As one of the most consumed and consumed liquors in China, liquor is essential for almost all business and dining venues.
For people who often drink liquor, after some wines are drunk, the cup smells fragrant, but some wines smell stinky after drinking.
For this case, one side of the view is that the smelly baking is the real wine, and the fragrance is the flavor of flavor and spices. The other side's view is that the smelly baking is the alcohol blended wine, and the fragrant is the pure grain wine.
Which side of the view is closer to science and reality?
There are many mysteries here, let's listen to what the brewers who have been working on the front line of the workshop for decades have to say...
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="7" > the main ingredient in liquor</h1>
Water + ethanol + fragrance substances
98% of the components in liquor are made up of water and ethanol. Take a bottle of liquor with an alcohol concentration of 52 degrees and 500 ml as an example, of which 260 ml is ethanol, 230 ml is water, and less than 10 ml of aromatic substances.
What determines the aroma, taste and flavor of a wine is that these 10ml of fragrant, colored and flavored substances can be collectively referred to as aromatic ingredients.
If a bottle of Moutai and a bottle of er pot head are filtered several times by activated carbon, only water and ethanol are left, it can be said that there is almost no difference in flavor and taste between Moutai and er pot head.
At present, there are two processes of liquor, one is called "solid liquor", which is the "pure grain wine" in the mouth of the people. The aromatic substances in wine are produced by fermentation of raw materials.
The other is called "new craft liquor", also known as "solid-liquid combination method liquor", which is the "alcohol blending wine" in the mouths of the people. Part of the aromatic substances in wine come from fermentation and mostly from food additives.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" > the main ingredient of the fragrance substance</h1>
Esters + acids + alcohols + aldehydes
The aroma components in liquor, through the current scientific means, can be detected mainly by esters, acids, alcohols, aldehydes four major types of substances, presented to our sense of taste and smell, is a composite fragrance based on esters and acids.
Among them, the main monomer fragrances are: ethyl acetate, ethyl caproate, ethyl butyrate, ethyl lactate, β phenethyl alcohol.
The above substances are combined with each other in different proportions, showing the ever-changing style and taste of liquor.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="20" > why the empty cup of liquor has a smell</h1>
Since the ingredients in the liquor are all the same, why does it smell fragrant when the cup is empty, and some are smelly? In fact, there are only two reasons: the brewing process and the chemical addition.
First, the brewing process
For the professional evaluation of liquor, leaving a fragrance in an empty cup is one of the most important sensory evaluations.
Because when the cup is empty, water- and ethanol-soluble substances will evaporate, and what remains in the glass is the esters and other substances that cannot be volatile.
For pure grain wine (solid liquor), if the empty cup has an unpleasant and unpleasant taste, it must be a problem with the brewing process, which means that the quality of this wine is questionable.
What affects the brewing of liquor involves raw materials (grain, koji and water), environment (temperature, humidity, microbial population), cellars (fermentation vessels) and other factors, collectively referred to as the "brewing process".
Therefore, if it is a pure grain wine (solid liquor), the smell of stinky baking in the empty cup is not the taste of the legendary cellar mud, but the brewing process is wrong. Specifically in which link, it is not possible to say clearly in one sentence or two sentences. In short, a high-quality liquor, the empty cup must be fragrant, not smelly.
Second, food additives
For alcohol blending liquor (new craft liquor), the current liquor industry is allowed to add cooking spices and flavors for blending.
Some of the edible flavors used for liquor blending are extracted from the raw materials of brewing, and some are chemically synthesized.
We all know chicken essence or MONOS, if diluted and added to the soup, give people a sense of taste and texture is fragrant. But if it is placed directly on the tongue surface without dilution, the taste is not so good.
The same is true of food additives used in liquor blending.
When this kind of wine is full, it smells and drinks fragrantly, and what aroma type and what aromatic additives are required.
But once the cup is empty, the water and ethanol volatilize, and what remains on the cup is pure food additives. At this time, you smell it again, the taste is not so beautiful, and what is presented to us is the smell of stinky baking.
The conclusion of this section is that the quality of a wine can be judged by whether it is fragrant or smelly from an empty glass, but it is impossible to judge whether it is pure grain wine or alcoholic wine.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="32" > how to distinguish between solid-state liquor and new-craft liquor</h1>
In fact, the way to distinguish whether a wine is pure grain wine or alcoholic wine is very simple, and it is not necessary for everyone to become a wine tasting expert, the way is: look at the ingredient list.
In the ingredient list of pure grain wine, there is only grain and water, and there is no other substance.
In the ingredient list of alcoholic wine, in addition to grain and water, there will be: edible alcohol, liquid liquor, edible flavor, edible spices, food additives and other ingredients. As long as any of the above appears, this wine must be alcoholic.
Some readers will ask: If additives are added, but the ingredient list is not written, how to judge?
First of all, I can answer you: this kind of behavior is illegal, we can't use illegal behavior as a criterion for judging products, we can only leave it to regulatory and law enforcement departments.
As a consumer, the only thing you can do is to choose the products of large factories as much as possible. Even series products are at least guaranteed in terms of quality. Even with the addition of edible alcohol and food additives, the big factory will definitely be clearly marked in the ingredient list.
Another point is to buy alcohol through formal channels. In 1919, Huazhi WineRy, City Winery and other national chain liquor sales stores will control the quality of wine at the source. Even if it is an e-commerce platform, it is necessary to choose a regular platform and flagship store to buy. As for Panzi and Gazi, a certain multi-to-many 9 yuan 9 also free shipping wine, I can only send you two words.