The history of Chinese winemaking is very long, in the words of experts, it can run through 5,000 years of China. Therefore, many liquor brands are also telling their own historical stories, starting from Yin Shang and flourishing in the Tang and Song Dynasties, becoming a long-lasting mythological story in the mouths of many famous wines.
It should be known that modern liquor belongs to distilled liquor, and the technology of distilled liquor was brought back to China through West Asia in the Yuan Dynasty, and there was no liquor before the founding of the People's Republic of China. The Yuan Dynasty people called distilled liquor 'Araji', and the Qing Dynasty until the Republic of China was called Baigan and Shochu. The distilled spirit was really recognized by the people in the folk, it was in the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, after the founding of New China, the wine made of grain fermentation and distillation was renamed liquor.
There are many brands, aromas and origins of liquor. You may not have drunk Maotai or Wuliangye, or you may not have heard of Yubing Roast and Laolongkou, but there is one wine you must have heard of, that is, the authentic liquor predecessors, Beijing specialties ~ ~ Erguotou.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the origin of the second pot head</h1>
In the late Qing Dynasty, although there were years of war, the people were hungry and displaced. However, as the cultural, financial and political center of the country, Beijing's superficial prosperity is still leading the country.
At that time, the liquor distiller used in the liquor factory was called the Heavenly Pot, which had the same principle as the modern liquor distillation equipment and was similar in structure. Since each fermented sake cannot be distilled at one time, the distilled wine must be steamed pot by pot.
Every time a pot of wine is steamed, the wine that begins to be distilled is called "pot head", and the alcohol content of the pot head is as high as 75 degrees or more, and the number is very small, accounting for about 10% of a pot of wine. With the time of distillation, the alcohol content will continue to decrease, and the alcohol will begin to stop at about 25 degrees. Later distilled out is called "wine slightly", only ten degrees. When the distillation reaches one or two degrees, the distillation is over. Ten degrees of "wine slightly", back to the bottom pot, with the next distillation recycling, less than 5 degrees of wine is used to refine edible alcohol and medical alcohol.
Shochu is not a one-time use and can generally be fermented and distilled five to six times. In addition to basic raw materials such as sorghum and corn, there are also auxiliary materials such as rice husks and wheat bran. The main ingredients and accessories are first crushed, steamed, and then mixed into the koji for accumulation and saccharification (raw materials, auxiliary materials, and koji are stirred together without distillation to take the wine, and the distilled liquor is discarded and discarded is called the leech), and then enters the cellar pool for fermentation, and the wine is distilled out of the cellar for 5 to 7 days, and the distillation is carried out to take the wine, which is the first pot. After the first pot is steamed, the wine is fermented and cooled, some new ingredients and yeast are added, fermented again in the cellar, and then taken out again after 5 to 7 days for distillation and extraction, which is the second pot. The second pot distilled out of the pot head is the real sense of the second pot head.
If the pot head wine only accounts for 10% of a pot of wine, and the shochu has to go through 5 rounds of distillation (5 pots of wine), then the real second pot head only accounts for 2% of the shochu, so regardless of quality or market scarcity, it is not comparable to today's Moutai. This shows why the second pot head can become synonymous with the best quality shochu. Nowadays, the head-to-tail picking process used by large and small wineries also comes from the second pot head, which has been passed down to this day.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > a variety of brands of "two pot heads"</h1>
Since Erguotou was only a craft at that time, or a name for a class of wine, and there was no such thing as intellectual property rights, there were dozens of wineries and distilleries brewing Erguotou wine in Beijing.
Even nowadays, there are many liquor brands named after the second pot head. In addition to Beijing's Red Star, Yongfeng, Niulanshan, Jingxi, Xiangyang and other brands, Hebei, Tianjin, Inner Mongolia and other provinces also have a large number of two-pot head liquor.
As a low-end people's ration and wine, although the unit price is not high, it is generally a few pieces, a dozen pieces of a bottle, but the overall consumer market can not be underestimated. With an annual sales volume of hundreds of thousands of tons and hundreds of thousands of tons, who has a greater share of the second pot head market, the silver that flows in is the silver of white flowers! Therefore, the dispute between the two pots and the authenticity of the head is decades...
Yongfeng brand two pot head
Before the founding of New China, during the Liberation War, the Logistics Department of the Eighth Route Army established the "Yiquan YongYao" in Renqiu County, Hebei Province, which is the predecessor of the current "Beijing Erguotou Liquor Co., Ltd." The liquor brewed is mainly supported by the People's Liberation Army for medical disinfection and drinking.
After liberation, the winery moved with the People's Liberation Army to Daxing, Beijing, and the distillery was nationalized, and the traditional winemaking process has been passed down to the present, and only then did it have the later Yongfeng brand erguotou liquor.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a lot of waste to be rebuilt, and then the great famine of the 60s, the people of the whole country had a problem eating, let alone brewing. Except for Yongfeng and Moutai, who shouldered the heavy responsibility of insisting on winemaking, the rest of the distilleries were almost in a state of suspension.
Looking at the thousands of brands of liquor, brands that have the opportunity to make great contributions to revolutionary work are rare in the industry, and Yongfeng is one of them.
Red Star brand two pot head
After the founding of New China, in order to enable the generally low living standards of the generally low-level people to drink the pure and authentic Erguotou, and in order to present gifts to New China, in May of that year, the central government personally approved the merger of 12 local wineries in Beijing and established the Red Star Distillery.
Red Star Distillery is the first state-owned distillery after the founding of New China, in order to welcome the birth of New China, in August of that year began to produce Red Star brand two pot head wine, in September it was officially put into the market for sale.
Red Star Er pot head in the aroma type belongs to the bran qu fragrant liquor, because of the mellow and sweet taste, pure fragrance, the price is close to the people, by the people's unanimous love, 60 years has been selling well. Red Star Er Pot Tou is the first to use the process name of "Er Pot Head", which is used as a product name, not Yongfeng.
Therefore, from the perspective of history and revolution, in addition to Maotai, there is no authentic liquor that can be compared with Yongfeng, let alone the second pot. As for the use of the three words "two pot heads", Red Star can be said to be the originator of "two pot heads".
Bullpen Hill two pot head
Open the official website of Niulan Mountain, the first thing you see is "authentic two pot head, authentic Beijing taste"
Niulanshan Distillery, in 1952, was established on the basis of the merger of Fushun Cheng, Kuisheng, Yixin and Gongli, specializing in the production of two pots. Although Niulanshan built a factory later than Red Star, in the low-end liquor market, Niulanshan does not lose Red Star.
The biggest feature of Niulan Mountain is not that it only produces fragrant liquor like Red Star, but forms a pattern of "one tree and three flowers" according to the needs and changes of the consumer market. That is to say, in addition to producing the traditional fragrant two-pot head liquor, Niulan Mountain also has a strong flavored liquor and a new craft liquor (edible alcohol + solid pure grain liquor + edible spice blended liquor). NiulanShan, the largest sales volume of Niulan Mountain Aging, is also commonly known as "White Bull II", which is the standard solid-liquid combination method "new process liquor".
Conclusion:
For the authentic dispute between the two pots, Red Star has been silently adhering to its honors: "China's well-known trademark", "national intangible cultural heritage", "China's time-honored brand". As for whether authentic or not, it is up to the market and consumers to speak.
Niulan Mountain spares no effort to create the image and reputation of "authentic second pot head", and Niulan Mountain, which also has the honor of "national intangible cultural heritage" and "Chinese time-honored brand", is also getting bigger and bigger.
Yongfeng Winery, compared to Red Star and BullPen Mountain, is much more low-key. In addition to some older Beijingers, many young people and wine lovers across the country know very little about the brand. The reason is also because Yongfeng was first used as a local state-owned distillery in Daxing District and did not receive the same attention as Red Star and Niulan Mountain. After the reform and opening up entered the market economy, the brand awareness and market development were decided by capital. Yongfeng can only be like a big brother in the industry, no desire and no demand, you fight for you, I only laugh and don't talk!
only