The word cat makes an appearance in a number of English expressions, the often-used “to let the cat out of the bag,” the ever off-putting “to skin a cat,” and the inscrutable “to rain cats and dogs,” for example. Lesser-known of course are the obsolete “you kill my cat and I’ll kill your dog,” which needs no explanation and “to feel as if a cat has kittened in one’s mouth,” which refers to how the oral orifice sometimes feels after a night of excessive drinking. The latter two expressions, by the way, appear in the always enjoyable Dictionary of Historical Slang by Eric Partridge (Penguin Books).
Unbeknownst to most of our readers, who are highly knowledgeable, by the way, is the fact that Cat is a variety of apple, one that is closely associated with Sapa (Sa Pa), a town in Vietnam’s northwest. Recently this writer paid a visit to Sapa and tasted a liquor made from this variety of apple at two restaurants. The beverage is referred to as “apple wine” and is produced by marinating the apple in locally produced corn liquor, which bears a striking resemblance to shochu. The first tasting was at the Red Dzao House, where the drink reminded this writer of some of the very fine examples of Calvados that he had sampled at farmhouse doors as he made his way through Normandy about twenty years ago. The color is brown, has a baked apple aroma, is probably between 25-30% abv, and served chilled.
The second tasting was done at a restaurant called “Huong Rung,” which is located about ten minutes’ walk from Red Dzao House (see business card). There, he tasted the corn-based liquor first, which had a nose that resembled the sorghum-based spirit of China, baijiu, and black-sugar shochu. The color of their apple wine was lighter, and it had fewer apple notes. However, it was smooth and went very well with lunch.
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Drinking Japan 