Chinese Spirits Or Alcohol 中国酒道

from: How Chinese Think; and How To Deal With China
by Kevin Fountain, Ph. D. - © Kevin Frederick Fountain

In the past, the English words, "Chinese wine," referred to any and all alcoholic beverages produced in China. This lazy translation ignored the fact that China produced almost no wine. Today China does use grapes to mass produce red and white, and today "Chinese wine" means Chinese wine produced from grapes. The character 酒 jiu is not properly understood as "wine," but as "alcoholic beverage" or "spirits." The left side of the character, three strokes or dots, is the water or liquid radical. The right side looks a bit like a bottle, with body and neck, and a level of liquid refreshment inside -- 酒.

China also produces a large variety of beers. Some of the more famous are Qingdao or Tsingtao, Five Star, Snowflake, Waterfall, Pearl River. There are a number of joint venture beers, and foreign beers, Blue Ribbon, San Miguel, Carlsburg, Heineken and others are popular.

There are two basic types of Chinese spirits, fermented and distilled. Fermented spirits are usually called 黄酒 huangjiu "yellow/brown spirits." In fact they may be almost clear to beige or deep red brown in color. Huangjiu is usually made from rice or wheat. Huangjiu is normally heated prior to serving, in the manner of Japanese sake.

The most famous huangjiu is Shaoxing 绍兴酒. In China it is much more likely that you will be served "white lightning," or "distilled spirits" than "yellow/brown spirits."

Distilled spirits are called 白酒 baijiu, literally "white spirits." Baijiu or white lightning is clear, water-colored and very potent. White spirits are typically distilled from sorghum, although other grains may be used. White spirits, or white lightning, or baijiu, whichever you choose to call it, is generally 35% to 60% pure alcohol. 70 to 120 proof. There are many varieties, a few listed below, each with a distinctive taste and after-burn.

The most famous Chinese spirit is Maotai 茅台. Some foreigners call every Chinese clear spirit "Maotai," grossly incorrect, about like calling everything from gin to tequila as "Stolychnaya." Maotai is a sorghum-based white lightning (not a "rice wine" or "rice liquor") from Guizhou province, produced under a unique process of seven iterations of the distillation cycle. When President Nixon first visited China, Maotai was selected as China's finest spirit for serving at the state banquets. Maotai is very pure, like liquid fire and the banquet variety is about 54% alcohol.

Gujing, or Gujing Gongjiu 古井贡酒 or "Ancient Well," is an up-market white spirit, orignally made for serving the imperial family only. Ancient Well supposedly is distilled using the waters of a particularly pure source in northern Anhui province. That ancient well just happens to be the ancestral home of a man named Cao Cao, one of the principle protagonist warriors of China's great epic, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Feared and respected, not necessarily loved, Cao Cao is still known to all Chinese today, who say "speak of the devil" by saying 说到曹操 "speak of Cao Cao." Despite the connection to Cao Cao, Ancient Well boasts high purity and leaves less hangover than Fenjiu. Over 50%.

Wuliangye 五粮液 or "Five Grains Nectar" is regarded as a top quality Chinese white spirit. Five grains are used to produce the ‘seed mash' or ‘alcohol mother' 酒母 as it is known in China. Short fuse, quick burn. Pure, aged and produced with great care. Wuliangye is made in Sichuan, and a recommended restaurant of the same name in Manhattan on 48th Street, serves zesty Sichuan food to go with it. Over 50%.

Daqu 大麴 is a popular white spirit distilled in Sichuan. Daqu has been inebriating Chinese for over three hundred years. Named for its generations old proprietary ‘starter cake' of yeasts, molds and bacteria that are used to inoculate the grain starches, initiating the transformation to alcohol. Sharp taste, mordant nose, pronounced burn, about 52%. Although produced in Sichuan, I have confronted this spirit in Liaoning and Jilin provinces. Known to cause voice change, amnesia and the accompanying remorse.

Yilite 伊力特 is a bold white spirit with glycerin smoothness. Yilite is distilled in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Many discriminating connoisseurs of white lightning make Yilite their ‘poison of preference.' The opening of a bottle in an isolated corner of a restaurant is quickly discernible to all present even those at the opposite end of the room or perhaps even on the floor above, as the smell of Yilite confronts like a macho challenge. I am told that this white spirit becomes even more velvety and more aromatic when served at freezing temperature. Either side of 60%.

Jiugui 酒鬼 means "alcoholic," as a person addicted to alcohol, literally "alcohol ghost." Ironically, the English word "alcohol" is derived from the Arabic word "al-ghawl" which by no means fortuitously means "spirit," and spirit or ghost are often one and the same. Again there is no shyness as to the intentions of this white spirit, and those drinking it are easily identified by high voices, exalted souls and red faces. Depending on grade and price 38-54%. From Hunan province.

Erguotou 二锅头 or "Double Cooked Head," the name says it all. Quick and lethal, something like an alcohol transfusion. Inexpensive, no frills, gets the job done. A favorite of serious drinkers, of some in the Northeast, and some in Shandong province. 56% over the top.

Fenjiu 汾酒 is the original sorghum-based white spirit. The taste of Fenjiu is extremely strong and perfumed, and swallowing it requires a period of ‘acclimatization.' Hangs in the nasal passages. It is popular in the northern provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi. Approaches 60%.

Zhuyeqing 竹叶青 or "Bamboo Leaf Green," is Fenjiu (see above) re-brewed with a dozen or so secret herbal medicines plus bamboo leaves, which impart its chartreuse color. Perfumed white spirits re-brewed with medicinal herbs, you can imagine the taste. No, you probably cannot. This grisly green spirit is so far beyond normal experience that imagination leaves one utterly unprepared for the encounter. Consumed in Shanxi province.

I do not know if Jingjiu 劲酒 or "Strength Spirit" should be regarded as a fermented or a distilled spirit. Color would indicate the former. Jingjiu is bile black. Jingjiu is packaged in beautiful porcelain bottles, and comes with a certificate specifying its ingredients to include four types of mammalian penis: dog penis, donkey penis, deer penis and ram penis. This particular character for "strength" is the one used to express arrival of the sexual "urge." I have been present when this spirit was served, and everyone ended up incapacitated beyond the point of urge. From Hubei province.

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