Like wine , beer, cocktail and any alcoholic beverages , Maotai also do well with certain paring over other food. The best way to pair Mao-tai is with traditional Chinese dishes. The Chinese dish can vary from Cantonese style sea food, hot spicy Sichuanese food, to Beijing Duck. MaoTai test best by sipping over chucking it down. It is best to savor the flavor and have a plate of Chinese food as a chaser. It is usually enjoyed at gathering varying from business to wedding. Due to the high alcohol percentage in Maotai, it is best to not chuck it down from one drink. Drink from a tiny sake cup and pour as needed.
How to Drink Baijiu
By wgjcrook | Thu, Jan 16, 2014 11:00 PM , Updated: Thu, Jul 9, 2015 04:15 AM
SOURCE : http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/article/how-to-drink-baijiu
We've all been there. You go to a dinner with your Chinese friends and during the feast you're handed a shot glass containing a clear liquid. Your FOB naivety tells you that it must be some kind of vodka, however it smells kinda funny and you guess that it must have an alcohol percentage close to three figures. Everyone around the table calls you to ganbei, you have no option but to drink, and with one throat-burning, sinus-bursting gulp, you're introduced to the world of baijiu.
Although similar in look to many other spirits, baijiu, China's sorghum or rice wine, is far stronger than its Asian counterparts such as Japanese shochu and Korean soju, and far more potent than more western spirits such as vodka. Baijiu is well known for not being an easily accessible drink to foreign taste buds. However, if you manage to get a taste for it, you can proudly label yourself a "China Hand" and hold your head high among the expat crowd.
Here is a little guide to the uninitiated about drinking China's spirit.
Where to start
There is not one single type of baijiu but many regional variations, it is additionally catorgorized by fragrance. If you're a baijiu novice, we suggest you head to the store and grab yourself a bottle of Moutai and Erguotou.
Moutai (茅台酒 / Máotái jiǔ) is arguably the most famous baijiu brand and is produced in a small town in Guizhou Province. Known to be popular with government officials, the price for a bottle of Moutai has dropped sharply since Xi Jinping started focusing attention on corruption and government extravagance. Moutai has also played a large part in Chinese diplomacy. Being Chairman Mao's favourite tipple, it was served to U.S. President Nixon on his groundbreaking visit to China in 1972.
Erguotou (二锅头 / èrguōtóu) is Beijingren's choice of baijiu. Erguotou is much cheaper than Moutai but still comes with the same kick. Get yourself a bottle of Red Star (红星, Hóngxīng) Erguotou. It is the most popular brand, and you can find bottles with alcohol levels of 56 percent. Erguotou takes six months to produce and contains, among other things, walnuts, red dates, ginseng and sugar.
Educate Yourself
Don't just sip it, learn about it. In order to get to know baijiu, get yourself to one of China's many baijiu museums and learn about the 5,000-year history of alcohol production in China. Around Beijing, you can pay a visit to Red Star brewery's Erguotou Museum in Huairou District. Slightly closer to home, in Gulou, is the Qianding Liquor Museum where they do a good job of documenting the history of getting rip roaringly drunk in China.
Mix It
Suggest mixing baijiu with anything and most seasoned baijiu drinkers will stare at you blankly. Traditionally, baijiu is drank in shots with a hearty meal. Due to its throat-burning strength, anything mixed with baijiu just tastes like baijiu. Its potency certainly means its difficult to add anything. However, there are baijiu experimenters out there. We can recommend the baijiu cocktails at Daze and the "Jing Fling" cocktail at Mao Mao Chong. Yangmei-infused baijiu at Doujiao No. 9 is also well worth checking out. We also hear that skittle-infused baijiu is worth a try.
Don't Drink and Bride
Baijiu is drank at most, if not all, major Chinese festivities. At a Chinese wedding banquet it is customary for the groom to go from table to table toasting everyone by drinking a shot of the hard stuff. The thought of ganbei-ing a couple of hundred people, though, is daunting and even for the most seasoned of baijiu veterans, is impossible to accomplish without a trip to the hospital afterwards.
Thankfully, because baijiu is transparent, it is mixable or replaceable with water. One useful suggestion we've heard is to empty a bottle of baijiu before the party begins and fill it with water. Make sure the best man, or a very close friend, carries the bottle around when toasting tables, and have him or her top up the groom's shot glass each time. That way everyone is non the wiser and there aren't any face-losing situations as you refuse toasts.
SOURCE: http://www.cityweekend.com.cn/beijing/article/how-to-drink-baijiu