As we wait for the Yuletide with excitement, the Christmas spirit has already started floating up and down in every Irish street. Even in the middle of the cold, chilling winter weather in Ireland, the mirth of Christmas, its cheerfulness, and the partying occasions bring joyful festive mood to the minds of everyone.

Wine and drinks are essential in contributing to the celebration of a festival season. During Christmas, drinks are served in abundance everywhere between friends and family.

This year, why not enjoy the Christmas with some unique traditional Asian alcoholic drinks?

Every civilization is rooted in a culture of native beverages. Likewise, the age-old cultures of Asian countries including China, Japan, and Korea also have deep histories of associated alcoholic beverages. Try adding them to this year’s Christmas celebrations, and you will see a whole new world of merriment.

Chinese Moutai

China’s most famous premium clear spirit is known as Moutai. It is a type of distilled spirit made from grain, categorized as Baijiu (Shaojiu). Kweichow Moutai, made by Kweichow Moutai Distillery Co, is a top quality Baijiu. It is made from a combination of cereals. Instead of yeast, Moutai makes use of a fermenting agent called Qu, providing the drink with a completely different taste compared to other clear spirits.

Kweichow Moutai has been recently introduced to the customers in Ireland by Asia Market. This brand is a well-known and established one in China and in Europe. If you are on the lookout for any special gift idea for this Christmas, consider KweiChow Moutai. With its refinement and class, a big bottle of KweiChow Moutai can surely act as the perfect Christmas gift.You can find a 500ml bottle of KweiChow Moutai in our online store.

Japanese Sake

Another beverage you can definitely add to your Christmas list is Japanese Sake. Pronounced ‘saa-key’, this is a traditional beverage with a very long history and global recognition. It is produced by conventional rice fermentation, and thus is categorized as rice wine. Japanese brand Hakutsuru is a world leader in sake production, and we have their bestselling Hakutsuru Junmai Sake in our online store.

Sake is tasted chilled, or slightly warm. The traditional way of tasting sake is by gently warming it after immersing a full bottle of sake in boiling water for some time. It is ideal to taste sake with savory or slightly salty food dishes. There are a variety of hot drinks prepared using plain sakes. One for the festival season is Mulled Sake. A simple recipe for Mulled Sake is given below for you to try out at home.

Mulled Sake Recipe

Ingredients:

Hakutsuru Junmai Sake – 720ml Bottle
Cloves – 8
Star Anise – 2
Cinnamon Sticks – 4
Lemon, cut in wedges – 1
Brown Sugar – 60g (Add if you want more)

How to prepare?

Empty the sake bottle into a large pot. Add all other ingredients listed above to the pot and gently warm on low heat for 20-25 minutes while stirring occasionally. This is to ensure that the sugar is perfectly dissolved into the blend of sake and spice mixture. Make sure that the liquor is not boiling at any point of time. The mulled sake is now ready to serve to your guests. Transfer it into mugs; add a slice of lemon and a stick of cinnamon. Get ready to receive your friends’ appreciation for introducing them to the world of sakes.

Another way to prepare a hot drink using sake is by treating it with a tea drink, especially Jasmine tea. Please see the recipe below.

Japanese Jasmine Sake Recipe

 Ingredients:

Hakutsuru Junmai Sake – 100ml
Brown sugar cubes – 2
Jasmine tea – freshly brewed, hot
Lemon – 1

How to prepare?

The method is very simple, it takes just five minutes. Get the lemon zest on the sugar cubes, by gently rubbing them each other. Pour sake into a pot and gently warm it over very low heat. Add the sugar cubes into the pot, and stir the mixture using a ladle occasionally until the sugar cubes get dissolved. Transfer it into a glass and top-up with Jasmine tea. The Japanese Jasmine tea is ready to serve. If you wish, add slices of lime to the glass.

We suggest KSF Jasmine Tea for this recipe, however you can try variants of the same recipe by using any other tea drinks available in our online store.

More Gift Ideas for Christmas

Sharing liquor bottles between friends and lovers is a common practice during Christmas. We wonder which scotch whiskey brand is the one you want to pick for this year’s celebration to share as a Christmas gift. However, we have a slightly different idea to suggest. Why not pick one large bottle of sake and introduce someone of your acquaintance to the mesmerizing world of traditional sakes? Choose a 1.8L paper carton of Hakutsuru Excellent Junmai Sake.

People who are acquainted with Korean beverages might be aware of their culture of plum wines. You can find a bottle of Korean Plum Liquor in our store. The bottle itself is well designed, so a great idea for Christmas is to gift a collection of them to your loved ones.

You can also go for Hakutsuru’s Sayuri, a Japanese sake which is remarkable for its aroma, and sweet taste. Spend some time in browsing through the selection of Alcoholic beverages in Asia Market’s online store, and pick the ones you like. Write to us if you need any more information about a particular brand you found appealing.

Try the Asian beverage ideas this year’s Christmas and don’t forget to share your individual experiences with us.