Rice ........wine?

[vhuy]

I am from Vietnam and did work in the tourist industry for some time. When we introduced "rice wine" (important drink culturally of Vietnam) we always called it "rice wine" or "Hanoi water" to the english speaking tourists. The problem however is that our "rice wine" is not just fermented rice like the japanese sake, but always distilled and sold at about 35-40% alcohol. Any thoughts about a proper name for this drink? I was thinking it could be called rice vodka, but the fact that "rice wine" is single-distilled in a pot still to keep the rice flavor the term vodka doesn't seem right either. Rice liquor?

[hackware]

Baijiu is a distilled rice wine...

re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baijiu

also Soju...

re: http://koreanfood.about.com/od/drinks/p/Soju.htm

william...

[vhuy]

That's two really nice english names for it. I didn't say that Vietnam is the only country that has fermented rice wine. My question is, what would an appropriate name for the drink be in English (obviously not Baijiu or Soju)? Maybe rice liquor is the best bet?

[hackware]

That's two really nice english names for it. I didn't say that Vietnam is the only country that has fermented rice wine. My question is, what would an appropriate name for the drink be in English (obviously not Baijiu or Soju)? Maybe rice liquor is the best bet?

in that case, yes, rice liquor would be your best bet for an americanized name...

william...