paojiu and yaojiu , respectively “infused alcohol” and “medicinal alcohol,” are closely related and often overlapping subcategories of Chinese alcohol. Paojiu is created by steeping herbs, fruits, spices, or even insects and animals in a Chinese grain wine or liquor. Yaojiu, also called yingyangjiu (tonic), is often just a paojiu that has been made with one or more medicinal ingredients, but it can also be made by incorporating medicinal ingredients into the recipe of a qu (a fermentation agent) during the alcohol production process. See qu.
According to ancient medical journals, doctors determined that by dissolving a medicine into alcohol, the liquid might absorb its curative properties. As the noted sixteenth-century physician Li Shizhen writes in Compendium of Medica Materia, rice alcohol “develops the efficacy of the medicine, causes circulation in the network of vessels, stirs the blood, and sets in motion the air.” Some of these medical properties might have scientific backing. The Chinese water snakes used for snake paojiu, for instance, are one of nature’s richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Moreover the concoctions tasted better than either component part: alcohol diminished the medicine’s bitterness, and the medicine smoothed out the alcohol’s rougher edges.
Today infused spirits are sold in specialty shops throughout China, though many drinkers still prefer to make their own at home. Common paojiu ingredients include cinnamon, anise, ginseng, goji berries, snakes, and bits of deer antler or member. Recent decades have also seen the emergence of mass-produced paojiu and yaojiu. Jing jiu, infused with cinnamon and various botanicals, is an inexpensive and popular health baijiu. Several varieties of mei kwei lu, a supposedly tension-relieving spirit infused with rose extract, and wu chia bi, a multipurpose ginseng mixture, are popular tonics. Many of China’s major distillers produce yaojius, like Xinghuacun Fenjiu’s bamboo-leaf-infused Chu Yeh Ching Chiew and Wuliangye’s caterpillar-fungus-infused Longhu Jiu. Even Changyu, China’s premier grape wine and brandy producer, produces a three-penis wine (seal, deer, and dog).
health and spirits.Cassel, Susie Lan. The Chinese in America. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira, 2002.
Liao Yuqun. Traditional Chinese Medicine. Singapore: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Xu Ganrong and Bao Tongfa. Grandiose Survey of Chinese Alcoholic Drinks and Beverages (中国酒大观目录, Chinese and English versions). Jiangnan University, 1998.
By: Derek Sandhaus