Speaking of Chinese liquor, throughout the ages, both ordinary people and dignitaries have been unable to escape its temptation. Even Emperor Qin, Han Wu, Emperor Tang and Song Zu all drank liquor. It can be said that liquor It is the most representative of Chinese traditional culture.
There are a lot of discussions about the origin of liquor, but so far there is no unique explanation. In the past few days, I have read various historical materials in detail and compiled this "Brief History of Baijiu" for everyone. Let everyone understand Chinese liquor
First of all, let me explain to you what liquor is?
Liquor refers to distilled liquor made from grains as raw materials, Daqu, Xiaoqu, bran koji, etc. as saccharification fermentation agents, through cooking, saccharification, fermentation and distillation. In ancient times, there was no "baijiu" This statement means that "distilled liquor" refers to shochu, shochu, etc. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, "baijiu" was used to replace the previous names. This can be found in the "Overview of Chinese Liquor".
Xia and Shang Dynasties
During the Xia and Shang Dynasties, Yi Di made wine mash and Dukang made rice wine. Both of them were masters of wine making and had a great influence on the wine making of later generations. Influence.
Qin and Han Dynasties
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, wine developed very well and became a drink in people’s daily lives. I checked some archaeological data and it showed that there were people in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Bronze distillation was not used to make wine at that time, but to brew medicine.
Cao Cao's poems describing wine during this period are very famous: singing about wine, the geometry of life, such as morning dew, and the bitterness of the past day.
Tang and Song Dynasties
The Tang and Song Dynasties can be said to be the heyday of wine development. In addition to various historical books recording wine-making methods, a large number of wine-related poems and allusions also appeared. , according to Wang Saishi's "History of Chinese Wine".
During the Tang Dynasty
There were many wine shops in the Yangtze River Basin, and the people all enjoyed drinking, writing poems, and having fun. "In front of the restaurant" description.
In the Song Dynasty, the brewing industry was more developed
Many people are familiar with "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". This is a famous painting depicting the prosperity of the city in the Song Dynasty. According to statistics from relevant scholars, the number of people in the painting There are dozens of wine shops.
Yuan and Ming Dynasties
According to historical records, the Jin Dynasty also had a very developed wine-making industry, but the quality of the fine jade wine produced was always lacking. According to the "History of the Jin Dynasty", In the 26th year of Dading, Jin Shizong said: "I am in Shangjing, and the wine tastes not good." Therefore, since the Jin Dynasty, they began to improve the technology of brewing and making koji.
During the Ming Dynasty
The wine-making process has been very well developed, and wine-making methods with regional characteristics have also been formed in various regions, which are also written in Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica" To: "The method of making liquor is not ancient. It was invented in the Yuan Dynasty. It uses strong liquor and dregs, steams it, and uses a vessel to collect Dettol. Any sour liquor can be steamed."
According to Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica", we can know that distillation technology began to be used in winemaking during this period, and the taste and other aspects of the wine were improved, which is a very important change in liquor.
Qing Dynasty
During the Qing Dynasty, the wine-making process was relatively mature. Wine was the aggregation of the spiritual energy of the five elements and five grains. Not all places could produce good wine, but Suqian Groundwater, also known as "living water", is the best water source for wine making. Emperor Qianlong visited the south of the Yangtze River six times and stayed in Suqian five times, leaving behind the praise of "the wine tastes mellow and is really good"
A hundred years after the end of the Qing Dynasty
Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, wars have continued, the people have no means of livelihood, national heroes have fought bloody battles, and many historical events have occurred. Baijiu has witnessed the revolution and precious memories, so the Chinese have special feelings for baijiu.
During the Anti-Japanese War
Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi, Peng Xuefeng and other seniors were fighting in the Shuanggou area. He often stopped at Quande Caofang Winery and became a stop for anti-Japanese officers and soldiers. Shuanggou Winery also became a veritable "Anti-Japanese Hotel". Chen Yi praised Shuanggou Wine: "It deserves to be the best in the world." In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, the people Since then, the liquor has entered a new era
After liberation
Due to the limitations of production conditions, bulk liquor accounts for a large proportion of the country's total liquor, and is either named after the place of origin or the name of the person. However, Chinese liquor has different styles and rich characteristics, so there are three basic flavors of Chinese liquor:
Strong aroma, sauce aroma and light aroma
With the development of Chinese liquor With rapid development, there are now thousands of Chinese liquor companies and there are as many as twelve flavors of Chinese liquor: strong aroma, sauce aroma, light aroma, rice aroma, phoenix aroma, medicinal aroma, combined aroma, special aroma, soybean aroma, sesame aroma The understanding and classification of aroma, old white dry aroma, fragrant aroma, and liquor aroma types. In 1979, at the Third National Liquor Evaluation Conference, it was proposed to use aroma types to distinguish the differences between local specialty liquors. After thousands of years of historical development, it has been repeatedly tempered.
Today
When we don’t have a drink, what we drink is not only its superior taste and quality, but also the Chinese historical heritage and cultural connotation it carries. Culture is The foundation of a nation's development. As the motherland develops stronger and stronger, Chinese traditional culture has set off from all aspects and spread to all parts of the world, and Chinese liquor has also become an important medium for the world to understand China.
So I would like to recommend a wine to you today. "Huanong Meng" wine was developed by Huazhong Agricultural University, working closely with Kweichow Moutai, Sichuan Yibin Liquor Industry, etc., using a scientific and secret koji formula and special koji-making technology. The Qu block travels through the four seasons in the low temperature, leaving the mark of the season, watching the width of the lake, appreciating the majesty of the lake, promoting noble pursuits, and dancing with the landscape with fiery feelings, so that it can be fermented during the fermentation process. Stretch its function skillfully. Tradition and fashion complement each other, youth and romance work together, the horse gallops, the kingfisher is as agile, and the reed flowers are as blooming.