Snake Whiskey
August 21, 2008 by Colleen Coplick
Filed under Drinks
(image, Life’s a gasp)
Yep, that’s exactly what it looks like. A snake in a bottle of alcohol. Snake Whiskey.
What is snake whiskey? Well, it’s madness, a bottle of whiskey with a dead cobra inside,pieces of snake skin floating around in it, nasty! [source]
I, personally, didn’t find it nasty. I experienced it in a very weird way.
The Tall Ships came to Vancouver in the summer of 2005. I was working for one of the major sponsors of the festival and as such, got to go on all sorts of cool events pertaining to the festival.
One of these was a party that the Russian Tall Ship, the Pallada, threw. We 
had copious amounts of Russian vodka, (mixed with orange juice, kinda – you know, in the “would you like some orange juice with your vodka?” sorta way), and had had enough to agree to go with a crew member to his cabin. There were two of us, so I knew we’d be safe, but it was still weird in that “I want to show you something” sort of way. And, add to that, the crew member taking us below-decks didn’t have what could be considered good English. He was a lovely man, but, well… yeah. It was complicated. (image source: Telstar Logistics)
He lead us down a complicated warren of staircases and sat us down in his 
cabin. He brought out a bottle of snake… what I thought was vodka, but I think now, was actually whiskey. Either way, it was a bottle of something, with a small cobra in it. (image source: John Brown) It didn’t look like this one – it was the size and shape of a 26 oz bottle, and had a red label, mostly in an Asian language I couldn’t read.
He had a cantaloupe. He handed us pieces. At first, I had no idea why, and I was confused. He poured all three of us shots and made sure we had the cantaloupe in hand. We did the shot, which was stinging, astringent, and … wow. It was very much alcohol. He gestured that we should eat the cantaloupe, you know, like you do with a bad shot of tequila – you suck on the lime afterwards to cut the flavour of the low-quality tequila.
But, GET THIS! It worked!! the cantaloupe totally cut the astringent flavour. I was stunned.
I’m planning to go to Thailand when the olympics are in Vancouver (2010…..winter. sounds like the best time to go away to me!), and despite the fact that the snake vodka/whiskey is apparently only for tourists, I’m trying it again. I am IN, if only because I can get some good pictures. Anyone want to come with me?
(PS – if you’re looking to buy some without travelling to Asia, try here.)
There’s not a whole lot I wouldn’t do for you or with you, but you can take your snake vodka and (censored) No way, not evernevernever. ;-)
Whiskey. I can read.
I tried rattle snake mezcal last month while in Mexico. We sipped on it slowly with beer as chaser. It was not bad as far as mezcals go, we even had more than one.
I got a bottle of this one, I guess it’s the same, the official name is Snake wine:
http://www.asiansnakewine.com/
As much as I would like to say I am open to trying new things, I am just not sure about this one. I give kudos to those brave enough to!
Don’t think I would have the stomach to try it, with bits of decomposed snake in there. Yuk. Did it taste any different from normal Whiskey? Would be worried that the venom glands hadn’t been removed from the snake and seeped into the Whiskey, maybe that’s why its only tourists who drink it.
Has anyone heard of animal abuse? The snake is put in alive and drowns..
Hey! I have a bottle of “Snake Whiskey”. The Label, where you open the bottle, you can see its opened, but only to know how it smells, cause im never tough enough to drink! !
Very Well, it is a ” YANG LING” P.B.J.B. Produced By The Jiahua Brewery in Guangdong CHINA”. 700. ML 38 %.
It is a real Cobra snake inside the bottle, kind of beige colour.
So.. if you´re intersted to buy it.. you´ll have it! This bottle is hard to catch, at least someone told me. As far i know.
The bottle was bought in Thailand for around 200 British Pounds.
Send me an E-mail if you want to buy it, we can discuss the price, cuz i want to get rid of it!
Christine…. send me me email ho to contact you… I want to buy the snake whiskey!!!
Great! You´re welcome! Send me an E-mail and we can talk about price. My mail: little_strawberrykiss@hotmail.com.
Did you send me an e-mail…Branden? I want to get rid of the bottle as fast as possible, so send me your bid. :)
little_strawberrykiss@hotmail.com
Hi everyone!
I’m in Thailand and i’m really wondering where i can find it? I asked several peoples and no ones can anserwering me.. Any one know where it can possible to get one of this bottle ?
Thanks
And do you know Habu Sake? It’s the same kind but from Japan.
For people looking to buy snake wine the website is Asian Snake Wine
i was plastered at a beach house in santa barbara when someone offered me some of this stuff he mentioned he got in thailand… its pretty intense… i didnt realize what the particles floating around were until i had already downed two shots… definitely gagged a few times after taking a closer look at the bottle