''Rượu thuốc'' () or ''rượu dân tộc'' () is a kind of Vietnamese
distilled liquor (''rượu'') with herbs and medical animals, considered by traditional medicine as good for health. This drink is a mixture of
alcohol mixed with herbs or animals which are used as drink and medicine in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making ...
. In Vietnam, ''rượu thuốc'' is widely believed to help drinkers improve their health and virility.
Production
Raw herbs like
ginseng,
jujube, or raw animals like
seahorse
A seahorse (also written ''sea-horse'' and ''sea horse'') is any of 46 species of small marine fish in the genus ''Hippocampus''. "Hippocampus" comes from the Ancient Greek (), itself from () meaning "horse" and () meaning "sea monster" or ...
s,
snake
Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...
s, or
termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes ( eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blat ...
s are placed into a large earthenware jar of alcohol and kept for days to let the expected medical substances in these herbs or animals to dissolve in liquor before the mixture is served. Distilled liquor must be strong enough, with alcoholic concentration of 45% or more.
Drinking
''Rượu thuốc'' is typically drunk before a meal. It's believed among Vietnamese that drinking ''rượu thuốc'' may treat several diseases (not diseases caused by viruses or bacteria).
See also
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Cơm rượu
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Rice wine
*
Rượu cần
''Rượu cần'' ( or 'straw liquor') is a fermented rice wine indigenous to several ethnic groups in Vietnam, in areas such as Tây Nguyên or Tây Bắc. It is made of fermented glutinous rice (''nếp'') mixed with several kinds of herbs ...
*
Rượu nếp
*
Rượu đế
''Rượu đế'' is a distilled liquor from Vietnam, made of either glutinous or non-glutinous rice. It was formerly made illegally and is thus similar to moonshine. It is most typical of the Mekong Delta region of southwestern Vietnam (its e ...
*
Snake wine
*
Sơn Tinh (liquor)
Sơn Tinh (Vietnamese pronunciation: /səːn tinɲ/; ) is a Vietnamese brand of Rượu (Pronunciation: /ɹɨəu/ in south Vietnam, /ʐɨəu/ in the north), a Vietnamese variety of rice liquor. The brand was officially established in 2002 alt ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruou thuoc
Vietnamese alcoholic drinks