Ban Xang Hai, Laos – the Whiskey Village
Perhaps 20 km upstream the Mekong RIver from Luang Prabang, you will find the “Whiskey Village”. When I first asked what the name of hte village was called in Lao, I way told “Ban Whiskey”, which essentially tells us nothing. Digging a bit, I was able to suss out its proper name.
I think it’s important to know the true name of the places one visits.
Spirits here are made of rice, and is called “lao Lao”. That’s two different words, the first, with a falling tone, means “spirits”. It’s mind bogglingly confusing (even for a Hitch-hiker), but one soon gets used to, if not indifferent to it.
These are the jars – hai – that the rice mash is placed to ferment. I’m not a whiskey sipper, let alone expert, but here’s where stuff happens before they boil it to distill the spirits away. Distillation is science, so I can understand that part.
Here’s the final product. Don’t worry, I didn’t buy it.
I bought the one with the snake and the scorpion.