Origin of Chinese Liquor Distillation Technology

Where does Chinese liquor come from

As an ancient invention of human beings, liquor is not magical, but in terms of its profound influence on later generations, it can be called great. In China, there are legendary inventors such as Huangdi, Yidi, Du Kang, and Wu Gang. Some Chinese unofficial history notes even record: "Huangshan has many apes, and in spring and summer, miscellaneous flowers and fruits are collected in the stone depressions, brewed into wine, the fragrance overflows, and smells hundreds of steps." "Pingle and other prefectures in western Guangdong, in the mountains Many apes, good at harvesting flowers and making wine...".

In fact, no one knows how the first wine or liquor was born. All claims about the origin of alcohol are based on speculation and legend. A more reasonable picture is: in ancient times, the fruits collected by people had leftovers after maintaining their basic life. During storage, the fruits deteriorated and fermented, and finally the substances that could make people feel pleasant were found in them. This is the most primitive wine. The winemaking activities of human beings in prehistoric times simply repeated the self-brewing process of nature. The conscious winemaking activities of human beings should have only started after entering the agricultural civilization. Human beings have relatively abundant food, have made fine pottery utensils, and learned the control method, and gradually formed the winemaking process, wine production became possible.

The essence of wine is alcohol. The production process of alcohol is extremely simple: sugar or starch can be converted into alcohol by the action of enzymes, and the derivatives produced at the same time can be synthesized into alcohol. This process can be completed under natural conditions, that is to say, the original wine is actually an organic matter formed naturally by sugar-containing substances under the action of yeast. There are a lot of sugary wild fruits in nature. Yeasts are attached to the air, dust and peels. Under the conditions of appropriate moisture and temperature, yeasts may turn the juice into liquor.

There are many types of alcoholic drinks in existence around the world, but in terms of production methods, there are no more than two types: brewed (fermented) and distilled. Brewed wine is a low-alcohol wine that can be drunk after a little treatment when the fermentation process of raw materials is about to be completed, such as wine, beer, rice wine, sake, etc. It belongs to this category. Because the brewing process is relatively simple, it appeared earlier in history. Distilled wine is a high-quality wine produced by distillation after the fermentation of raw materials. Chinese liquor, brandy, whisky and vodka belong to this category. Due to the complicated brewing process, they appeared later in history.

The origin of Chinese liquor

However, when did China's distilled wine technology originate? Nowadays, there are many different theories, and some evidence can be found for several origin theories of the Eastern Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties. However, looking at the historical books and documents, there was no clear written record of distilled liquor related to distilled liquor before the Song Dynasty. "Shochu" in the Song Dynasty generally refers to grain fermented wine that is heat-treated at low temperature; "Steamed wine" does not refer to distilled wine, but refers to the heating of wine for sterilization and preservation, and long-term storage. The claim that distilled wine technology emerged in the Yuan Dynasty is supported by some written records at that time, as well as by archaeological discoveries of later generations.

"Compendium of Materia Medica" records: "Shochu is not an ancient method. It was founded in the Yuan Dynasty. The method is to use strong wine and bad grains into a retort (steamer), steam to make the gas, and use the utensil to hold the dew." Jiangxi Lidu Wuxingtang shochu workshop The site is considered to be a workshop for the production of distilled wine for a long time in the Yuan Dynasty, and the cellar and the fermentation tank of the Yuan Dynasty are preserved. Winemaking historian Wang Saishi believes that during the Mongolian expeditions to Central Asia, West Asia and Europe, the Western distilled wine techniques were introduced to the Central Plains by land, and China began to have distilled wine in the true sense. From the Yuan Dynasty to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there are few records of heavy drinkers like Li Bai and Wu Song in literary works, which proves from another aspect that China already has the technology of distilled wine. The alcohol obtained by the traditional Chinese fermentation method cannot exceed 20 degrees. Of course, it is not a problem for some heavy drinkers to drink three to five pounds. After the introduction of distillation technology, using the characteristics of different volatility of different substances in the liquor, the most volatile alcohol can be distilled, and the liquor with the highest concentration of about 70% can be obtained. The alcohol content is so high that the booze drinkers who often drink seventeen or eight bowls will naturally cease to exist.