Luzhou Laojiaojiuniangzhijiyi
01 · Historical Records
The Luzhou liquor industry began in the Qin and Han dynasties, flourished in the Tang and Song, and reached its height in the Ming and Qing.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The traditional brewing technique of Luzhou Laojiao liquor covers techniques and related principles in many respects: the making and maintenance of mud pits, the making and evaluation of daqu medicine, the brewing and liquor extraction of base liquor, the aging of base liquor, blending and tasting evaluation, and so on. The traditional brewing technique of Luzhou Laojiao liquor began to gestate in the specific space-time context of the development of the liquor industry in southern Sichuan since the Qin and Han dynasties, and took definitive shape and matured during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. In China's liquor industry, the traditional brewing technique of Luzhou Laojiao liquor enjoys the reputation of a "living cultural relic"; it is a typical instance of China's brewing technology and liquor culture, and even today, with advanced science, it is difficult to replace with modern technology.
The mud cellar
Cellars of local clay, keystone among the stages, take on their microbial community over decades of slow seepage.
A living document
Called a living document among Chinese liquors, it is the material record of how brewing technique and culture developed.
Cutting and ageing
Each batch is graded at the press, aged in earthen jars and blended at the end, so cellar, turn and hour all leave a mark.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The traditional brewing technique of Luzhou Laojiao liquor is concentrated in the Luzhou area of Sichuan Province; Luzhou Laojiao Co., Ltd. is the project's protecting unit. Its technique began to gestate in the specific space-time context of the development of the liquor industry in southern Sichuan since the Qin and Han dynasties, and took definitive shape and matured during the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Luzhou lies at the confluence of the Yangtze and Tuo rivers; its hillside pits are opened following the terrain, the old pits gradually age, and "pit age" has therefore become the most tangible thread of this technique.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Luzhou Laojiao liquor is the representative of China's strong-aroma-type baijiu; the emergence, transmission and development of its brewing technique all occurred in Luzhou, in the south of Sichuan Province. One of the important carriers of this technique — the Luzhou Laojiao pit complex — comprises four old pits in the urban area with a history of more than four hundred years (listed by the State Council as national key cultural relics protection units) and more than three hundred century-old and older pits distributed in the urban area and surrounding counties; they are the root and foundation of the transmission and development of the Luzhou Laojiao brewing technique. As a precious intangible cultural heritage of the world's brewing industry, this traditional technique urgently needs protection and promotion. Lai Gaoquai (record from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1934, from Luzhou, Sichuan. Representative inheritor of the Luzhou Laojiao brewing technique, a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project; international brewing master; enjoys the State Council's special government allowance for science and technology experts with outstanding contributions. He collected and analyzed data on the solid-state fermentation technique of Chinese baijiu, accumulating a large quantity of valuable data for the traditional brewing industry. Lai Gaoquai analyzed, researched and summarized the fermentation mechanism, brewing technique and production process of Luzhou Laojiao liquor, confirming effective measures for improving product quality such as "layered liquor recycling", "blowing-interrupted liquor recycling" and "feeding the pit with spent grains". His 1959 book "Luzhou Laojiao Daqu Liquor", the first brewing-technique book on strong-aroma-type baijiu, became the textbook standardizing strong-aroma-type baijiu production enterprises nationwide. In 1963, representing Luzhou Laojiao, he participated in drafting the standardization documents for China's eight famous baijiu, establishing the industry's implementation standard for strong-aroma-type baijiu. Over his decades-long working career he wrote more than 1.5 million characters of brewing works. He led a group of Luzhou Laojiao researchers in experiments on the separation, cultivation and mutation breeding of butyric acid bacteria and caproic acid bacteria in old pit mud, shortening the maturation period of mud pits from fifty years to five, and giving great impetus to the development and popularization of strong-aroma-type baijiu. His disciples are found in strong-aroma-type baijiu distilleries throughout the country. Shen Caihong (record from the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1966, from Luzhou, Sichuan. Representative inheritor of the Luzhou Laojiao brewing technique, a first-batch national-level intangible cultural heritage project; master's degree holder; one of the first masters of Chinese brewing. In 1988 he graduated from Sichuan Institute of Light Industry and Chemical Technology and was assigned to work at the Luzhou Laojiao Distillery, where he devoted himself to brewing and tasting-evaluation techniques, using his theoretical knowledge to guide practical operations while testing and refining theory in practice, and continually accumulating production, research and management experience. Building on the inheritance of the traditional brewing technique, Shen Caihong has devoted himself to technical innovation and talent training; within the Luzhou Laojiao production system he established the "four centers" (the corporate culture communication center, the production technique R&D center, the equipment upgrade R&D center and the new product R&D center), implemented the "four talents" program (integrating maintenance, brewing, tasting-evaluation and R&D talent), and innovated, organized and implemented the establishment and operation of the enterprise quality assurance system. The theories he created include: the solid-state baijiu fermentation model; organic-acid control of alcoholic fermentation; aroma generation through fermentation outside the pit; micro-oxygen-environment starter fermentation; and the liquor-body design hierarchy theory. He has also published nearly fifty papers on protecting the traditional brewing technique of Luzhou Laojiao liquor. His patented achievements include: a preparation method for a pit-mud functional bacteria fixative; and the daqu and production method for strong-aroma-type daqu liquor.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Lai Gaohuai 01-0174
- Shen Caihong 01-0175
- Zhang Liang 04-1852
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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