Snake Wine - Bizarre Sex Aid

“Sexual stamina during sexual intercourse can increase the size of a man’s penis,” according to the owner of a Chinese Beer store, Li, who says snake rice-wine is one of his best sellers. He claims Chinese snake rice-wine is an aphrodisiac which increases a man’s sexual stamina and his penis.  What a sales pitch!

“Lookout for fake wines which are made with methanol. Real snake wine is made with authentic traditional rice liquor.” Since snakes are not endangered species, trade is not banned and sales of wine are legal.

Snake wine has now become the latest gimmick for many western and European men, plus a few women, as a bizarre sex aid for men suffering performance problems in the bedroom and it’s being shipped around the world, after being ordered online.

Snake wine - drunk as a sex aid for men looking to enhance their libido.

Mixed with roots and herbs, snake rice-wine is preserved for several years before being taken in one gulp from a shot glass. According to WNV: “The drink which is 55% alcohol leaves your skin tingling, your stomach burning and your mouth salivating. You might even tear up a bit, or maybe that’s just me.”

Snake wine is made by fermenting rice for five days and then boiled and distilled, removing any impurities. The liquid from the steam is captured in a container with other herbs, roots and bulbs. Then the special ingredient is added. Normally the Chinese prefer poisonous snakes, like different species of cobra, but many different animals are often added, including seahorses, baby deer, geckos, chicken feet and so on.

Two Kinds Of Snake Wine

There are two kinds of snake wine: steeped and blended. Steeped snake wine is made using a whole ‘live’ snake which is drowned in rice wine, to ferment it for several months. Blended requires dissecting the snake before combining with the rice wine. Blended snake wine emphasizes the use of the snake’s gallbladder and heart in the tonic.

Live snake having it’s gall bladder cut out for snake wine.

Blended wine has a pinkish hue from the blood and innards, while steeped snake wine is a more golden colour.

* Steeped: a large venomous snake can be placed into a glass jar of rice wine, often with many smaller snakes, turtles, insects, or birds, and left to steep for many months. The wine is drunk as a restorative in small shots or cups.
* Blended: Body fluids of a LIVE SNAKE are mixed into wine and consumed immediately in the form of a shot. Snake blood wine is prepared by SLICING A LIVE SNAKE ALONG IT’S BELLY and draining its blood into a mixing vat with rice wine or grain alcohol. Snake bile wine is done through a similar method by using the contents of the LIVE snake’s gall bladder.

Because of the medicinal herbs that are mixed in, the Chinese drink it for good health and long levity. Li (falsely) says it takes away flu and helps build up your immune system.

The so-called medicinal mixture stays in its container for many years, even when the rice-wine has run out, more wine is simply added. Li says that rice wine is usually clear in colour but once it is mixed into the container it turns a yellow/red colour. “That’s when you know it is good to drink,” (WNV.)

Gall bladder which was just cut out of the live snake, for snake wine.

Snake Wine As Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

Snakes are recorded in Chinese prescriptions dating back 2,000 years, in the first text of traditional Chinese medicine, where they were used for virility. Many TCM practitioners recommend a daily dose of 30 to 60 grams of yellow wine, huang jiu (黄酒), for healthy adults. In TCM, wine is considered a “guiding” drug, which enhances and reinforces other drugs.

Chinese snake wine.

TCM holds that you are what you eat (bone is good for bone, heart for heart, penis for penis, and so on). Snake wine tonic, loaded with yang energy, is a legendary sex tonic for men and though Western medicine does not endorse it at all. TCM recommends women to sip a little to snake wine to treat rheumatism.

Ancient and modern Chinese and people throughout Southeast Asia soak snakes in spirit, especially venomous snakes. The alcohol denatures the venom and breaks down the proteins in the poison, but the invigorating “essence” of the venom remains.

Snake wine, some made with different kinds of snakes, bats and herbs, is said to nourish the kidneys, generate blood, dispel cold and damp (excessive yin energy), treat rheumatism, alleviate coughs and treat bronchitis, among other uses (KCC.)

Chinese snake wine.

Snake’s blood, bone, bile, venom and skin are all valued as medicine, especially the venom. Wine that is six months to a year old is considered extremely potent in treatment of rheumatism.

To make snake wine, LIVE SNAKES ARE FIRST KEPT FOR A MONTH WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER, so its intestines are emptied. It is then washed and placed live into a strong container of alcohol (50 percent or higher), which is then sealed for at least two months.

Japanese Snake Wine - Habushu

Habushu (ハブ酒?) is an awamori-based liqueur made in Okinawa, Japan. Other common names include Habu Sake or Okinawan Snake Wine. Habushu is aptly named after the habu snake (Trimeresurus flavoviridis) which belongs to the Pit Viper family and is closely related to the American rattler or copperheads.

Japanese Snake Wine - Habushu

Habu snakes are venomous and a bite from a habu snake can cause nausea, vomiting, hypotension, and possibly death. There also have been cases where victims report the loss of motor function in hands and legs following treatment.

There are two methods of inserting the snake into the alcohol. The maker may choose to simply submerge the snake in the alcohol and seal the bottle, thus drowning the snake.

Japanese Snake Wine - Habushu.

Alternatively, the snake may be put on ice until it passes out, at which point it is then gutted, bled and sewed up. When the VIPER IS THAWED AND AWAKENS it will quickly die in an aggressive striking manner, which is what most producers look for.

The manufacturer will then put the habu in an ethanol bath for a month to preserve it. To continue the process, the habu is put in a 59% alcohol mix for 40 days and finally put in a 35% awamori mix to prepare for consumption. Removing the intestines of the snake, as in the second method, is thought to decrease the drink’s particularly unpleasant smell.

Japanese Snake Wine - Habushu.

A main distributor of habushu uses around 5,000 habu snakes per year and is a very popular item amongst Americans in the military stationed in Japan. The distillery uses crushed rice and Koji mold to produce the awamori that goes into the habushu. It is a typical practice to age the awamori for a longer period of time. The alcohol helps the venom to dissolve and become non poisonous.

A habu snake can go on without eating anything for as long as a year and still have immense energy. Another desired trait that is thought to be passed on is the positive effect on the male libido.

Westerner looking for answers from Japanese Habushu - the so-called male libido-enhancing snake wine?

A habu snake is able to mate for as long as 26 hours at a time, which causes some to believe that a drink of habushu may help sexual dysfunction in men. It is thought that these strengths get passed on to those who drink habushu.

Snake Wine Throughout Asia

A favourite snake to use for snake wine is the King Cobra (ohiophagus hannah), the longest venomous snake in the world. Cobras are the only snake that can spit its venom and it’s bite can inject enough venom to kill an elephant. When working with Cobras, they bind it’s mouth tightly shut so it cannot spit.

The beliefs of snakes’ healing abilities are derived from snake characteristics like agility, skin shedding, and speed. The flexibility of snakes is believed to be a good treatment for stiffness and arthritis. Their ability to shed their skin translates into a regenerative quality for skin ailments, such as acne or itching skin. Another healing property snakes are know for is their speed. Its speed represents how quickly the healing occurs and moves fast throughout the body (NF.)http://kayay.livejournal.com/164490.html

Happy travellers with their purchase of snake wine.

Medicinal wines have remained a favourite drink for many Chinese and Vietnamese men in their own country but also all over the world.

“I drink different kinds of medicinal wines, especially snake wine, to help improve my health,” said Nguyen Van Vuong, 48, of a village near Ha Noi Snake village, and like most snake wine drinkers he doesn’t think that there’s any harm drinking medicinal wines.

All famous herbalists questioned about Snake wine and others medicinal wines said that these wines could cause problems if taken in excessive amounts, but fortunately not health threatening problems. The effectiveness and quality of the wines also depend on the quality of ingredients and the liquor.

Snake wine at a traditional Chinese medicine store.

Oriental medicinal wines have long been believed to help promote blood circulation, with the alcohol helping the body absorb the medicinal content. Some recipes help prolong human life or improve men’s sexual stamina, but all these wines must be used properly, and nobody should abuse drinking them, or the effects could be worst than the illness or condition for which they are used.

The following account is from a tourist who travelled through China:

In southern China I visited the Snake King & Completely Restaurant in Guangzhou When I visited there were 75 different snake dishes on the menu and seventeen different wine drinks that had snake as one of the ingredients. These included something labeled “Magnificant Packing Three Snake Gall Bladder Wine” and, mysteriously, “Toad and Snake’s Seminal Vesicle.”

Snake wine.

The waitress watched as I sipped it and applauded as I then emptied the tiny glass in a gulp. It burned going down as a straight shot of tequila—which it resembled in colour, and left a residual warm feeling from my esophagus to my gut. Which is what it was supposed to do. Snake is categorized as a yang food, representing the positive, bright and masculine half of the Chinese yin/yang philosophy (yin being negative, dark, and feminine). Its consumption is especially recommended during the winter months, when it is believed it will warm the blood.

“Ganbei!” —the traditional Chinese toast is Ganbei! meaning “empty glass”— the man called loudly. The sediment wasn’t so thick as to involve any chewing and the wine went down without the fiery glow I’d experienced earlier.

“Lovely,” I said as I examined the bottle, surprised to find on the label some English text. The first thing that caught my attention was the fact that what I’d swallowed was Five Testes & Penises Wine (KLJ.)

Besides pure rice wine,  I was assured the common ingredient in virtually every exotic wine sold in Asia is the genitals of snake, sheep, ox, deer, and dog.

Snake wine.

Sold In Many Places

In the Imperial Herbal Restaurant in Singapore, a few steps from the Raffles Hotel, a resident Chinese herbalist diagnosed customer ills and imbalances, prescribing certain dishes or drinks on the menu as being helpful. The choice of wines included one with deer penis, starting at US$12 a glass, with a two-liter bottle costing $450!

At a sidewalk cafe in Sapa, Vietnam, in the mountains near the Chinese border and also in Vietnam, at the Hanoi airport, where I found a bottle of wine containing a gecko the size of a small kitten, priced at $2, next to a bottle that contained a coiled cobra for $80.

In the lobby bar of the five-star Baan Boran Hotel in northern Thailand overlooking the Golden Triangle, the bartender poured a shot from a bottle of amber liquid that contained a single scorpion. Like the cobra, also ready to strike, though well past any ability to do so.

Snake wine.

In Conclusion

Throughout the ages people have used many forms of stimulants to enhance their sexual performance and boost their health, in the quest for longevity of life. Some remedies are more bizarre than others and many have been and still are downright cruel to the animals used.

Other formulas that people have used throughout the centuries to boost their sexual interest are less well known: powdered lizard in white wine; dried black ants mixed with olive oil; snake blood; jackal bile or ass’s milk (rubbed on the male and female genitals prior to intercourse); fermented leeches (poured over the penis); melted fat from a camel’s hump; the king eider duck’s billknob (ingested); skin of the toad Bufo Bufo gargarizans (known as Chan Su, a topical preparation that can be deadly when ingested); and the flesh of the lion-tailed macaque (ingested).

Snake wine.

Snakes are cruelly abused to be made into snake wine; being starved of food and water for a month, being sliced open along the belly - while still alive, to being drowned in wine, while posed in their once most proud stance.

There is no scientific evidence that snake wine cures medical illnesses. There is no scientific evidence snake wine does anything for a man’s libido or his erection or his staying power. Seek professional medical help from a Sex Therapist, but do not expect it from drinking snakes in a bottle.

If you are considering ordering snake wine online, before ordering please consider the suffering each snake endures for the sake of snake wine.

Thank you for reading,

Michele Brown.

To read more about animals eaten to increase the male libido, please read the following article:

The Dog Meat trade: Sex, Lies and Brutality.