Sorry for crossposting (Skritter gurus, if this is too off-topic feel free to delete). I figured if it saves one person what I went through it would be worth it!

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/25380-fake-vodka-leads-to-a-night-in-the-hospital/

I fact you got extremely lucky for one thing. Most of such cases end with blindness - because they add some industrial ethanol substitutes. I was born and grown up in eastern europe, and as of close proximity of russia border, after the crash of soviet union this kind of alcohol poured in in huge quantities.
I know much blindness cases. James, it's your second birthday, NO JOKES. I had seen my friends getting blind years ago :(

Glad you are ok.

Ouch. Much better now? At 288 kuai, you'd rather well expect you'd be getting the real deal.

Bad news. My buddy and I got a bottle of fake Jack on a bottom-rate Three Gorges cruise two and a half years ago, but, aside from not being very good, there didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. We did space it out over the course of a week or so, though, so anything harmful in it might not have been enough to hurt us over that time period.

Glad you got better.

now that's a real 经历!!

Glad you're OK.

Amazing that 'stick to baijiu' could ever be considered sound advice. Glad that you're OK.

Wow, that's brutal! Thanks for the forewarning.

During my first trip to China, I went to a restaurant in Chongqing with a bunch of Chinese friends. The owner came over and was going to offer me a bottle of alcohol because apparently foreigners don't come in there very often. But he politely asked, first, "你喝酒吗？" Which was good, because I actually don't. But my Chinese was so bad that I promptly replied, "我喝酒。"

My friends caught it for me, though, and insisted that I didn't know what I was talking about.

Scary stuff, glad you're alright.

Sounds like someone should invent a wristwatch that can detect alcohol quality similar to lipstick with a built in drug test.

Thanks everyone for the well-wishes and laughs. I do feel fine now. I'm not blind, thank God.

Haha, 经历 is right.

And now... further proof that misery is the cradle of fine art:

http://murrayjames.net/short/vodka.jpg

When I lived in Yangshuo, I would frequently hike up to the local radio tower, and on the way I would pass a shop that sells rice wine and other strong liquors by the jin out of massive earthenware vessels. Never did have the courage / stupidity to sample his wares.