Taming the green beast－and the baijiu beast

Chocolate, mussels, wings and panna cotta may seem like surprising bedfellows for baijiu, the Chinese white liquor that is the globe's most-consumed spirit. But chef Wei Siang Bong will be offering all of those combinations－leading with Valrhona white chocolate balls made with ginseng-infused Sichuan baijiu－at the Doubletree by Hilton in Guangzhou, when World Baijiu Day gets going on Saturday.

Absinthe lurks in "the green beast"

Guangzhou and Paris are the latest cities to join the festivities. The French capital's Moutai Showroom, says Beijing-based organizer Jim Boyce, will feature a two-hour program that covers the history of Moutai, a chance to smell and touch the raw materials that go into this spirit (including all-important sorghum), and a tasting that will feature food pairings, including French favorite Roquefort cheese as well as Chinese dishes.

Boyce, a Canadian expat who blogs about food and wine in China, has lined up at least 18 venues across the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong as well as seven foreign countries (the US, the UK, Belgium, Australia, Thailand, Singapore and Canada) to participate in a day he says is designed "for restaurants, bars and consumers worldwide to get together for a day of baijiu cocktails, tasting flights, seminars and more". (See www.worldbaijiuday.com for a complete list of events and locations.)

Will drinkers abroad really jump on the baijiu bandwagon?

One expert who thinks so is Paul Mathew, who co-owns three London bars and worked as a mixologist in Beijing for more than four years. Mathew has long experimented with China's firewater, and suggests using baijiu in well-made cocktails is the path to Western acceptance. He recently led the first baijiu master class by the Wine & Spirit Education Trust in London. Mathew found there was a real mix of participants in the master class, from the beverage industry to writers and bloggers to Brits who had lived in China "and held fond memories of baijiu!" One attendee plans to open the UK's first baijiu bar, he says.

WEEKEND

See China Daily's Weekend edition on Aug 8-9 for our interview with Paul Mathew and a review of Mott 32, a Hong Kong restaurant and bar that will participate in World Baijiu Day.