Sake, as the national liquor of Japan, has a high reputation internationally with the popularity of Japanese food in the world. Chinese folk jokingly call him the Japanese "Moutai".
What is sake?
It is an alcoholic beverage made from rice, rice koji and water, using a process unique to Japan, and generally has an alcohol content of no more than 22 degrees (an average of about 15 degrees). It's actually rice wine.
Chinese liquor also has liquors made from rice, such as Sanhua liquor in Guangxi, Yubingyao in Guangdong, and Site liquor in Jiangxi. These three kinds of liquor also belong to different aroma types: rice flavor type, soy sauce type, and special flavor type.
Why is sake made in the same rice, but sake is so different from the other three chinese sake?
This story also begins with the Tang Dynasty a long, long time ago.
Sake originated from the grain-brewed liquor of the Tang Dynasty in China. As early as the pre-Qin period, China had mastered the technology of grain winemaking, and in the Tang Dynasty, it finally developed the prototype of modern rice wine.
Sake brewed from white rice is also recorded in the literature as Bai Miao. This wine was widely spread and became a daily drink for the people from the Heavenly Son down to the dawn.
As the most developed country in the world, the Tang Dynasty attracted all states to the dynasty. At that time, Japan sent a large number of international students to Datang to copy homework. One of the most famous was named Abe Zhongmalu, Chinese named Chao Heng, who was left by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang as an official.
Other international students copied Datang from beginning to end. Among them are the grain brewing technology and koji-making technology of the Tang Dynasty.
Brewing techniques that took root in Japan have improved the rough production of traditional Japanese rice brewing and evolved into meticulous sake.
Most of the shells removed by fine grinding bring evil flavored proteins when fermented, so the more refined, the better the wine is produced.
The white rice after the polished rice is ground, which accounts for the proportion of the original Xuan rice (brown rice). The smaller the specific gravity, the better the wine.
And China's rice wine?
Developing in the local area, all the way to the Yuan Dynasty, grain winemaking ushered in an important technological change.
The popularity of the distiller made the Yuan Dynasty people, who had higher requirements for alcohol content, begin to distill grain fermented wine on a large scale.
The Yuan Dynasty people called grain distilled liquor shochu.
In the third fold of the yuan miscellaneous drama "Licheng TangYi Yin Gengxin" miscellaneous drama, there is such a recitation: "I am rare in the world as a marshal, and LiuTao and San are not far away." Recently, I have forgotten about it, so I remember shochu and rice wine. ”
Rice-fermented distilled liquor continues to develop and mature in the folk, forming the prototype of modern liquor.
Later, in the development, sorghum gradually replaced rice as a staple food for distilled spirits. A new transformation of quality has been completed.
The liquor brewing process has blossomed all over the country, giving birth to countless powerful liquor brands.
What is the difference between sake and liquor?
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The main grain for brewing sake is rice, which they call genmai. The original genmi is rougher and is basically equivalent to what we call brown rice.
The outer layer of genmi contains proteins and lipids that are easily spoiled and deteriorated, and it needs to be polished by a polishing machine to leave a central part, called polished rice. These refined rice are the staple food for sake.
The staple food of Chinese liquor is sorghum.
In the Yuan Dynasty, distillation technology began to spread, and during the Yuan Dynasty, the status of sorghum in staple foods had become increasingly prominent.
After the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court ordered the widespread planting of sorghum to control the flood. The river embankment was reinforced with orange poles, and the remaining sorghum seeds were used for winemaking, in addition to being used as food for people and livestock feed. Since then, sorghum winemaking has gradually become mainstream.
The high starch content of sorghum and the low content of protein and fat make sorghum particularly suitable for winemaking.
Liquor made with sorghum is richer and more mellow in taste than sake made with rice.
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Japan learned the technology of making music from China, but there were few breakthrough developments. The brewing process relies more on the saccharomyces in the koji. Therefore, the taste of sake is relatively single.
Sake makes sake koji
In The Chinese wine song, in addition to Saccharomyces cerevisiae, there are hundreds of millions of winemaking microorganisms. After a complex biochemical reaction, a complex fragrance with a main flavor such as an acid alcohol is formed.
Due to the different proportions of ester alcohols in the wine body, the flavor of liquor is also very different, forming 12 mainstream aromas. This also explains why the same rice brewing, Sanhua wine, jade ice roast, and four special wines, but belong to different aroma types.
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The brewing process of Japanese sake is relatively simple.
Baijiu is much more complicated. Different aromatic wines have their own unique processes, such as the 12987 process of Moutai wine, the original cellar method of Luzhou Old Cellar, the running cellar method of Wuliangye, and the three low and gentle crafts of Yanghe Wine.
When brewing liquor, the cellar pool will be used, which is a technology gradually used after the Tang Dynasty. The application of cellar ponds has greatly enhanced the fermentation capacity of microorganisms in the winemaking process. This makes the layers of Chinese liquor more abundant and the flavor more ever-changing.
Although Japanese sake has the same root as Chinese liquor, it has become a completely different liquor after a long river of time. Japanese sake complements Japanese ingredients with a single light texture.
But if you pursue a hardcore and multiple drinking experience, Chinese liquor will be a better choice.