Yunmen Chun Liquor Traditional Brewing Techniques

The traditional brewing techniques of Yunmen Chun Liquor use locally grown wheat, which is milled into wheat bran using stone mills. The bran is mixed with warm water and pressed into Daqu molds made from locust wood to form paste. The paste is then moved to earthen fermentation rooms to make jiuqu (a saccharification and fermentation agent), covered with straw, and sprinkled with water for indoor cultivation. During this process, the paste is flipped twice, and after 40 days, it emerges with a golden color and a strong aroma of sauce and roasted scents. The high temperature during jiuqu production (with the core temperature of the jiuqu exceeding 63 degrees Celsius) is ideal for the growth and reproduction of thermophilic bacteria. This is why Yunmen aged liquor is known for its rich and full-bodied flavor and long-lasting aroma even after the cup being emptied. The production of this liquor follows a seasonal schedule. Every year on the Double Ninth Festival, two rounds of inputs—one for sorghum and one for fermented grains—are done. This is followed by multiple rounds of distillation throughout the year, with a total of nine steaming cycles, eight fermentation cycles, and seven distillation cycles. The resulting Daqu liquor is slightly yellow and transparent, with prominent sauce and roasted aromas, a refined and elegant taste, a rich and full body, and a lingering aftertaste with a long-lasting aroma in an empty glass. In 2013, these techniques were listed as part of the third batch of representative projects of Shandong's provincial intangible cultural heritage.