Becky
Hold the ice, but please do add the pit viper
by Becky - April 30, 2007 - 10:14 AM

6346Spring’s here, and if you’re already shooting here-we-go-again looks at your middling liquor cabinet, perhaps it’s time to change things up a bit at your next gathering. True, Trader Joe’s does have the best deals on drinkable sake, but it gets rather old floating your friends’ drinks with lemon wedges and cucumber slices, no? Wouldn’t it be more exhilarating for your guests to hold their drinks up to the light only to find a finely coiled habu snake at the bottom? Habus are pit vipers found throughout Japan’s Ryukyu Islands. They’re rumored to be among the less aggressive venomous snakes–though, if you’re asking for it, they’re game & you’re probably in the ER. Habu sake is made by placing a whole snake into a cask of 95% alcohol in order to embalm it; afterwards, it’s transferred to steep in two successively lower proofs before landing in the comparatively benign distilled rice alcohol. If your frequent flier miles are a little on the anemic side, you can order a bottle of your very own for about $105 here. Anyone ever tried this stuff?

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Comments (9)

  1. You can get it in a lot of the bars in the Honcho district of Yokosuka, right outside the US Navy base, and you can find it in many bars in Osaka, too… maybe a few of the darker bars in Tokyo. It’s served right out of the jar with a bamboo pitcher and drank in one double-shot sized gulp, at room temperature. It has a tangy, smokey taste, and if you have two or more, you will definitely feel the venom (makes your whole body tingle) and the next morning, you’ll really wish it had just killed you. It’s usually drunk under the same conditions as Jaeger shots in the states… after everyone’s already lit, someone will buy a round of habusake.

    posted by CJ Casey on 4-30-2007 at 10:29 am

  2. Had the same thing while stationed in Korea. Of course I barely remember the incident, but I do have a t-shirt hidden away somewhere.

    posted by Drew on 4-30-2007 at 11:46 am

  3. I def had some in Okinawa. They love serving it to the guys stationed at Kadena airforce base.

    posted by Rochelle on 4-30-2007 at 1:46 pm

  4. Isn’t it wonderful, the opportunities for cultural enhancement provided to members of the US military? Hey, if you ever do a post on eating moving things, I can comment on that, too.

    posted by CJ Casey on 5-1-2007 at 7:39 am

  5. I visited the factory where they make the stuff (snakes galore) on the main island of Okinawa (capital of the Ryukyu Kingdom in centuries past), and brought back a bottle with me. Apparently, once you’re done drinkin the sake, you’re supposed to fill it with new sake, so you can tap into all that extra snaky goodness. I found it kind of harsh, and it’s kind of harsh to even look at the bottle (which I keep inside the box it arrive it, so it won’t stare at me).

    posted by Miles on 5-2-2007 at 7:41 am

  6. not dangerous enough…I’m thinking a live panda lounging in bathtub gin.

    posted by anko on 5-2-2007 at 11:24 am

  7. I AGRE WITH CJ CASEY, AS WHEN I WAS AT THE US NAVYBASE @ YOKOSUKA ENTERTAINING MYSELF USMC MAJOR, 2 USMC LT GEN.’S, AND WE AGREED TO TRY THIS. THINGS WERE SHALL WE SAY DIFFERENT THAT NIGHT. I KNOW I REGRETED IT THE NEXT MORNING, AND LT. GEN FRANKEL ACTUALLY POSED FOR PICTURES HOLDING A JAR WITH SNAKE HIGH IN THE AIR! LIKE I SAID I WAS A MAJOR, A MAJOR HEADACHE! HA HA HA

    posted by JOHN BROWN on 5-2-2007 at 3:33 pm

  8. I had this in Okinawa. They also serve it with OJ. I went to a Pineapple Farm place and they sold all sorts of Habu things such as dried and powderized Habu. Apparently it was to increase stamina and some other stuff. They used to fight the Habu snakes against Cocks. Tastes harsh.

    posted by Kristy on 5-3-2007 at 7:32 pm

  9. I’ve had in the Honch in Yokosuka. It is really good but it made my heart slow down a little bit other than that I had no bad side effects.

    posted by Damien Harmon on 1-24-2009 at 8:11 pm

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