Recent visitors to this blog will have noticed that it was temporarily offline. This was not a glitch or an error, but a conscious decision to suspend the site until I figured out what its future would be.
It was not an easy decision.
This is where my baijiu journey began, and its contents are near and dear to my heart. It recounts my initial fumbling steps towards a study that has now spanned almost a decade. They remind me of a simpler time when I was still trying to determine whether I could succeed as a writer, and when my drinking doubled as an eccentric hobby.
The research and “fieldwork” recounted here eventually became the foundation for two books, one published and one forthcoming, a baijiu brand, and a gig as an international spirits educator. Recently I have begun a new baijiu blog: Drink Baijiu. In the midst of these newer pursuits, this site has been neglected and grown decrepit.
As any writer knows, particularly one who works in factual matters, there are few things more challenging than confronting your past work. I know much more about my subject now than I did when I created this site, and I am keenly aware of its factual errors and misstatements.
Lacking the time to correct them all, I decided earlier this year to pull the site offline. I have since received a number of requests to make it visible once more. So that’s what I’ve done. If 300 Shots continues to entertain or inform, I’m happy it will continue to be read.
To the extent that I can clean up the content here, I will do so when the opportunity presents itself. In the meantime I recommend seeing 300 Shots as an anecdotal time capsule, not as an information resource for all things baijiu. For that I recommend my new site and book. They will serve you far better than anything published here.
To the extent that you glean enjoyment from this site, or that it helps inspire a baijiu journey of your own, I wholly commend it. I hope that you too will share what you learn about baijiu and Chinese drinking culture with the world, and that one day we might meet over tiny shot glasses.
Many happy ganbeis to you and yours,
Derek
300 Shots at Greatness 
Hi Derek,
My son and I have spent close to an hour Googling and you are the best hope we have for getting an answer. I received a bottle of Baijiu as a gift. It appewars to be in the middle in terms of quality (red box, opaque white bottle). What we are trying to establish is in what context to drink it – i.e. what should we drink it with and what temperature should it be served at?
Hi Jim, you are in luck, as this is a topic I have covered on my new blog: https://drinkbaijiu.com/bai-ology/how-to-drink-baijiu/.
You can also check out a couple of quick videos I’ve put together on Ming River’s Youtube page:
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsZ1JROuSo
-https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nj4tm8RsTWo
Hope this helps!
Thanks Derek. You answered our questions, and more. Ganbei!