I rather like Jiangjinjiu, the cosy live music bar down on the Bell Tower Square.
I like the place so much that I will forgive its many failings.
I had a particularly good time there last week, enjoying my favourite Uyghur folk band Panjir, except that.....
well, I decided to order a whisky.
And they put ice in it. I hate it when that happens. Why does every bar in China assume that putting ice (loads of ice) in any drink is the default position? And especially in whisky?? Obviously it is because they know nothing about whisky. (They'd probably put ice in brandy too; but you hardly ever see brandy in bars here.)
I was unable to make my plaintive cries of meiyou bing! register with the bartender because..... he'd taken the bottle through to the kitchen out back to open and pour it. Now, maybe they only had ice out back - and they're assuming that adding lots of ice is the most important thing about any drink order - but it is extremely disturbing to have someone insist on pouring your drink out of sight like this; and, even in China, you'd think that people would realise this. I don't think I've ever seen this happen at Jiangjinjiu before; but then, I don't order spirits there very often.
And sure enough, when I got my drink back, it was..... not quite right. You might say it was my own stupid fault for ordering the Grant's, the cheapest brand of Scotch available here, and thus pretty frequently counterfeited. But, on the few previous occasions when friends or I have ordered spirits in this bar, there have been no problems; so, I was being rashly optimistic.
Actually, my "whisky" this time was nowhere near right. It had a vague taste of whisky about it (though not, I think, of Grant's whisky) rather than the emetic baijiu-and-caramel savour characteristic of the worst fakes. However, the dominant - overpowering - aroma was of pastis. How the hell had that happened? Had they failed to wash a glass that someone had been drinking Ricard or somesuch out of a little while earlier. Had they rinsed the glass with the aniseedy gloop deliberately?? Had they made the "ice cubes" out of it??? The mind fairly boggles.
But in circumstances like this, there's really not much point in arguing. Even if my Chinese were really good, I don't think I'd be able to explain the hugeness of the gap between what this should taste of and what this does taste of; and even if I had been able to, I fear the Chinese staff still wouldn't have been able to comprehend why it was such a big deal. Ah, China.
6 comments:
I more or less began boycotting Jianghu after going there and getting (a) a completely flat draft beer that tasted off, (b) a mostly flat bottled beer that tasted off, and (c) a glass of "Jameson's" that was clearly rubbing alcohol with some food coloring. Great location for a bar; nice layout; occasionally cool people -- once the drum circles clear out -- but I've got no time for a place that is so bald-faced about serving fake shit, particularly when they have exactly the same amount of access to legitimate booze as every other bar in the area.
Are you talking about Jianghu or Jiangjinjiu here?
I suspect you mean 3J, not JH.
I've never (previously) had any problem with either of them; so I suspect you're building an elaborate temple of disdain on the basis of a single unfortunate - and rather untypical - experience.
"The same amount of access as every other bar in the area"?? Which is "limited, uncertain, and subject to constant change". It seems to me that most bars just trust a regular supplier; and most of the regular suppliers don't do much if anything to verify where people higher up the supply chain are obtaining their stock. The bottles/labels are usually pretty convincing, if not actually genuine. So the only way to tell if you've got fake stuff is by tasting it - and even there, most Chinese bar owners/bar staff wouldn't have much of a clue if the stuff was kosher or not.
How often does it happen that enough customers complain vociferously enough about crappy fake spirits for the bar owner to actually kick up a stink with his supplier, and for them to then go back to their supplier and refuse to take any more of this (or change their supplier).
It seems to me that you quite often get just one case here or there (or perhaps just an isolated bottle or two) of something emetic even in a bar that's usually sound, and even with a brand that isn't one of the most commonly faked. You just have to put up with it as an occasional occupational hazard of being a boozer in China.
On the other hand, of course, there are some bars that seem to pride themselves on serving exclusively fake shit - the old Pure Girl, for example; and latterly, alas, the Yandai Huxley's. Such places are best avoided.
I don't think Jiangjinjiu is one of those bars that invariably and wilfully stocks fake booze. I think they just don't sell enough spirits to know or care very much about the difference.
It might be a while before I take a chance there again on the whiskies; but I think they are fundamentally a pretty sound bar. Their draught Yanjing is usually one of the least skanky pints around; and there's nothing wrong with the imported bottled beers (apart from the price).
I'm more interested in the pressing question (check a post or two after this one) of whether you've ever encountered dou jiang that smelled and tasted of cigarette ash. And if so, what did you do about it?
I was talking about Jianghu -- Jiangjinjiu has never served me fake stuff, though then again I don't go there often enough to be sure. As for suppliers: there are several out there, and the bar owners I know tend to go with more than one. Alc and Wul, formerly of Sandglass, have got a guy who stocks single-malts not attainable elsewhere, and there's no way they're fake. Better-known stuff like Jameson or Jack Daniels is more liable to be fake, but even there, there seem to be distributors who are known for not ever stocking fake stuff. Certainly I never got a fake at Sandglass, and I spent enough time there that any 'product' that came in would have eventually passed my lips.
As for the soy milk: I've never had any that smelled like cigarette ash, but if you guys ended up in the place I assume you did, I'm not that surprised.
What? There's a place that's known as "Really Bad Breakfast Venue On Gulou Dong"?
You might have warned me!
I think this whole question of how fake booze gets distributed deserves thorough investigation. Of the kind I lack the time or inclination to undertake. Perhaps we should refer this matter to the Fat Canuck?
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