Maotai's importance in contemporary China has many of its roots in the era of the Chinese Civil War. In 1929 the third distillery "Hengxing" was founded and it is on the foundation of these three distilleries that Kweichow Moutai was to be built. In that same year, maotai was presented at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and awarded a Gold Medal at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition which spurred a rapid increase in demand for the spirit within China and in response a rapid increase of production capacity for the two distilleries. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the fall of the Qing dynasty and the birth of the Republic of China, maotai continued to be in demand with "tribute liquor" being crafted at the request of the short lived Chinese leader Yuan Shikai for the occasion of his coronation as emperor. It's with these two distilleries that many of the techniques and profiles of contemporary maotai were finalized. Nine years later, in 1863 a salt merchant from a neighboring town bought one of the abandoned distilleries, hired a retired master distiller, and resumed the production of maotai in the newly founded "Chengyi" distillery and sixteen years later, in 1879, three Renhuai landlords opened the "Ronghe" distillery. In 1854, during the Taiping Rebellion the town of Maotai was destroyed and all of the distilleries reduced to ruins or abandoned completely. The earliest explicit record of maotai is in 1704, where in Renhuai Caozhi, a local newspaper, it was written that "Moutai Village in the west of the city ranks first in the whole country for making liquor." The result of this blend of techniques served as the basis for jiangxiang baijiu and more particularly for maotai itself. The origins of Maotai itself, and the distilleries that preceded Kweichow Moutai lie in the Qing dynasty when Beijing officials of the salt monopoly, stationed at an outpost in Maotai, introduced baijiu production methods from the north ( qingxiang) which ultimately merged with the then in-use methods from neighboring Sichuan ( nongxiang). However, it wasn't until the Tang and Song dynasties that grain based distilled alcohols began to develop in China as a whole. Maotai must simply be produced in the town of Maotai and follow the production guidelines as laid out in regulation.Īlcohol production in Zunyi, on the banks of the Chishui River, has a long history dating back to at least the 1st and 2nd cenutries BCE where there is record of Han dynasty Emperor Wu tasting and praising a goquijiu produced in Yelang. However, despite common misconception, Kweichow Moutai is not the only producer of maotai, nor do they own any exclusive right to the name. The most famous and certainly best selling manifestation of maotai is produced by Kweichow Moutai, so successful in fact that it has become the most valuable spirits brand not just in China but in the world as a whole. Maotai is made with few ingredients ( sorghum, a wheat based qū, and water from the Chishui River) and uses traditional Chinese techniques of fermentation, distillation, and aging, to produces a spirit with a unique nutty, grain forward, and in many ways savory aroma and flavor. Maotai or Moutai ( simplified Chinese: 茅台 traditional Chinese: 茅臺 pinyin: máotái) is a style of jiangxiang baijiu made in the town of Maotai, Guizhou Province, China. For the alcohol-centred university, see Moutai University. For its most well known producer, see Kweichow Moutai. Moutai is best served chilled, on the rocks or straight."Moutai" redirects here. Usually several grades of Moutai are blended into a single brew before being put on the market. The whole process lasts about one year, after which the liquor aged for several years. If it is not up to the standard, it will be distilled again and again until it is. Then it is kept for half a year and tasted. The raw materials are boiled seven times and condensed nine times without addition of any water to create a more purified and aromatic liquor. The raw materials should be processed before the ninth day of the ninth Chinese lunar month and the processing is completed in ten and a half months. Its production technique is complicated and seasonal, like that of field crops. Moutai is made of sorghum and wheat, half and half mixed, fermented eight times and distilled seven times. Moutai liquor was first made over 800 years ago and by the 18th century Moutai had already been regarded as "the best liquor in Guizhou". Moutai liquor is famous for its sustained aroma and mellow taste, it has a special flavor and unique aroma that's mellow and sweet, with a lingering flavor and an odor that clings to the cup Moutai Liquor Whiskey from Kweichow Town - China's National Liquor - 53% v/v 500ml
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