorum](#): > > Venomous, not poisonous. **They do not mean the same thing.** [Oh](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=251593) [no](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=381535), [not](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=653926) [again](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=653989). ---
**Author:** ![Recusant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@Recusant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Recusant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/17 "2013-06-29T08:58:35Z")
From a volume standpoint, wouldn’t adding in a snake _decrease_ the potency, rather than add to it? I mean, you’re diluting the booze, aren’t you? ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/18 "2013-06-29T10:08:22Z")
I saw these alcohol (whiskey/whisky/wine/cognac is stretching the definition a bit) bottles with scorpions or snakes in, in Thailand and Vietnam. They looked pretty mean but I’m thinking they have no medicinal benefits whatsoever, I haven’t tried any but if they did the critters enclosed would surely be on an endangered species list. ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/19 "2013-06-29T10:45:58Z")
> [@Recusant](#): > > From a volume standpoint, wouldn’t adding in a snake _decrease_ the potency, rather than add to it? I mean, you’re diluting the booze, aren’t you? Displacing booze, not diluting it. Still as potent, there’s just less booze in the bottle. But you get three snakes instead. It’s like chicken soup with more chicken and less broth. Plus, venom! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465/20 "2013-06-29T11:30:19Z")
During Prohibition, decaying meat was sometimes used to flavor bootleg booze. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chinese-whiskey-and-snakes/117465.md?page=2)