Just this past Spring Festival holiday, I believe many people have a small gathering of three or five friends.
One of the least things you can do at a party is to talk about wine.
When it comes to wine, many people really drink it, but they don't know anything about wine culture.
Today, our protagonist is Chinese liquor.
Wine, drink and drink must also be clear! How much do you know about liquor?
What are the aroma classifications of Chinese liquor?
Chinese baijiu is one of the world's six largest distilled spirits, compared with other distilled spirits in the world such as whisky, vodka, rum, etc., more historical and unique craftsmanship.
China's liquor production pays attention to water and soil, water quality, soil, climate, temperature, biological community, etc. have a very large impact on liquor, and the process links such as liquor making, koji making, blending, and storage are more complicated, so Chinese liquor has incomparable characteristics of other distilled spirits.
At the end of the 1970s, through the National Famous Wine Cooperation Association and the Third National Wine Appraisal In 1979, according to the aroma, production process and saccharification fermentation agent, the four major aromatic liquors of strong aroma, sauce, fragrance and rice were officially proposed and established.
Later, other fragrance types such as kanxiang type, Dongxiang type, phoenix fragrance type, special type, sesame flavor type, soy fragrant type, old white dried, and rich tulip were established, making the aroma type of Chinese liquor reach as many as 12 kinds.
And these twelve aromatic liquor processes are interrelated, sauce, thick, clear, rice flavor type is the basis of the other eight aroma types, the other eight aroma types are based on the four basic aroma types on the basis of the integration of one, two or more kinds of aroma production processes, forming their own unique process, thus forming a new fragrance.
For example, the aroma can have the characteristics of sauce and aroma, and the rich tulip is derived and integrated from the three spices of sauce, aroma and fragrance.
Baijiu twelve-scented relationship diagram, courtesy of the author
What is the difference between fragrant, saucey and fragrant?
The three kinds of liquors, fragrant, sauce and fragrance, account for the vast majority of China's liquor, and the overall share can reach more than 90%.
From the perspective of the market, the strong flavored liquor is still the largest share, and the sauce-flavored liquor is the fastest growing.
Of course, the production process and taste of the three kinds of liquor have their own characteristics.
Fragrant liquor has single grain, multi-grain, sauce-flavored liquor has Kunsha, turning sand, crushed sand, and fragrant liquor has a variety of classifications such as Daqu Qingxiang, Xiaoqu Qingxiang, And Bran Qu Qingxiang.
The following is only a comparison of the most important characteristics of thick, sauce, and fragrance.
From the perspective of raw materials:
The raw materials for making liquor in strong aromatic liquor are divided into two types: single grain and multi grain. Single grain: sorghum; Multigrains: sorghum, rice, glutinous rice, wheat, corn. Sauce-flavored liquor and fragrant liquor are both sorghum liquors.
Saccharification of starter cultures:
The fragrant liquor adopts medium-high temperature Daqu, the sauce-flavored liquor adopts high-temperature Daqu (the koji-making temperature can reach 65 degrees), and the fragrant liquor adopts low-temperature Daqu.
Fermentation equipment and its type:
Fragrant liquor uses mud cellar pit solid fermentation, sauce-flavored liquor uses strip stone cellar pit solid fermentation, and fragrant liquor uses ceramic tank solid fermentation.
Fermentation time:
Most of the fragrant liquor is 60-90 days, the sauce-flavored liquor is mostly 8 rounds, each round is 1 month, and the fragrance liquor is mostly 28 days.
Process features:
Aromatic wine, its basic characteristics are: multi-grain or sorghum as raw materials, high-quality wheat or barley, wheat, pea mixed ingredients cultivation in medium, high temperature big koji, mud cellar solid fermentation, the use of continuous bad ingredients, mixed steaming and mixing, quantity and quality of wine picking, graded storage, careful blending.
Sauce-flavored liquor, the process is summarized as "futian stepping on the curve, heavy sun under the sand", "four high and two long".
"Four highs": high temperature koji making, high temperature accumulation, high temperature fermentation, high temperature flow wine;
"Two long": "long fermentation cycle", one year for a production cycle; "long storage time of wine", five years storage period. The amount of curved is large, higher than any other fragrance.
The fragrant liquor adopts steaming, slag removal, steaming secondary clearing, and solid fermentation in the ground tank.
Fragrance characteristics:
The aromatic liquor is mainly based on ethyl caproate, supplemented by an appropriate amount of ethyl lactate, ethyl acetate, and ethyl butyrate.
The main aroma composition of the sauce-flavored liquor is still unknown.
Fragrance-type liquor is mainly based on ethyl acetate and ethyl lactate.
What is unique about sauce-flavored liquor?
Sauce-flavored liquor is made of sorghum, wheat, water, etc., fermented, distilled, stored and blended by the traditional solid-state method, and no edible alcohol and non-liquor fermentation produce a liquor with a fragrant flavor and color substance, with a sauce flavor style liquor.
Due to the complex brewing process, harsh winemaking environment and low damage to human health, sauce-flavored liquor has become a darling in the market.
The biggest process difference between sauce-flavored liquor and other flavor types is its unique accumulation fermentation, which is also one of the main ways to source its unique sauce flavor.
In addition, the sauce-flavored liquor uses high-temperature Daqu, and the core temperature of the koji can reach about 65 °C at the highest, which is also an important source of its sauce flavor.
The main role of the accumulation fermentation process is to snare the accumulation site and the microorganisms in the air for growth and reproduction, also known as secondary koji making.
Studies have shown that the number of microorganisms increased by 11 to 14 times after accumulation, and then a variety of enzymes and metabolic flavor substances were generated, which enriched important microorganisms, enzymes and flavor substances and their precursors for subsequent cellar fermentation, thus giving sauce-flavored liquor a unique sauce flavor.
It is precisely because of the unique process and flavor characteristics of sauce-flavored liquor, the production time is longer, from raw materials to packaging into finished wine takes 5 years, as well as the limitation of the production area, mainly concentrated in the core production area of Chishui river with scarcity, as well as the popularization of technology, tasting and other popularization work, so that consumer acceptance has been greatly improved, in recent years, sauce-flavored liquor has become the most rapid development momentum of liquor aroma category.
Although Chinese liquor has different aromas and rich tastes, please drink in moderation and do not covet a cup.
Expert of this article: Zou Jiangpeng, Doctor of Engineering of Sichuan University, Doctor of Science of University of Nantes, France, Postdoctoral Fellow of Jiangnan University