Breaking burger news: better-than-the-average fast-food chain Carl's Jr have launched a baijiu burger in Shanghai, with the new menu item featuring a sauce made with the notoriously divisive Chinese spirit.
Entitled the 'Summer Moonlight Burger' in English, but surely destined to become known as simply 'The Baijiu Burger', the new offering is based on the concept that 'alcohol, especially baijiu, is perfect to enrich the aroma and taste of meat' according to a Carl's representative.
So what's in it? The Summer Moonlight is basically a standard Carl's burger - a chargrilled patty, a couple of rashers of bacon, slice of cheese, tomato, lettuce and crispy onion strips - but with one very 'special' addition: the baijiu sauce.
And yes, it is real baijiu, not just flavouring. The sauce is apparently 5 percent alcohol and each burger has around 0.8ml of Gujinggong brand spirit in it (a small amount admittedly, but let's face it - it's not like you need much of the stuff).
Naturally, we had to go try one. On first bite, we barely noticed the baijiu. There was a faint, sweet-edged whiff of it as we brought the burger closer to our mouth, but nothing like the lingering, all-consuming wave you get when you open a bottle of Erguotou.
After a few bites though, it became clear that our first mouthful had largely missed the sauce. The more we bit in, the more the unique flavour of baijiu came to the fore, unmistakably, if not entirely overwhelmingly.
While the other ingredients do their best to drown out the baijiu flavourings, you only need a drop of the 'white lady' for it to become the dominant force on your tastebuds, and as we worked our way through the burger we even got a mild burning sensation in the mouth, similar to when you've just taken a nervous sip of the stuff.
In short, it's not about to replace the Western BBQ burger in our affections at Carl's, and it's not quite a sake-flavoured Kit-Kat, but it's an interesting entry into Shanghai's crowded 'fusion' field.
If you want to give it a whirl, you'll find it at branches of Carl's around town - look for the poster below here - where it'll set you back 34RMB just for the burger, or 50RMB as part of a meal.
As the official name suggests, it's a seasonal offering, but it should be around at least until World Baijiu Day on Tuesday 9 August, which seems like an appropriate time to tuck in to one.