What do the good old boys in Issan drink / distill secretly?

How strong is it? (% proof)

What are the rituals associated with drinking it?

What is it made from / colour?

Is there a particular brand that is recommended?

lao khao is the generic name for that stuff

Don't know that there are any rituals involved, just that my husband's grandfather drank a tot or two every day of his adult life until he died at the age of 93

I believe its made from rice, but it could be anything! Whew that stuff stinks!

Its very popular to put it in a big glass jar with a honeycomb.

Can't imagine that would improve the taste

What are the rituals associated with drinking it?

Funerals, mostly. Kidney dialysis and life-support machines, sometimes.

Lao Khao is the drink of the Isaan folk. It is made from rice at a distillery in Nam Pong and is 40% alcohol here in Isaan, but the locals tell me that there is a 35% variant which is supplied to "southern softies" in Bangkok. The local lads pour out a small measure of the colourless fluid and knock it back in one, followed by a slurp of iced water. I have also seen Lao Khao mixed with M150/Red Bull type energy drinks. Bottles range in price from about 20 baht up to 80 baht. A word of warning, I would consider the long term imbibing of said Lao Khao to be of serious detriment to health. This is bourne out here in Khon Kaen which has a major problem with alcohol related illness.

The popularity results in its cheapness....I'm sure if locals had a choice they wouldn't drink the evil stuff.

Scuse me...its cheapness results in its popularity.

Regular imbibers get hardened livers and loss of brain cells

They do put one of them bluddy great centipedes in a bottle of it for a few days so's it's venom (and other bodily fluids????) leach out. Drinking the result is supposed to give you more power.

Still tastes like sh1t though!

There is another sort of home-brew around here called Sato (it is made commercially as well, Siam Sato, but it doesn't look the same)

Fill a kettle drum full of rice, top it up with water, lob a bag of sugar on top and then bury it in the ground for a few months.

You end up with a very sweet white wine (and it is white, like milk) goes well with lemonade or soda water...... like a sah-pritsah (spelling intentional) and it is nowhere near as strong as Lao Kao, I will take a shot of that when a glass is shoved towards me so as not to be rude but wouldn't drink it out of choice.

For the sake of self preservation, I have never done this, nor have I witnessed anyone else do it.

BTW.... there is one drinking ritual around here, ?????????, Bpee Sad Noi should be offered a drink before anybody else starts and you will frequently see the person pouring to dribble a small amount onto the ground first.

(If that last sentence contains some wonky characters, it's because I'm on a Mac, and I haven't worked out how to get the right encoding yet)

There is another sort of home-brew around here called Sato (it is made commercially as well, Siam Sato, but it doesn't look the same)

Fill a kettle drum full of rice, top it up with water, lob a bag of sugar on top and then bury it in the ground for a few months.

You end up with a very sweet white wine (and it is white, like milk) goes well with lemonade or soda water...... like a sah-pritsah (spelling intentional) and it is nowhere near as strong as Lao Kao, I will take a shot of that when a glass is shoved towards me so as not to be rude but wouldn't drink it out of choice.

For the sake of self preservation, I have never done this, nor have I witnessed anyone else do it.

BTW.... there is one drinking ritual around here, ?????????, Bpee Sad Noi should be offered a drink before anybody else starts and you will frequently see the person pouring to dribble a small amount onto the ground first.

(If that last sentence contains some wonky characters, it's because I'm on a Mac, and I haven't worked out how to get the right encoding yet)

then there is another evil brew sometimes called Lao Tom that is basically Sato which is then distilled into Lao Kao and can be up to 80%. Had some up in Ubon once and it is nasty. Feels very warm as it goes down and it hits you like someone flicking a switch and you go from sober to completely pissed.

Mmmmmmmm...?

Sounds like our very own brew...

Yes, we have the rice wine type. The other is distilled from that. Light it up before the bottom's up and you get blue flame. And when it passes through the throat, you can feel it burning until it reaches the stomach...

Me... a few shots of vodka is fine enough...

You know it has to be bad stuff when the Thai Barkeeps are handing out shots for nought to the bar patrons.

It's around 25 Baht a bottle at 7-11 if you're uncomfortable drinking the street/field version. On a scale of purity.... the home brew version is probably 'very bad' for your health whereas the 7-11 version would just be considered 'bad' for your health.