Traditional Distilling Craftsmanship
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. The laolongkou baijiu brewing technique of Shenyang, Liaoning Province, originated in the first year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty (1662), when the Shanxi brewing merchant Meng Zijing, from Taigu County, founded the "Yilongquan" distillery outside the Lesser East Gate of Shengjing (present-day Shenyang, Liaoning), later renamed "Wanlongquan". Because the place was traditionally said to be the "mouth of the dragon city" of the Qing, it was called "Laolongkou" (old dragon mouth). In 1949 the "Wanlongquan" distillery was designated the "Laolongkou Distillery of the Shenyang Special Municipality Monopoly Bureau"; in 1960 it was renamed the "Shenyang Laolongkou Distillery", and in 2000 it became "Shenyang Tianjiang Laolongkou Brewing Co., Ltd.". Historically Laolongkou baijiu was mostly run by people from Shanxi; through more than three hundred years of transmission and evolution it formed a distinctive brewing craft of the north.
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. Laolongkou is located in the northeastern part of the Shenyang urban area, in the transitional zone between the outlying ridges of the Changbai mountains and the alluvial plain of the Liao River. Within the company's distillery there is an ancient well over a century old known as "Longtan water"; its water is clear and crisp-sweet, providing exceptional conditions for the development of the Laolongkou brewing technique. The Laolongkou baijiu brewing technique has six major features — good water and fine grain, treading the qu at the Dragon Boat Festival, fermentation in old pits, distillation in zeng steamers, aging in jiuhai (liquor-sea) vessels, and careful blending — and the liquor produced has a strong attack and a sauce-like finish, crisp-sweet and clean, smooth, sweet, and full-bodied, with a long aftertaste.
Good water and fine grain
The works stands at the meeting of the Changbai foothills and the Liaohe plain, and its century-old well, the Dragon Pool, yields clear sweet water essential to the recipe.
Treading the qu at the Dragon Boat festival
Treading the qu at the Dragon Boat festival is one of six features of the craft, and it depends on treading at the right hour of the proper day.
Fermentation in the old cellars
Fermentation in old cellars depends on the microflora built up over years, and the inheritor Li Yuheng could judge the lees by eye, nose and touch within a little over a year of study.
Distillation in the wooden still
Distillation in the wooden still is one of the six features; the run is strong at the head and sauce-like at the tail, and separating the fractions builds the mellow body.
Ageing in the wine vats
The finished wine rests in the wine vats, and eleven national historic items stored in the museum — the vats, a millstone and old trademarks — testify to the long making history.
Careful blending
Blending assembles base wines into a mellow, clean final product; the inheritor's own method uses the liquid and thick parts of the acetate ferment separately, matched to each pit.
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.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Eleven national-level historical relics, including a stone mill, a jiuhai (liquor-storage vessel), and old trademarks, kept in the Laolongkou Liquor Museum, bear witness to the history of Laolongkou baijiu brewing. The traditional brewing technique of Laolongkou baijiu is a typical representative of brewing craft in the cold regions of the northeast and has important reference value for research on the history of brewing in the north and the evolution of brewing techniques. At the same time, the many biotechnological secrets contained in this technique are of high scientific research value. Li Yuheng (per the official archival record of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1959, a native of Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Representative inheritor of the traditional brewing technique of distilled liquor (the traditional brewing technique of Laolongkou baijiu), a project of the third national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. While systematically studying brewing knowledge he practiced diligently, and in only a little over a year he could judge the degree of fermentation of the mash by "looking with the eye, smelling with the nose, and feeling with the hand". A solid theoretical foundation and many years of practical experience steadily raised his brewing skills, and he has a distinctive method for using acetic-acid fermentation liquid to improve the quality of the base liquor. By using the liquid and the thick dry portions of the fermentation liquid separately and adding them according to the specific conditions of each fermentation pit, he has greatly enhanced the aroma of the liquor.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Gao Jingyan 03-1409
- Shang Liyun 03-1410
- Qin Wenke 03-1411
- Li Yuheng 03-1412
- Lai Dengyi 03-1414
- Li Jiashun 03-1415
- Yang Dajin 05-2838
- Zhou Xinhu
- Li Tianhua
- Xu Zhancheng
- Zhao Deyi
- Li Zexia
- Lu Zhenying
- Zhao Dong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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