24 Nov 2015: Outside of China, it’s hard to find many fans of the notorious Chinese alcoholic beverage, but The Drinks Business HK braved the odds and hosted a Baijiu Masterclass and Dinner, with the sponsorship of Googut Wine & Spirits, specialist in aged and rare Chinese Baijius, with participants from on-trade, local media and consumers.
Baijiu, also known as “Shao Jiu” and literally known as the White or Transparent Spirit, is a distilled alcoholic beverage based on fermented grains, with the sugars having been released by amylase and glucoamylase enzymes from micro-organisms such as filamentous moulds (Aspergillus oryzae and Rhizopus oryzae) and amylolytic yeast Saccharomycopsis fibuligera. Plant starch is made up of amylose and amylopectin, both polysaccharides, or long chains of glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. The enzymes break up these bonds to release glucose. Some protease also helps breakdown of proteins into amino acids.
The earliest record of fermentation could be traced to the Neolithic period but references to the Chinese spirit became official in the Qin Dynasty when it was a beverage reserved for the Imperial Court. The appearance of an Official Manual to Spirit-making 北山酒经 in the Song Dynasty (around 1000 CE) testified to the level of technical sophistication achieved, confirmed by the presence of a number of high quality spirits much appreciated by the literati such as Li Bai 李白and Su Dong Bo 苏东波. The spirit was no longer a beverage reserved for the upper class, but its popularity spread wide to the general population. Increased trade with the West would have brought about awareness of distillation technique, which seemed to have Greek alchemy origins. The archaeological remains of an ancient distillation still dated 12th Century were discovered in Hebei province. This period (1000 – 1840 CE) became a turning point of Baijiu making and a number of today’s famous brands were established in the Qing Dynasty. In 1998, the archaeological remains of fermentation pits dated to the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties were discovered at the current site of Shui Jing Fang 水井坊(formerly Quanxing Daqu Distillery), now 100% owned by Diageo. Shui Jing Fang was able to receive permission from the government to revive production in these ancient fermentation pits, giving the spirits a unique character with the activity of millions of still active microbes. Googut started a collaboration with Shui Jing Fang to bottle these spirits, undiluted with any new-make spirits, at “cask” strength of 66%, in imitation porcelain designed by a famous living porcelain artist Huang Yunpeng 黄云鹏 that reflects the styles of the respective periods. These spirits were tasted during the dinner.
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| In order of Yuan, Qing, Ming |
Unlike the production of whisky, which relies on the natural enzymes from malted barley to perform the action of saccharification or amylolysis, the production of Baijiu uses a starter called Jiuqu 酒曲/酒粬/酒麴. Jiuqu is made by the cultivation of micro-organisms (typically moulds and yeast), whether naturally or cultured, on steam-cooked grains. With the correct mix of humidity and temperature, these micro-organisms are able to multiply and grow rapidly in the substrate. There are different types of Jiuqu and innovations over the millennia have resulted in refinement of production technique, time and efficacy of the Jiuqu. The main categories we concerned ourselves with during the Masterclass were Xiaoqu 小曲(Xiao meaning Small) and Daqu 大曲 (Da meaning Large). Another type of Fuqu 麸曲, though responsible for a significant production volume of Baijiu, is more associated with lower quality Baijiu.
Jiuqu varies in the type of substrate, for example Xiaoqu is typically based on rice or glutinous rice and Daqu based on mixtures of wheat, barley and/or peas (though more likely to be 100% wheat these days). While Xiaoqu is more popular in Southern China, Daqu has more applications in Northern China, around the Yellow River and Yangtze River production zones. Because of the dominance of one genus of mould (Rhizopus), Xiaoqu seems to have less aromatic complexity. There are different types of Daqu classified by the temperature of their production: Low Temperature Daqu, Moderate Temperature Daqu and High Temperature Daqu. An example of Baijiu made with High Temperature Daqu is Moutai. Low Temperature Daqu is exemplified by Fenjiu and Moderate Temperature Daqu, by Luzhou Laojiao. The production time for Xioqu is typically 7 days, with a shelf life of 3 months. The making of Daqu for Moutai for example takes more than 6 months, with a lengthy ageing period of 6 months before it can be used. Xiaoqu is smaller in shape, either balls or cubes (10-100g), whereas Daqu is in a brick form (1-5 kg) and needs to be broken up before it can be used. The production of Baijiu using Daqu is a much more costly process as the requirement for Daqu is about 10% of the base material, to almost 100% in the case of Moutai. The requirement for Xiaoqu is roughly 0.04% of the base material.
Rather than straightforward fermentation and distillation, a number of techniques have evolved to improve the quality of the spirit, for example to enhance the character of the grain by adding fresh base material to the distillation still; to recycle the solid leftovers from distillation to reduce the amount of base material required; to enable multiple fermentations to happen such as in the case of Moutai; or to intensify the aromatic complexity such as in the case of Dongjiu production. The Moutai production is the most complicated as it involves 9 times of cooking, 8 fermentations and 7 distillations, during the year-long production.
Unlike the French AOC system, which is based on clearly delineated geographical areas as well as other regulations on yield, permitted grape varieties and production methods, there is no government-regulated rule book for Baijiu production. Although some geographical segmentation has resulted from demographical and cultural developments along key rivers and lakes, Baijiu is now better classified through its aromatic profile. A number of styles were demonstrated during the Masterclass, including the Ester-Rich style 酱香of Moutai (or more commonly known as “Sauce” or “Fermented” Style), the Light Aromatic style 清香of Fenjiu, the Intense Aromatic style 浓香 of Luzhou Laojiao and Wuliangye, the fruity Xifeng style 凤香of Xifengjiu, and the enigmatic aromas of Dongjiu (Dong style 董香).
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| Source: china-mike.com |
Some key geographic segments:
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Geographic
Segment
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Provinces
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Examples
of Key Baijiu Producers
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Characteristics
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Chuan-Qian
Segment
川黔板块
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Sichuan
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Wuliangye
(五粮液), Luzhou Laojiao (泸州老窖), Shuijingfang (水井坊)
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Traditional
heartland of high quality baijiu. Sichuan accounts for 30% of national
production.
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Guizhou
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Kweichow
Moutai (贵州茅台), Dongjiu (董酒)
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Su-Wan
Segment
苏皖板块
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Jiangsu
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Yanghe
Daqu (洋河大曲)
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Rising
quality targeted at mid to high level; strong sales growth/marketing
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Anhui
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Gujinggongjiu
(古井贡酒)
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Lu-Yu
Segment
鲁豫板块
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Henan
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Taishan
Tequ (泰山特曲), Kongfujia (孔府家)
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Many
local brands from the 2 provinces, competitive market for second-tier labels
from other provinces
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Shandong
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Songheliangye
(宋河粮液), Baofeng (宝丰)
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Below is a brief description of their characteristics:
Moutai 茅台: From Guizhou. Base material is organic red Sorghum grown in specific villages of Guizhou. High temperature Daqu (substrate wheat). Embodies the Ester-rich style, unctuous in texture, high in acidity, with pungent aromas reminiscent of fermented bean paste, liquorice, menthol and blue cheese. Long production time of 5 years before release.
Fenjiu 汾酒: From Shanxi. Base material sorghum. Low temperature Daqu (substrate barley and peas). Dry and light, clean finish, nose dominated by ethyl acetate and ethyl lactate, almost plastic-like.
Wuliangye 五粮液: From Sichuan. Made with 5 grains: rice, glutinous rice, wheat, maize and sorghum. Intense esters, earthy with a defined grainy/cereal character, long aftertaste.
Luzhou Laojiao 泸州老窖: From Sichuan. Base material sorghum and rice. Moderate temperature Daqu (barley and peas or wheat as substrate). Earthy character, with strong character from ethyl butyrate and ethyl caproate, almost sweet tasting at the initial attack, unctuous texture, very long finish.
Xifengjiu 西凤酒: From Shaanxi. Base material sorghum. Low temperature Daqu (barley ad peas substrate). Distinctly fruity aromas (pineapple, pear, banana), and more approachable.
Dongjiu 董酒: From Guizhou. Base material sorghum. A mix of Xiaoqu and Daqu. Lower in alcohol, the only one during the Masterclass that was below 50%, at 45% abv. Distinct aromas, high in acidity (acetic acid, butyric acid, caproic acid and lactic acid), with high ethyl butyrate (blue cheese and fruity, pineapple).
During the consumer Masterclass, we also tried a number of aged Baijius, including a 2007 and 1999 Moutai (these are years of release, given that Moutai takes 5 years to produce), as well as a 1981 Dongjiu, original cask. Aged Baijiu, like cognac and whisky, takes on a more mellow and harmonized caramelized note and also a yellow tint to the colour.
Ian Wo, the Googut Director for Hong Kong and Macau, said that it was also a first time for him to be able to compare all these different styles in one sitting. At the height of Baijiu auctions in China, total sales of Moutai in auctions reached RMB 1 billion, almost 93% of total Baijiu auction sales. Kweichow Moutai is the official name of Moutai, having consolidated 3 family-owned distilleries (Hua, Wang and Lai) in 1951. For various reasons (hygiene, quality control, political and anti-counterfeit measures), the packaging of Moutai has undergone changes according to the periods, for example, the adoption of white porcelain to replace the brown ceramic bottle in 1958, the adoption of plastic tops in 1966, the change of domestic sales bottling size from 540 ml to 500 ml in 1986, that there existed 3 trademarks, the Five Star trademark for domestic sales, the Flying Fairies for export sales, and the brief introduction of the Sunflower trademark (1969 – 1983) during the Cultural Revolution, replacing the Flying Fairies, as the latter was deemed to represent traditional values, known as ‘Four Olds”, the change of closure to metal cap (1987 – 1990) and some modern measures for batch identification such as the laser-printing of batch numbers on plastic strips over plastic closure. The production of Kweichow Moutai has gone from around 600 tonnes in 1958 to over 4,000 tonnes in 1997 and to 32,000 tonnes in 2011, further demonstrating that authentic aged Moutai with proof of original packaging, has the qualities of an investment class beverage.
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| Kweichow Moutai: 1999, 2007, 2014 (furthest right) |
Kweichow Moutai is one of 8 Famous Spirits from China, rated in the 1963 National Tasting of Chinese Spirits. The other 7 are Fenjiu, Luzhou Laojiao, Wuliangye, Xifengjiu, Dongjiu, Gujinggongjiu and Quanxing Daqu. The latter is the former self of today’s Shui Jing Fang. National production of Baijiu is 10 million tonnes….and the production of the famous 8 spirits is about 100,000 tonnes (just 1%!!!).
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| A set of Eight Famous Spirits from Early 90s |
The last element of the Masterclass was tasting with different glassware by Spiegelau, sponsored by Inhesion Asia, Spiegelau’s local distributor. During the Masterclass, all the Baijius were served in tiny 15 ml Spiegelau Baijiu glasses. For this part, each participant was given a brandy glass with the same measure of Moutai as in the small Spiegelau Baijiu glass, a digestive glass and a distillate glass. It was interesting to note that of the on-trade participants, there was a strong preference for the digestive glass, giving a better balance of alcohol and aromas. The consumers mostly preferred the Baijiu glass!
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| Baijiu Glasses by Spiegelau |
The Baijius that were tasted during the consumer Masterclass (year of release) included, with their retail prices for a 500 ml:
Kweichow Moutai 贵州茅台 (2014)
Kweichow Moutai 贵州茅台(2007) (HK$ 5,200)
Kweichow Moutai 贵州茅台 (1999) (HK$ 19,000)
Fenjiu 汾酒(2007) (HK$ 380)
Wuliangye 五粮液 (2015) (HK$ 1,480)
Luzhou Laojiao 泸州老窖 (2007) (HK$ 3,500)
Xifengjiu 西凤酒(2004) (HK$ 380)
Dongjiu 董酒 (2001) (HK$ 780)
And during the dinner, these were tasted:
Zhuyeqing 竹叶青 (2000) (HK$ 900)
Shui Jing Fang Yuan, Ming, Qing 水井坊元明清原浆(2014) (HK$ 5,430 (Yuan), HK$ 4,710 (Ming), HK$ 3,800 (Qing))
Dongjiu Vintage Release: Artistic Edition 艺术董酒原浆 (1981) (HK$ 6,000)
The prices for 500 ml have been included to demonstrate that not only there exists a range of styles, the prices vary significantly too!
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| The Masterclass line-up, with some 5-litre Shui Jing Fang Yuan, Ming, Qing in the background |
For the food pairings, there were some winners…such as braised pork belly with preserved vegetable 梅菜扣肉, deep fried fish balls served with fermented clam sauce蜆介炸鯪魚, lettuce with preserved bean curd腐乳炒唐生菜and the traditional lamb stew古法雙冬炆羊腩煲. Shame we were not able to try Dong Bo Rou 东波肉!
We only touched the surface of a very interesting drink category, as testified by one of the participants. I cannot agree more. Most consumers who attended confessed to only associating the “white spirits” with the practice of “Gan Bei” (Bottoms Up) at business banquets in Mainland China, a practice of the years of unrestrained extravagance. Most said they found these experiences off-putting, with some even dreading them. Being able to learn about Baijiu as a drink category in a relaxed organised setting, complemented with educational materials on its history, art and science, was a unique and refreshing experience. It was encouraging to hear Devender Sehgal, Mixologist at Otto e Mezzo, to express an interest to explore creating a cocktail based on Baijiu, as a number of bars in New York have started to feature. Yvonne Cheung of the Swire Hotels, renowned for her interest in diversifying the drinks list, thought if she were to include one style, it would be the Moutai, as it represents a benchmark style for the category. While a Masterclass like this is unlikely to convert more people to embrace the high alcoholic strength and pungent beverage as their new favourite, I believe it did help us push the boundary, break down some initial barriers of “fear” bred by ignorance. With education comes better understanding and eventually, hopefully, better appreciation. As the saying goes, Rome wasn’t built in one day!
