How many people drink snake wine?

I’m not talking about 3 snake wine (the penis of a tiger, a horse and another animal in some wine). I have NEVER  had a penis or penis containing wine touch my lips and never will regardless of Chinese health tales.

Funny story..we had a US guy over here that was offered some 3 snake wine. He decided it would be a good idea to drink the wine down until the snakes bobbed on the surface. He was comatose for 2 days. We held a mirror under his nose to see if it fogged to confirm life and let him sleep it off!

‘Im talking about snake wine made from cobras! I am drinking a shot now. Here is the story!
On Christmas day, 2005 I think, I was kinda down in the dumps since Christmas in China has about as much meaning as the 4th of July in Dubai. So my mother in law decided to make me the old family recipie – snake wine to cheer me up.
 
We went to the stock yards. Me, my wife, mother in law and daughter..What an experience. They had pigs, cats, dogs, horses, chickens, geese and every other thing they eat over here, including snakes.  I saw a lady buy a cat. The cat dealer takes the cat out of the cage, whacks it on the head with a stick, and puts in a bag and gives it to the lady.  I was speechless.
 
There were 3 snake dealers. We visited one, but his price was too high, so we went off to the next dealer, and those weren’t the right kind of snakes (they were about 8 feet long, and in a big hole, and looked like pit vipers- copper head looking things). Dealer number 3, didn’t have the right kind of snakes either. Ma Ma was looking for something called Past The Mountain Snakes.
 
So we went back to dealer number 1. We agreed on the price and he grabbed a crate, which relieved me, and I thought cool, they are in a crate so maybe they are dead. He pops the lid on the crate and out pop the snakes, and they spread their hoods. I thought hmmmmm, past the mountain snakes means cobras. The dealer asked me, “do you want to grab the snakes or do you want me to?” I replied, hey sonny, you go right ahead, I will  watch.
 
Well it was the most hilarious thing. Im watching  the guy grab the snakes, my wife , mother in law, daughter are all close behind me. I’d lean in for a closer look (everyone would lean in- in unison). One of the snakes would hiss or spit, and we would all jump back in unison.
 
The dealer grabs the snakes, one by one and hits their heads on the concrete floor to stun them. I saw one of the snakes next to the guys ankle moving and told my wife, that guy is gonna get bit. My wife replied, “ Oh don’t worry, that guy has killed a lot of snakes. Those snakes are afraid him”. I said, yep, hes gonna be saying that in the ambulance, or somebodies gonna say it at his funeral .
 
He breaks the tail and drains out the blood (snake blood spoils the wine). He throws them in a big jar (7 kgs of snakes) and covers them with 10 kgs of rice wine. I notice the 2 biggest snakes are still moving in the bottle, and say,”hey those 2 aren’t dead yet”
 
The guy replies-“ don’t worry they will drown in the wine”. . He wraps the jar up in cardboard. We all go back home. A few hours later my wife wants to see the snakes. I say honey, you can’t drink the stuff for a year or two, just leave it wrapped up. Well, she was adamant about peeking at the snakes. So I unwrapped the jar, and the two biggest cobras are alive, heads above the wine, banging their heads on the lid trying to get out.
 
I said Yikes! The buggers are still alive. I thought hmmmmm, they know I’m the reason they are in that jar. I’m thinking they gonna escape and bite the crap out of me.
 
 I spent the next few hours shaking that bottle, so the wine went over those 2 snake heads. I didn’t go to sleep, until they were under that wine, motionless  for 30 minutes.
 
That’s how you get a jar of cobra wine.