where the HELL do i buy liquor around Beijing???

[babygodzilla]

OMFG I swear to frickin jesus i am having the hardest time finding some vodka and some mixer in frickin beijing. Im attending BLCU and am living at Furun Jiayuan. The Golden Tower market next to me carry no liquor, only beer, wine, and champagne. same with every frickin other supermarket i can find around here. OMFG i am SO dying to make a cocktail by myself. PLEASE tell me where the frickin hell i can buy liquor. ive stopped some people, westerners and chinese alike, in the middle of the street and NO ONE frickin knows where to get some frickin vodka. its really frustrating. THANKS FOR ANY HELP!

[zhwj]

The big international chains carry a selection. There are several Carrefours 家乐福 across the city, and the new Wal-Mart 沃尔玛 by Dayuncun next to the city rail line has some as well. Vodka'll run you about 60 yuan a bottle for British Smirnoff and it goes up from there.

In the areas more populated by foreigners some of the smaller stores may have some. I know that even some of the shopfronts down in the tourist districts, like Wangfujing, sell the stuff, but it'd probably be pretty expensive.

[liuzhou]

Come on! I have spent the last ten years in the wild and wondrous backwoods of China and never, ever run out of vodka!

You can find it all over Beijing.

It might help if you sober up long enough to see it!

Funnily enough, the only place I ever had problem buying vodka was in Moscow! I spent a year there about two years before it went pear-shaped. Yeltsin was the hard line communist mayor and Gorbachov was the President. They were having some kind of anti-alcoholism campaign. I was the only one who noticed. Everyone else was too drunk!

(You ain't related to 'website', are you?)

[Mark Baker]

Jeez, and here in the States they're just giving it away for free.

Go to www.pravdavodka.com, confirm age, wait for splash to finish splashing, then click 'Special Offer' in the lower right corner.

Full page ad with this was the best news in the entire Wall Street Journal today....

[geraldc]

Can't you just get hammered on bai jiu instead?

What sort of mixers were you looking for? Vermouth? Ginger beer? tonic? Has red bull hit China yet?

[roddy]

ive stopped some people, westerners and chinese alike

I hope you were slightly more coherent than "OMFG i am SO dying to make a cocktail by myself. PLEASE tell me where the frickin hell i can buy liquor." because otherwise you've just convinced lots of Chinese people that all foreigners are desperate drunks.

Go to Carrefour, if you haven't already. If you have gone there already, try the other Carrefours or go to somewhere like Jenny Lou's over in Chaoyang. If you can't find what you want there, get used to baijiu.

Ginger beer, tonic and Red Bull are all here. Not sure about Vermouth, but I'm not even sure what vermouth is now I think about it.

Roddy

[phbriggs]

OP...do to any of the international hotels, pull up a pew and slam them down until you can't move. You can then get a room afterwards to save you walking the streets trying to find you way home.

Right on Roddy!

[Du4 Ke4]

Hello there,

This is my first post. I must say that this website is really informative.

I am looking at moving to China next year in Feb and studying. My desire to find a decent Uni or institution that will give me max bang for my buck. I am an Aussie and have budgetted for about $1600 for 6 months tutoring. (I may take this to a different thread)... Can anyone point me to a good thread that shows the different high class establishments? I know it depends on what I want..... anyway... I will shut up and get on topic.

I went to China early this year for the first time and loved it but I went as a tourist. I would love to get into the lifestyle and culture. One thing I missed though was familiar alcohol. The smirnoff and western beer. I could not believe in Shanghai I had to pay 30Y+ for a can of bud! I just stuck with the 2.50Y long neck from the supermarkets. Tastes bad, doesnt get you drunk but it is beer. I think my favourite was reeb(?).

Also does anyone know where to get Southern Comfort and how much it costs a bottle in Beijing?

[babygodzilla]

ive been to Carrefour near Zhongguanchun (sp?). either they dont have it, or there's always 10,000,000 people in there that i simply couldnt see the stuff. here's things i want:

Vodka (i like Grey Goose and Absolut, but at this point id prolly take anything)

Amaretto / Disaronno

some kind of sour mix

Bailey's / Irish Cream

Kahlua (i actually havent searched for this, ive been so focused on Vodka LOL)

Tequila

Rum

Gin

3ple Sec

151

Vermouth

thats all i can think of on top of my head. as i have said before i attend BLCU and live at Furun (sp?) Jiayuan, near Yujing Da Sa, and, well, near BLCU on Xueyuan Lu. ill try Walmart next time, i havent been there.

[roddy]

All bar the last three and amaretto I have seen in Carrefour at Baishiqiao - and they may well be there, I just don't know what they are. If you're going to be put off by little stuff like 10,000,000 people in the way though, I guess you could miss them.

Roddy

[babygodzilla]

well its not that im put off, its that with so many people i can hardly find my way around. and its not like i can read 汉字 anyways, so the signs mean nothing to me. when standing in line for the cashier, i cant even be sure which line im in cause its SO long i cant see the cashier. its baffling how many people are at carrefour at once. i dont think the carrefour in Jakarta is THAT crowded

[roddy]

I'm giving up. Good luck with the clothes shopping too.

[geraldc]

Not sure about Vermouth, but I'm not even sure what vermouth is now I think about it.

Vermouth is an Italian fortified wine that's an ingredient of a Martini e.g. Cinzano.

I was in a hotel bar in Foshan when an American teacher tried to order a Vodka Martini, (a dash of vermouth + vodka).

His first request just got him a glass of straight vermouth, he then compained and then was given a glass of 50% vodka 50% vermouth, and stacked full of ice. By then he was so annoyed he got the manager out, told him he was going to do some staff training, and then went behind the bar himself and showed the barman how to make Martinis and several other cocktails that were just handed round to everyone in the bar. They didn't have the correct martini glasses either so we were drinking out of wine glasses and tumblers, from what I can remember before memory loss kicked in it was a very informative evening.

He was shocked that a hotel bar that was so well stocked with spirits had no concept of cocktails, however I'm sure that if you went to any top notch bar in the west and asked for XO and hot tea, they'd have no idea of what you wanted...

[babygodzilla]

Vermouth is an Italian fortified wine that's an ingredient of a Martini e.g. Cinzano.

I was in a hotel bar in Foshan when an American teacher tried to order a Vodka Martini' date=' (a dash of vermouth + vodka).

His first request just got him a glass of straight vermouth, he then compained and then was given a glass of 50% vodka 50% vermouth, and stacked full of ice. By then he was so annoyed he got the manager out, told him he was going to do some staff training, and then went behind the bar himself and showed the barman how to make Martinis and several other cocktails that were just handed round to everyone in the bar. They didn't have the correct martini glasses either so we were drinking out of wine glasses and tumblers, from what I can remember before memory loss kicked in it was a very informative evening.

He was shocked that a hotel bar that was so well stocked with spirits had no concept of cocktails, however I'm sure that if you went to any top notch bar in the west and asked for XO and hot tea, they'd have no idea of what you wanted...[/quote']

LOLROFLLMAO HAHAHAHAHA that's just AWESOME!! omg hahahahaha i cant believe it

[babygodzilla]

I'm giving up. Good luck with the clothes shopping too.

sorry... didnt mean to put u down

[liuzhou]

You are 'website' and I claim my £5

[chenpv]

Hmmm....... Is this how foreigners show their yearnings for something? So passionate, sounds real.

[babygodzilla]

You are[/i'] 'website' and I claim my £5

what's 'website'?

[geraldc]

There are some members of the forum who just stick in your mind even after they move on to greener pastures and no longer post. One was website, his posts were quite simliar to yours, although he was based in Shenzen. My favourite was Sassy, she was funny...

The "you're X and I claim my £5" was a popular game run by UK news papers in the 1930s, the journalist would print in the newspaper that he'd be walking around a certain area at certain time, carrying a newspaper under his arm or wearing a flower in his lapel. The first person to challenge him with the phrase, would then win a prize. The most famous example was Kolly Kibber in Graham Green's "Brighton Rock"

[zhwj]

So you've been to the Carrefour in Zhongguancun?

The stuff's on the second floor near the registers. When you come up from the basement on those inclined walkways, you need to go all the way to the other end of the supermarket, past all of the chocolate, past the deli and butcher shop. There's a counter selling Chinese alcohol and XO, and the western stuff is in the very last aisle. They have practically everything you listed. Absolut is there in several flavors, and they have Kahlua as well.

Go on a weekday morning and you'll be all set.