美国人出书向世界介绍中国白酒

I found out that I actually did like baijiu. Another thing is that I found out just how essential alcohol is to Chinese culture. Evidence shows that the Chinese might have been making alcohol even before they formed a civilization, and that alcohol might have played a central role in the creation of their civilization.
答：我发现我其实挺喜欢白酒的。还有就是我发现，酒对于中国文化有着极其重要的意义。有证据显示，中国人在其文明形成以前可能就开始酿酒了，而酒可能在中国文明的创造过程中扮演了一个至关重要的角色。

The book seems to be everything you ever wanted to know about baijiu. So your readers are not Chinese?
问：这本书似乎是以对白酒的全面介绍为内容。所以说本书的读者定位并不是中国人？

I don't think the Chinese need my help in appreciating their culture. But outside of China, the level of understanding is low, even in people who are experts in spirits: bartenders, wine and spirit writers. This is the book I wish had existed when I first started researching baijiu. It allows you to walk into a Chinese liquor store and know what's on the shelf. Normally, you walk into a store and see a wall filled with Chinese characters. You have no idea what you're looking at.
答：我觉得中国人并不需要我来帮助他们品鉴本国文化。然而在中国以外，人们对白酒知之甚少，甚至连烈酒专家--调酒师、葡萄酒和烈酒作家亦是如此。我多么希望在我研究白酒之初就能有这样一本书。它让你在走进一家中国酒水店的时候能知道架子上摆的是什么。而通常情况下，你走进一家酒水店，眼前是一整 的汉字，你根本不知道那都是些什么。

Where did you live in China?
问：此前你住在中国的哪里？

Shanghai and then Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan province). Sichuan is the center of China's baijiu industry, so I got a chance to do a lot of firsthand research, visit distilleries, and see the business inside out.
上海，然后是四川省省会成都。四川是中国白酒产业的中心，因而我有机会做了许多第一手调查，走访了一些酿酒厂，并透彻地观察了这个行业。

Do you have a favorite baijiu?
问：有哪款白酒是你的最爱吗？

Since the book lists about 90 baijiu, I probably shouldn't pick a favorite. But there are some I really like. One is called Lao Guilin by Guilin Sanhua. It's a really smooth kind of sweet, but not cloyingly, so it's kind of reminiscent of sake. Another is Laobai Fenjiu by Xinghuacun Fenjiu. And then my go-to favorite Sichuan baijiu is Luzhuo Laojiao.
答：这本书列出了大约90种白酒，所以我不太应该说哪个是自己最喜欢的。不过有几款白酒我都觉得很棒。一款是桂林三花股份有限公司生产的老桂林，它有种滑而不腻的甘甜口感，有点像日本的米酒。还有一款是山西杏花村汾酒集团生产的老白汾酒。四川的白酒中我最喜欢泸州老窖。

You must have some good drinking stories.
问：可否和我们分享一些有趣的品酒故事？

We were at a lunch banquet thrown by the Sichuan government affairs office and only had two or three shots of baijiu. It was upper-end baijiu and that was the first time I drank it and thought, this is something I could really start liking. Then, in the afternoon, they put us in some ridiculous traditional costumes and marched us out to a big performance in the center of town. There were tens of thousands of people there.
答：有一次在四川政府事务办公室举办的午宴上，当时我只喝了两三杯白酒。那是一款高档白酒，也是我头一次喝下后觉得这酒味道真不错。之后那天下午，他们给我们穿上了一些很滑稽的传统服装，并带着我们去市中心参加一场大型表演。当时那里有上万人在场。

They got me up and had me perform a traditional Chinese drum dance with all these 8-year-old girls who had been rehearsing for months. I kind of think it would have pissed me off but for the fact that I had a few shots of baijiu at lunch, which made the whole thing so hilarious and fun. It is one of my best memories of living in Sichuan.
他们把我推上台，让我和一群演排了好几个月的小女孩一起表演传统的中国鼓舞。现在想来，若不是因为那几杯酒，我或许就不会感觉整件事那么好玩，反而会很生气了吧。这是我在四川生活的日子里最美好的记忆之一。

So baijiu makes everything better?
问：所以说，白酒让一切都变得更好了？

That for me was the crucial insight in my quest to understand baijiu. Whether you enjoy the drink itself, the fact is, if you can go with it and learn to at least tolerate baijiu, you will have a much better time in China. It's one of the only times when random people will cut loose and show you this jovial, fun side of themselves that they don't show strangers.
这是我在探寻白酒的过程中所洞察到的重要收获。实际上无论你是否喜欢白酒，如果你能放宽心去接纳它，你就可以在中国收获一段更加美好的时光。白酒能让人摆脱束缚，展示出自己平时不会呈现给陌生人的愉快有趣的一面。