Baijiu

Baijiu

China’s national drink, baijiu (meaning ‘clear spirit’) is a hugely diverse spirit with a history going back centuries. While there are four main styles or 'aromas' – strong, light, sauce and rice – there are lots of subcategories with flavours varying from delicate and floral through to hugely fruity or rich and packed with umami.

Baijiu, meaning 'clear spirit', is made from a range of grains, including sorghum. Photo by Autopilot (own work) via Wikimedia Commons [Licence]

Did you know?

• Strong aroma baijiu is fermented in mud-lined pits, with many distilleries having hundreds of years of uninterrupted production.
• Chi aroma baijiu is made by aging light aroma spirit with pork fat, giving it a rich and oily texture.
• Sauce aroma baijiu is maybe the most highly prized style, packed with rich soy-sauce umami flavour.