If there is one thing that can be said about baijiu is that’s a potent beverage. A single shot of the spirit will often be strong enough to leave novice drinkers on their back, meaning that it’s probably best avoided for anybody keen to recall the entirety of their evening.
Clearly, simple intoxication wasn’t cutting it for some drinkers though. The Food Safety Bureau in baijiu’s native China has revealed that ground Viagra has been located in the baijiu produced at over fifty distilleries. If that doesn’t convince you that it’s time to give baijiu a shot, we’re not sure what will.
It all stems from the presence of powdered Sildenafil in the spirit. This drug actually started life as a treatment for hypertension. As history tells us, however, a curious side effect involving the prevention of erectile dysfunction caught the world’s attention. Viagra was thus born, and for reasons best known to themselves, baijiu distillers have begun sprinkling it into their booze.
If you’re not aware, baijiu is already the very definition of a stiff drink – without the addition of Viagra. The spirit is incredibly strong and potent, usually weighing in at over 60% alcohol content. That’s enough to leave most people struggling, with common side effects of a baijiu binge including nausea and an urgent need to eliminate if you’re not used to such a strong drink.
Even if you have managed to cope with baijiu, however, don’t get cocky. Tossing Viagra into the mix has been known to cause loss of vision and hearing. In addition to this, expect an erection that lasts at least four hours –
possibly longer. On paper, this may sound like the perfect way to avoid an awkward ending to a romantic evening when alcohol has been imbibed. In reality, it may require medical attention to avoid any kind of permanent damage. That’s not fear mongering – that’s direct advice from the Viagra website!
This is why it’s particularly risky to splice Viagra with baijiu. Even a hardened drinker (honestly, we’re trying to choose our words carefully, these puns just won’t stop rising) of baijiu will struggle with that much Sildenafil. An unsuspecting partygoer may end up necking the equivalent of twelve pills in an evening. One a day is the recommended dosage, less if the individual is younger than 65.
The good news for baijiu enthusiasts and manufacturers is that while things may be stirring as a result of this experimentation, protests and civil unrest are not among them. While the health-conscious Chinese population are usually resistant to any kind of food tampering, this concoction is proving popular.
Perhaps that’s due to the popularity of pharma giant Pfizer’s marketing campaign for Viagra. Sales shot up by almost 50% last year. What happens when you combine the country’s favourite drink with an increasingly popular drug? A tactical – though some might say misleading – marketing campaign is the answer! These Sildenafil-spliced bottles of baijiu are being sold under claims of aiding and preserving health.
Claims to reduce blood pressure should be genuine. The drug was designed for hypertension, after all. Calling Sildenafil a ‘Chinese Herb’, as some manufacturers are doing, is pushing things a little too far though. Some bottles of the sprit also claim to improve sleep, which is likely to be the opposite of the impact Viagra has on most consumers.
This probably explains why the Chinese authorities fail to share the enthusiasm of the public. The process of splicing baijiu with Sildenafil is strictly illegal, resulting in raids upon distilleries throughout the country. At the time of writing, an eye-watering 5,357 bottles of Viajiu (patent pending – we think this name could catch on) have been confiscated.
The supplies used to make the cocktail have also been nabbed. Almost £90,000 of ground Sildenafil has been taken into custody, alongside over a thousand kg of raw alcohol. That’s quite the party for anybody feeling brave enough to take it on.
The era of Viagra-spiked baijiu is coming to an end, though. The authorities are onto the manufacturers of this cocktail, and distilleries are expected to ensure quality control or face penalties as a result. For now, however, there are sure to be a number of bottles still in circulation.
If you find yourself drinking baijiu and find yourself hot under the collar when the internal warmth of fire water floods your internal organs, you may know why. Brace yourself for a unique sensation if that occurs. You’re quite possibly in for the night of your life!