Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship

Ⅷ-144Traditional CraftsmanshipBeijinghongxinggufenyouxiangongsiBatch 2 (2008)Newly Added Item

01 · Historical Records

Distilled liquor was anciently called "shaojiu" (burned liquor) or "chunjiu" (mellow liquor). It first evolved from low-alcohol rice wine and took shape around the Song dynasty; it has a history of more than eight hundred years. Beijing is one of the regions in China with a long history of brewing, and three alleys named after shaojiu and left over from the Ming and Qing dynasties still survive in the city. The traditional brewing technique of Beijing erguotou liquor is an important representative of Beijing's brewing craft; it sprouted during the Yuan and Ming dynasties and took definitive shape in the nineteenth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty (1680). In 1949 the government instituted a monopoly on liquor; the pilot plant of the North China Liquor Monopoly Company took over twelve old distilleries, and in 1951 it registered the "Red Star" erguotou trademark, fully inheriting the brewing technique of Beijing erguotou liquor. In the early Qing dynasty the distilling industry at Niulanshan was already well developed. In 1952 the Niulanshan Distillery was established on the basis of old distilleries such as Gongli Hao and Fushuncheng Hao, and it continued to use the traditional brewing technique to produce erguotou liquor. At present the production of Beijing erguotou liquor faces great challenges: production bases have repeatedly been relocated, and problems such as the impact of foreign liquors, a shortage of trained personnel, and counterfeiting and infringement keep emerging, leaving producers hard pressed to cope.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

In distilled-liquor brewing, starchy or sugary raw materials such as grains and tubers are first made into fermented mash (unfiltered liquor) or fermented into a cloudy liquor, and the liquor is then obtained by distillation. Distilled liquor is white or faintly yellow and transparent, and is therefore commonly known as "baijiu" (white liquor). It has a fragrant, pure aroma and a smooth, sweet, clean taste on the palate; its alcohol content is relatively high, making it a strong liquor. Distinguished by the raw materials and the saccharifying-and-fermenting agents used, distilled-liquor brewing differs according to whether it employs the daqu (large qu), xiaoqu (small qu), or fuqu (bran qu) technique. The materials for distilled liquor are mainly food grains, giving types such as sorghum liquor and maize liquor; sorghum has a high starch content and a moderate protein content, which makes it best suited to brewing distilled liquor. China's distilled liquor is produced mainly in Sichuan, Guizhou, Henan, Hebei, Shenyang, Jilin, Beijing, and other areas; the formation of its brewing techniques is closely related to the local grains (abundant sorghum), climate (cold or damp), water quality, and living customs. Niulanshan is an old town north of Beijing. Lying at the foot of the Yanshan mountains and facing east toward the confluence of the Chao and Bai rivers, it has abundant groundwater of good quality, making it well suited to brewing. Through several hundred years of development, Niulanshan erguotou liquor gradually became a highly distinctive product among the light-aroma liquors of northern China. The traditional brewing technique of Beijing erguotou liquor has been passed down from generation to generation by oral instruction and personal example and has been continuously developed in production practice, gradually forming such distinctive skills as the old five-zeng fermentation method, mixed steaming and mixed firing, drawing liquor by observing the foam, and drawing the middle cut. The traditional brewing technique of erguotou liquor embodies the intelligence and talent of Beijing's brewing masters and still plays an irreplaceable role in the production of erguotou liquor today. Beijing erguotou liquor is fragrant and light, pure and refined, crisp-sweet and full-bodied; it has long sold well throughout the country and is exported to the United States, Japan, and other countries and regions. The "Red Star" trademark has been recognized as a "China Well-Known Trademark", and Beijing Red Star Co., Ltd. has been named a "China Time-Honored Brand" and has received many honors.

Fermentation by the old five-dun method

Skills handed down orally and honed in practice: five-dun fermentation as the base, mixed steaming and burning for aroma, reading the foam to cut head and tail, and keeping the middle run for cleanliness.

Mixed steaming and burning

Lees are steamed together with fresh grain in the same round, passing the still many times so that aroma precursors accumulate layer by layer.

Reading the foam and taking the wine

The stillman reads the flower on the stream to judge each fraction, deciding by eye when to cut the head and when to stop.

Taking the middle run

Keeping the middle fraction clean is central to the light character of erguotou, giving an aromatic yet mellow wine without the tail's off-notes.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

According to aroma type, distilled liquor can further be divided into sauce-aroma, light-aroma, strong-aroma, rice-aroma, and composite-aroma types, among others.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

In response to this situation, reasonable protective measures should be introduced promptly to ensure the normal production of Beijing erguotou liquor and the intact transmission of its traditional brewing technique. Gao Jingyan (per the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in August 1939, a native of Changshu City, Jiangsu Province. Representative inheritor of the traditional brewing technique of distilled liquor (the traditional brewing technique of Beijing erguotou liquor), a project of the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. A senior engineer and an expert receiving the special government allowance of the State Council. He has transmitted and innovated the erguotou brewing technique and taught it at a number of distilleries in outlying counties; he took part in introducing sauce-aroma, strong-aroma, and combined-aroma baijiu techniques to Beijing; he promoted and applied the new strain "UV11", which raises the liquor yield; and he took part in organizing the determination of national standard samples of famous, special, and high-quality baijiu as well as the drafting and compilation of national standards for baijiu geographical-indication products. He has served as editor-in-chief of several books and published dozens of specialized articles. He has actively carried out the transmission of the technique, training dozens of professional tasters and brewers.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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