Potent Asian Rice / Grain Wines that are not sake

[Jason Perlow]

Recently I've become a bit more adventurous when selecting alcoholic beverages to drink with my asian food at restaurants.

At Korean restaurants, Soju has now become my poison of choice, although most in the NJ area only seem to carry a brand called "Jinro (click)", although local liquor stores also carry one called Green -- they taste about the same in my opinon, and have about the same effect. Soju is made out of the distilled spirits of sweet potatoes, and it is VERY strong stuff, around 22-25 percent alcohol by volume. It typically comes in a 12 or 16oz bottle and korean men usually drink a bottle or two at a single sitting.

Some of the better chinese restaurnts carry various kinds of rice wine -- one I tried recently and was very good was Wu Liang Ye, it was around 52 percent alcohol, and was not unlike the effect of drinking jet fuel.

Here's a page that rates various kinds of grain wines

http://www.physics.uq.edu.au/people/nieminen/chiew.html

[Shubby]

Wu Liang Ye is indeed extremely potent.  It's a very popular accompaniment over a 12 course meal in Chinese restaurants in Asia.  I love it  

Soju's not bad either.  Some Korean restaurants will actually make a cocktail drink called a yogurt soju that's not too bad.