魏大鍋

很多年前，陪一批荷蘭人去黃山游玩。第二年春天，荷蘭團(tuán)隊(duì)的女領(lǐng)隊(duì)來(lái)杭州時(shí)，送我一瓶威士忌。后來(lái)，與朋友們分享這瓶洋酒，感覺(jué)味道極其強(qiáng)悍、極其剛烈，大家評(píng)品說(shuō)，完全與中國(guó)的白酒不一樣?，F(xiàn)在回想，主要還是因?yàn)榱?xí)慣了東方式的醇厚綿長(zhǎng)的酒味，因而對(duì)這種外國(guó)烈酒的味道感覺(jué)特殊，畢竟，喜歡什么樣的酒，大都與一個(gè)人生活在哪里關(guān)聯(lián)，也就是與文化環(huán)境相關(guān)。

前幾日，在網(wǎng)上查看中國(guó)白酒的英文翻譯時(shí)，看到北京、紐約、倫敦和利物浦竟然已經(jīng)有外國(guó)人經(jīng)營(yíng)的白酒酒吧，感到甚是好奇，于是在搜索引擎上進(jìn)一步了解。初步瀏覽，原來(lái)，正在有效推動(dòng)中國(guó)白酒走向世界的，竟然主要不是中國(guó)人，而是外國(guó)人。

世界上第一家白酒酒吧，是外國(guó)人在北京開(kāi)設(shè)的“首都酒坊”。這個(gè)實(shí)體是典型的店廠結(jié)合，作坊以中國(guó)原料制作各種烈酒，門(mén)店品飲生意經(jīng)營(yíng)得風(fēng)生水起。稍后，酒吧又提供用中國(guó)白酒制作的雞尾酒，中西結(jié)合，很讓外國(guó)人喜歡，引起了國(guó)外媒體的注意?！都~約時(shí)報(bào)》拍攝的《北京36小時(shí)》視頻，專(zhuān)門(mén)提到了這家酒吧。也有中國(guó)人慕名前往，想要嘗嘗外國(guó)人發(fā)明的中西風(fēng)味的雞尾酒究竟是什么味道，并給出了好評(píng)。以中國(guó)白酒為主打酒精飲品，也許是為了吸引西方旅游者的獵奇心和常住北京的外國(guó)人的好奇感，而實(shí)際結(jié)果是這一細(xì)分市場(chǎng)名聲大振。除了《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》外，《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》、路透社、《南華早報(bào)》、《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》、《人民日?qǐng)?bào)》、美國(guó)哥倫比亞廣播公司等國(guó)內(nèi)外主流媒體也報(bào)道了“首都酒坊”。此外，還有一些白酒達(dá)人和自媒體意見(jiàn)領(lǐng)袖，他們通過(guò)互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和社交媒體以及在北京出版發(fā)行的英文休閑雜志，發(fā)布評(píng)論和消息，使得這休閑去處名聞遐邇。

美國(guó)第一家以中國(guó)白酒為主打酒精飲料的酒吧在紐約，2015年《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》有專(zhuān)文介紹。英國(guó)利物浦則有全歐洲第一家中國(guó)白酒酒吧。這些酒吧也都以中國(guó)白酒調(diào)制雞尾酒，與北京的首都酒坊有異曲同工之妙。

世界上銷(xiāo)量最大的烈酒，并不是久負(fù)盛名的威士忌、伏特加、金酒和朗姆酒，而是中國(guó)白酒。據(jù)倫敦一家咨詢(xún)公司的估算，2016年中國(guó)白酒的銷(xiāo)量大約占全世界烈酒消費(fèi)量的三分之一。這一事實(shí)，也許會(huì)讓各國(guó)酒徒感到意外。香港《亞洲時(shí)報(bào)》網(wǎng)站在2017年春節(jié)期間刊登了一篇關(guān)于中國(guó)白酒的文章，稱(chēng)，白酒是中國(guó)刻意不向外宣示的秘密之一。雖然這一描述略顯夸張，但也說(shuō)明了一個(gè)問(wèn)題：中國(guó)人看中國(guó)，向世界講中國(guó)故事；外國(guó)人看中國(guó)，向自己人講述中國(guó)故事；兩者的著眼點(diǎn)、側(cè)重點(diǎn)和興奮點(diǎn)有時(shí)不一樣，效果也不一樣。前幾年在《中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)》上看到五糧液的大幅文字廣告，主要講該酒的歷史悠久，原料營(yíng)養(yǎng)豐富，甚至列表給出詳細(xì)數(shù)據(jù)，云云，當(dāng)時(shí)就覺(jué)得怪怪的。而那些外國(guó)的中國(guó)白酒達(dá)人，基本都是開(kāi)酒吧的生意人或者是調(diào)酒師，他們推廣中國(guó)白酒的方式方法，遠(yuǎn)比中國(guó)白酒制造商更為直接更為有效。他們說(shuō)的話(huà)、寫(xiě)的文章，他們調(diào)制的白酒雞尾酒，更能讓外國(guó)消費(fèi)者明白和接受。

如何品嘗白酒，了解中國(guó)白酒的特色，外國(guó)人有自己的說(shuō)法。美國(guó)有線(xiàn)電視新聞網(wǎng)（CNN）網(wǎng)站在2017年春節(jié)期間刊登了一篇《如何品嘗白酒：北京的專(zhuān)家分享貼士》的文章，介紹中國(guó)白酒的品飲之法。

西方人越來(lái)越知道如何品鑒中國(guó)白酒，而這種精通，卻是他們自己結(jié)合他們的實(shí)際情況琢磨出來(lái)的。2015年，在貴州召開(kāi)的世界名酒峰會(huì)上，前克羅地亞駐中國(guó)大使西蒙尼奇說(shuō)，中國(guó)白酒廠商們應(yīng)該從中餐如何在全世界獲得喜愛(ài)中汲取有益經(jīng)驗(yàn)。他說(shuō)，他喜歡中國(guó)菜，但是相對(duì)在中國(guó)吃到的中國(guó)菜，他更喜歡在克羅地亞吃到的中國(guó)菜，因?yàn)槟切┎艘呀?jīng)得到改良，更適合他的口味。那次峰會(huì)，中國(guó)廠商得到了西方專(zhuān)家的建議：在開(kāi)拓國(guó)外市場(chǎng)時(shí)要有創(chuàng)新精神。美國(guó)有兩家中國(guó)白酒制造商，用中國(guó)方式釀制白酒，但降低了酒精度，均取得了一定的成功。其中一種白酒取名“Bye Joe”，這兩個(gè)英文單詞恰好與中國(guó)字“白酒”基本同音，英文意思是“再見(jiàn)，喬”。在那次峰會(huì)上，外國(guó)調(diào)酒師還現(xiàn)場(chǎng)示范了他們?yōu)橥鈬?guó)人發(fā)明調(diào)制的茅臺(tái)雞尾酒。

對(duì)中國(guó)白酒的推廣工作，出力最大的，似乎也是外國(guó)人。據(jù)《亞洲時(shí)報(bào)》說(shuō)，美國(guó)人德里克·桑德豪斯撰寫(xiě)的《白酒：中國(guó)烈酒必備指南》是第一本關(guān)于中國(guó)白酒的英文圖書(shū)。常住北京的加拿大白酒達(dá)人吉姆·博伊斯，2016年在北京創(chuàng)辦了頗有國(guó)際影響力的“世界白酒日”，這個(gè)節(jié)日定在每年的8月8日。當(dāng)年，世界20個(gè)城市舉辦了30場(chǎng)中國(guó)白酒日活動(dòng)，持續(xù)一周。2017年的規(guī)模將超過(guò)去年。自2014年以來(lái)，英國(guó)倫敦在中國(guó)農(nóng)歷新年之際舉辦中國(guó)白酒雞尾酒周，全市很多酒吧都會(huì)參與，并向顧客介紹中國(guó)白酒的起源和傳統(tǒng)，請(qǐng)白酒達(dá)人講解如何品嘗。

外國(guó)人直接采用“白酒”的漢語(yǔ)拼音作為中國(guó)白酒的英文名字，中國(guó)著名白酒的商標(biāo)名稱(chēng)也全部采用漢語(yǔ)拼音作為音譯。維基百科對(duì)中國(guó)白酒各種香型的介紹，則采用解釋性的意譯?？粗袊?guó)白酒正在走向世界的實(shí)例，我想，隨著中國(guó)文化通過(guò)各種渠道與世界各種文化有更多、更深入的交融，越來(lái)越多的中國(guó)名詞會(huì)以漢語(yǔ)拼音形式出現(xiàn)在英語(yǔ)和其他語(yǔ)言中。

現(xiàn)在想起來(lái)一直很后悔，當(dāng)年荷蘭領(lǐng)隊(duì)送我威士忌時(shí)，我并沒(méi)想到要回贈(zèng)中國(guó)黃酒或者中國(guó)白酒。如果是現(xiàn)在，我一定會(huì)的。畢竟，中國(guó)的酒，歷史悠久，對(duì)一些西方人來(lái)說(shuō)，那是中國(guó)保守得最好的秘密之一。對(duì)外文化交流，讓中國(guó)文化走出去，有各種渠道。一瓶酒，對(duì)普通人來(lái)說(shuō)，也許是很好的選擇。

Years ago， a tour leader from the Netherlands gave me a bottle of whisky. I shared it with my friends. We found it strong and pungent and commented that it was unlike our baijiu， a Chinese spirit， at all. After all， our taste buds are all conditioned by local food and beverage.

The other day， I was looking for English translations of baijiu on internet when I ran into news titles about bars in London， New York and Liverpool that served cocktails made with Chinese baijiu as the main ingredient. I was surprised. Further search led me to detailed reports and blogs. I have found that baijiu is going international and that the fad is being pushed largely and more effectively by foreigners.

Beijing Spirits， a bar founded and operated by two foreigners in Beijing， is the worlds first bar of its kind that serves Baijiu. The business also brews its own spirits by using Chinese ingredients in the Chinese capital. The bar has flourished and caught the attention of the mainstream media. New York Times mentions the bar in ， a documentary. Some Chinese drinkers go to the bar too， wishing to taste baijiu cocktails invented by foreigners and they drinkers okay the inventions. The bar attracts western tourists and members of the local expat community in Beijing. In addition to New York Times， Wall Street Journal， Reuters， China Daily， Peoples Daily， CBS News， South China Morning Post covered the bar in Beijing. The bar also gets promoted by baijiu professionals and opinion leaders in their blogs and websites.

Americas first bar that uses Chinese baijiu is in New York. Europes first bar that serves baijiu is in Liverpool. They are like Capital Spirits in Beijing： serving cocktails made of baijiu.

Baijiu outsells whisky， vodka， gin， and rum in the world. According to a consultation company in London， baijiu accounted for about one third of the spirits in 2016. This may be a surprising piece of news to many. An article at the website of Asian Times based in Hong Kong said during the Spring Festival 2017 that baijiu was one of the secrets China kept from the world. This description may sound little bit exaggerating， but it makes one thing very clear： there is a big difference between the way Chinese people look at the world and relate whats interesting about China and the way the world looks in at China and reports what it sees. This reminds me of a huge promotional presentation in China Daily by a Chinese baijiu maker. The advertisement highlights the history of the alcohol and gave a detailed table for nutrients the alcoholic beverage contained. I remember the advertisement lost me. Those foreign baijiu experts and professionals are bartenders or businessmen who operate bars in big cities. They promote Chinese baijiu more effectively and more directly than Chinese baijiu makers. The sentences they say and write in their blogs and at websites and the baijiu cocktails they make at their bars are delightfully easier for foreign consumers to understand and accept.

Foreigners know how to introduce baijiu to the world. CNN ran a story at its website during the Spring Festival 2017， sharing tips of baijiu appreciation with readers. Foreigners know more and more concerning how to drink Chinese baijiu. This expertise they have accumulated themselves. The global popularity of Chinese food offers a lesson to the makers of baijiu， China's distinctive white spirit， offered former Croatian ambassador to China Ante Simonic. Speaking at the World Famous Liquor Summit hosted by Moutai Group in Renhuai， Guizhou province in 2015， Simonic told a packed auditorium that he loved Chinese food， but sometimes liked it better at home in Europe than here in China. Jim Boyce， a Canadian wine expert based in Beijing， is the founder of World Baijiu Day. In 2016， according to him， 30 Baijiu Day events were held in 20 cities around the world. He plans more events for this years big promotion day. Derek Sandhaus， an American， is the author of Baijiu： ， the very first book on the subject in English.

I have my regrets. One of them is that I didnt give the Dutch tour leader a bottle of rice wine or baijiu after receiving the gift bottle of whisky from her. I would like to give her a bottle of Chinese wine if I had the chance. After all， Chinese liquors are one of the best secrets China keeps from the world， according to some westerners. Cultural exchanges go various ways. A bottle wine is probably a very good choice for me.