Asian Spirits

Baijiu (白酒), meaning “white spirit,” and loosely pronouned "Bye Joe" in English, is China’s national liquor and the world’s highest-volume spirits category by consumption (Depending on whom you ask, 5-7.5 billion litres of it are drunk every year). Yet outside China, it remains one of the least understood spirits. To some, it is fiery and unfamiliar; to others, it is deeply expressive of place, tradition and social ritual. Linguistically, it can be quite confusing, too, not l