A good friend of mine is in Laos for the next couple of weeks, and I wanted to ask the assembled liquor experts here if there is anything he should bring back for me. All he has seen so far are 'many different sizes and shapes of bottles of lao kao rice whiskey with scorpions and or cobras pickled inside. Many have a cobra chewing on the scorpion or some other small snake.' I think I'd prefer a bottle without any bugs or snakes in it.

Has anybody had Lao-lao, a rice whisky brewed in Laos? Is it any good? Or does anyone know of a spirit worth bringing back from Laos or Thailand? I s'pose there always the duty-free store.

Aside from some of the nicer examples of Shochu, Soju, and Awamori most Asian liquor is, uh, an acquired taste.

It is almost always fermented with something like the Koji mold used to ferment sake, instead of the yeast used in Western traditions.

In my Chinese Civilization class, and I apologize if I offend anyone, my professor explained the dilemma of drinking liquor in China thus, "Thousands of flavors of tea and one flavor of liquor: Old Gym Socks."

If you have an Asian grocery in town, they should have some examples of Chinese spirits. They're usually not that expensive. Give them a try and see what you think.

Most likely they will be much nicer than the Laotian rice spirit you're looking at...