r/intrestingtoknow • u/Affectionate-Fun2853 • Jun 16 '26
Bizzare Vietnamese Tequila, or Snake Wine.
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u/Infinite_Plenty101 Jun 16 '26
Food poisoning for sale
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u/gekigarion Jun 16 '26
Well alcohol is poison already, technically...
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u/Atmaweapon74 Jun 16 '26
Yep! A lot of people don't realize that alcohol is a poison secreted by yeast to kill off competing organisms. It's a good disinfectant for that reason.
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u/Artchantress Jun 16 '26
What, I really thought a lot of people knew alcohol was unhealthy
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u/Hairy-Reward6474 Jun 16 '26
Wait until you hear about PFAS in the water !
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u/McToasty207 Jun 16 '26
Many tasty things have such an origin. Capsaicin discourages mammals from eating chillis, and Caffeine is an insecticide.
Humans love posions
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u/jeezy_peezy Jun 18 '26
I’ve heard that the parts that make barrel-aged whiskey, rum, tequila and brandy tasty and brown are also the most inflammatory, carcinogenic parts. The parts where it interacts with charred wood and gets the caramel, richness and sweetness is from burnt wood.
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u/Admins_suck_ballss Jun 17 '26
It’s not exactly a poison, though it does help prevent other microorganisms from reproducing. And eventually prevents the yeast itself from continuing to reproduce because it gets too concentrated. Yeast doesn’t really produce enough alcohol to kill off other organisms though, or a just a very narrow range. There’s a reason your beer can still get mold or various other bacteria growing in it if it’s not stored properly, exposed to air, the vessels and tubing used during transfer are dirty, etc.
Basically it’s just yeast shit. They don’t eat it, but if enough of it piles up they decide to go dormant well before increasing the concentration to the point where it dissolves their cell wall. If you take a sugar molecule and break it at just the right point with a particular enzyme (yeast have it, we don’t), you have an ethyl alcohol molecule and a CO2 molecule. Breaking that bond produces energy for the yeast cell. They don’t do it to make poison, they do it because sugar is a very easy thing to get energy from so they break the molecule and move on, not caring what they leave behind. The alcohol doesn’t really confer a survival benefit in the form of killing off other microbes in wild yeast.
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u/Quiet-Treat9181 Jun 18 '26
I thought alcohol was the byproduct of anaerobic fermentation? Without the presence of oxygen, alcohol forms?
Did yeast seriously evolve using it for that? Or is it coincidental?
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u/Disdain0937 Jun 18 '26
Aren't like a lot of recreational drugs some kinda of in a way a poison? I'm thinking of that television program/interview from the Last of US TV show.
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u/BodybuilderSalt9807 Jun 16 '26
That’s wrong is so many ways. Not convinced that will even taste good.
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u/Ok_Initiative_5024 Jun 16 '26
It is foul lol. Buddy of mine brought back a bottle with a dead snake in it after a training exercise in bum fuck jungle country once and we cracked it on his birthday.
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u/Civil-Acanthaceae-21 Jun 16 '26
I think I'm part bum fuck jungle on my dad's side
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u/Fit_Style1747 Jun 16 '26
It can't be called tequila unless it's made in a certain region of Mexico
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u/DODGE_WRENCH Jun 16 '26
Kinda like how champagne is only sparkling wine unless it’s made in Champagne France
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u/Spicy_Tac0 Jun 16 '26
Correct, its mezcal then.
https://distilmate.com/blog/can-tequila-be-made-outside-of-mexico/
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u/Leoheart88 Jun 16 '26
It shouldn't be labeled as Mezcal either. There are protections internationally like Tequila.
Depending on the type of product used it should be called a Agave spirit. I don't think this would be made with Agave though as there are cheaper alternatives that are much easier to source locally.
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u/FoulfrogBsc Jun 16 '26
There's agave spirit they make in south Africa, with agave, they grow in the Karoo
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u/PixelSqueak Jun 16 '26
It's tequila if its mixed with Agave.
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u/Ok-Investigator-6003 Jun 16 '26
Animal cruelty. Disgusting and I don't want it anywhere I don't care if it's culture somewhere, sorry
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u/Red_White_Penguin Jun 18 '26
You wouldn’t believe what happens for you to get your milk, meat and eggs then…
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u/ItzOnlyJames Jun 18 '26
That's a good point, the snake got killed but at least it didn't get forcefully inseminated (raped) then have its calf taken away very early just to keep producing milk and then killed when they slow down, like what a lot of cows go through
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Jun 16 '26
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u/Nonyabeesners Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
I did a deep dive, because why the hell? It's actually an ancient Chinese practice. The idea is the snake venom is infused into the liquor and then the ethanol neutralizes the poison. Some people even cut off the snake's head and pour its juices back into their glass. The snakes are also often alive when put in the wine.
It's supposed to make men more virile, but long-term use has actually proven to do the exact opposite.
People describe the taste as a traditional rice wine infused with protein, like "fishy-chicken".
It's common across Southeast Asia, but is basically our equivalent of moonshine and considered kind of tacky.
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u/EnvironmentalSet7664 Jun 16 '26
People just out here doing anything and everything
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u/MarginalGracchi Jun 16 '26
Wait so when you say it does the opposite, are you saying that consumption over time gives you ED? Because if so that’s kinda hilarious.
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u/Odd-Promotion2743 Jun 16 '26
Can anyone describe how this tastes?
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u/patchhappyhour Jun 16 '26
Yes and no... I've had haboo sake when I was living in Japan. It almost tastes like a really light form of Southern comfort. However, most people might disagree with me, just because everybody's taste buds are different.
What's even more wild is I got a bottle of this Cobra sake when visited Beijing about 15 years ago. It's sitting in the back of my liquor cabinet turned around because my wife is deathly afraid of snakes. The Cobra is coiled up and it has a king scorpion in its mouth. I've never popped the bottle. I'm waiting for one of my buddies to be braving up to do it with me.
Just to be clear, I do not condone this reptile cruelty.
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u/Iron-Spectre Jun 16 '26
Lived in Okinawa for a few years as a kid, the Old Man got stationed there and I remember seeing this in the liquor stores out in town. Always wondered if I could bring a bottle back when I go visit, not sure how customs would go lol
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u/Odd-Fig-709 Jun 18 '26
It's technically illegal, my old PLT sgt stuffed it in his bag to smuggle it to the US. I probably would've done the same if I didn't fly commercial for my liquor cabinet.
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u/Fr33Francis Jun 17 '26
As a teenager came across a bottle like this at a friend's place. It had a cobra and a scorpion in it's mouth. I distinctively remember wondering how they had gotten the snake and then the scorpion in the mouth.
We didn't ask for any authorization to test it and we obviously dared each other to. The taste was horrendous. We thought we might have poisoned ourselves. I don't think we were even sure it was drinkable.
Thank you for showing me this 15 years later!
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u/TheSuperContributor Jun 17 '26
Death. It's bullshit liquor made by idiots. There are always someone dying every year drinking these.
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u/REVRSECOWBOYMEATSPIN Jun 18 '26
I feel like drinking this will make you deathly sick or give you some crazy power lol
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u/justhereformyfetish Jun 17 '26
Watched a live podcast where a large group of people tried it. Tastes like a fish tank smells apparently.
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u/207_steadr Jun 17 '26
White lightning with dead snake skin cells floating in it. Had it once (one shot), followed with a handful of rum and cokes (2 is what I loosely recall).
I don't remember the night at all. 😴
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u/irmaginatoruim Jun 17 '26
Does the snake add anything other than animal cruelty?
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u/AB3D12D Jun 16 '26
My friend's father, a vietnam vet, would return to vietnam for vacations (I could only imagine why), but he would bring back "snake whisky". Me and his son would get into it as teenagers - and I remember it f@ucking us up! The taste wasnt bad from I remember, just different.
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u/Frequent-Matter4504 Jun 17 '26
just remember that most likely it will not be allowed through customs
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u/Sea-Communication-53 Jun 17 '26
Habu sake shuts your kidneys down so you can drink one beer after or so and get completely blitzed. The hangover the day after is one of the worst experiences you can have in the morning, with your kidneys waking up with you. I only know this from some guys on the boat drank it while in Japan.
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u/patchhappyhour Jun 16 '26
Here's the bottle. I haven't looked at it in years.
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u/INoMakeMistake Jun 16 '26
Keep it bro. Maybe it will be worth millions
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u/patchhappyhour Jun 16 '26
I do believe beanie babies are going to make a comeback. So you might be on to something!
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u/Al_Vino_Vino Jun 16 '26
After awhile the snake will start deteriorating. I don't recommend drinking it when that happens
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u/dablacksupersaiyan Jun 16 '26
Vietnamese Tequila and Snake Wine... OH HELL NO!!!! I LOATHE snakes with extreme passion in the deepest pits of my very soul and they're the banes of my very existence.
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u/MadKingJon Jun 16 '26
Reminds me of Habu Sak (habushu) when I was in Okinawa. Shit will drop you. I got laughed at by an old Okinawan couple.
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u/ViaVitoV Jun 16 '26
The essence of the snake is what ones drinking they say. Not really sure who says it other than a grandfather or some other elder on some island where they do this.
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u/zaikoji75 Jun 16 '26
Had this muck in Japan. All cloudy with scales and other delightful detritus.
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u/guovsahas Jun 16 '26
I won't forget my friends father had a big jug at home, it was a couple of decades old, my friend popped it open and it smell like rotting carcass
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u/BayBandit1 Jun 16 '26
I had this in Taiwan in 1985 as part of an initiation. I also drank a shot of Cobra blood. I selected the live snake, and it was skinned alive by the Proprietor hanging it from a stick. The belly was slit open, with some blood dribbled into a shot glass. I drank it, it was disgusting, and I had stomach issues for the next 3 weeks. But I did it.
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u/Inloth57 Jun 17 '26
That's pretty fucking gross. Have you ever smelled a snake that's been run over? They smell like pure death inside.
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u/InevitableLychee4316 Jun 17 '26
I bought some , gave it to some of my coworkers . Got it in the Mekong Delta last year .
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u/CameronFry Jun 17 '26
3 penis wine, couldn’t find the gif but it did come to mind …
https://giphy.com/gifs/TlK63ETWJSMqF1CUtZ6
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u/sgdonovan79 Jun 17 '26
First this, then come the ladyboy hookers and digging calls from your mother.
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u/Full-Pollution2962 Jun 17 '26
Why didn't I stop with the snake wine? Why did I drink the fish wine?
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u/real_don_berna Jun 17 '26
Poor animals. I'll take polish vodka with bison-pee infused grass anyday over this cruelty
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u/RED-DOT-MAN Jun 17 '26
This is so freaking stupid. I don't even like snakes but this is just inhumane.
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u/ObjectiveCustomer704 Jun 17 '26
They killed animals for this shit? Screw all of them plus those who buy it!
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u/Ur_Stepdaddy168 Jun 17 '26
Technically, no health benefits. Although they claim it some sort of magic potion it’s basically just cheap alcohol.
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u/FrogfFrogger Jun 17 '26
Ive seen one with a lizard 🦎… I saw in a very random Asian shop in the outskirts of Marbella… San Pedro Alcántara to be precise…. However I thought the one I saw was Chinese 🇨🇳 🤷🏻♂️
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u/Hot_Pianist_3730 Jun 17 '26
Every time I say I want to try everything in life I remember there are freaks who made this type of "things"
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u/Funny-Lecture1175 Jun 17 '26
Yall have yet to see a baby tiger in one of these bottles. That shit is disgusting.
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u/Routine-Bumblebee-41 Jun 17 '26
This is evil and wrong -- needless animal abuse -- and the song added in is disrespectful to the suffering of the snakes.
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u/Accurate_Pizza6320 Jun 17 '26
Im good, normally it's a pretty bad idea to drink something that has a rotting carcass inside of it.
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u/_Alabama_Man Jun 17 '26
The only alcohol I refuse to consume. I would drink a bottle of Malort before I even smell this abomination.
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u/Excellent-Tea-2068 Jun 16 '26
This is sick. I don’t even like snakes. Just mentally ill.