NCCnovel Chapter 105 2 Pots
Chapter 105 2 Pots
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Liu Ye had little knowledge of ancient wine and asked Yan Guang, "Mr. Yan, do you drink wine regularly? What exactly constitutes good wine?"
Although Yan Guang was a minor official in the Ministry of War in Nanjing, he was still one of the Six Ministries and was frequently invited to banquets, where he drank quite a bit of wine. He pondered for a moment and said, "To judge good wine, one must first observe its color, then smell its aroma, and finally taste its flavor. When pouring the wine into a glass, its color should be clear and free of impurities; when holding the glass two inches below the nose, one should gently smell its aroma, which should be fragrant; finally, when tasting it, one should discern whether the flavor is pure and mellow. After swallowing the first sip, one should press the tongue against the lips and let the aroma escape from the nose to see if it is pungent. Only when the color, aroma, and flavor are all perfect can it be called good wine."
Liu Ye felt rather ashamed. He had drunk quite a bit of wine in his later years, but he didn't have such insights. Look at this person, they had a whole set of theories and insights about wine tasting. He turned to Liang Xiaoming and asked, "Mingzi, have you drunk wine before? What do you think is the difference between good wine and strong liquor?"
Liang Xiaoming said, "Li Ergou was talking about strong liquor, while Mr. Yan was talking about good liquor. The essence of both homemade and good liquor is the same; they are both distilled spirits, but with a higher alcohol content and stronger alcohol percentage than brewed spirits. The difference between good and bad is the purity and the amount of impurities—the higher the purity and the fewer the impurities, the more mellow the taste and the more delicate the aroma. Conversely, as Li Ergou said, it will be spicy and pungent, with a very poor taste."
Liu Ye was speechless. It's one thing for an engineer from a military enterprise to know how to build guns and cannons, and it's another to dabble in sailing, but to also understand the manufacturing process of baijiu (Chinese liquor) can only be described as abnormal.
He leaned closer and whispered, "Don't tell me your forum for time-travel enthusiasts actually has a complete set of baijiu (Chinese liquor) making techniques? Are you planning to use baijiu to get the Ming emperor and the Manchu Tartars drunk to death after time-traveling?"
"Hehe, it's not that boring. I'm from Shandong. Although I'm not a big drinker, my parents all drank, and my uncle is the workshop director of a distillery. When he's drunk, he likes to pull me aside and brag about how good their distillery's liquor is. I know a little bit, just a little bit."
No wonder, after admiring Liang Xiaoming's eclectic knowledge, Liu Ye asked Yan Guang, "Mr. Yan, how much does that kind of fine wine you mentioned cost, and how much does it sell for?"
"If it's Shaoxing Huadiao or something similar, it costs between 300 and 500 wen per jin. I don't drink much baijiu, so I don't know the price. That was the price before. Now there are disasters everywhere, food is scarce, and rice prices are soaring. I'm afraid the price of good wine has doubled again. Moreover, it's generally hard to find good wine. There are only so many famous wineries in the north and south, and they can't produce more than a few jars of wine a year. What's easy to find isn't good wine; it's only slightly better than local baijiu."
"What does the price of wine have to do with the price of rice?" Liu Ye only drinks wine and doesn't understand the winemaking process.
Liang Xiaoming answered on his behalf: "Distilled spirits are generally made from grains. In the south, rice is more common, while in the north, wheat is more common. This makes the spirits taste better. It takes several kilograms of grain to produce one kilogram of good spirits. Nowadays, many places are struggling to feed themselves, so who would use grains to brew spirits? Do you think there's a relationship between the price of rice and the price of spirits?"
"I see. Can't we use other ingredients instead?"
“It’s not that it’s impossible, potatoes would work too, but the taste can’t compare to grain-based liquor. Besides…” Liang Xiaoming moved closer to him and whispered, “Potatoes weren’t widely used until the Qing Dynasty; they weren’t common in the Ming Dynasty…”
Liu Ye nodded and muttered to himself, "So, to make high-end wine, you have to use staple grains as raw materials, which is a bit extravagant..."
In the late Ming Dynasty, grain was the most important strategic resource for the imperial court, the Later Jin, and the refugees. Having grain in hand meant they felt secure. The reason why the refugees in the late Ming Dynasty were so numerous and difficult to suppress was because of the severe drought in northern Shaanxi, which resulted in a complete crop failure. The imperial court was unable to provide disaster relief, and the people had no food, so they naturally rebelled.
Yan Guang added, "Not to mention the scarcity of grain, even if we had surplus grain to make wine, without skilled winemakers, it would be a waste of grain. Those established wineries pass their winemaking techniques down from father to son and never pass them on to outsiders. Where are we supposed to find such talent?"
The topic of brewing techniques reminded Liang Xiaoming, and he asked, "Mr. Yan, have you ever heard of Erguotou?"
Yan Guang shook his head blankly: "I've drunk Fenjiu and Qujiu, but I've never heard of Erguotou."
Liang Xiaoming chuckled, a plan forming in his mind.
If he remembers correctly, Erguotou only emerged during the Qing Dynasty when distillery production techniques were improved. Erguotou is a well-known baijiu from northern China, and its sales remain excellent even today. It uses sorghum as its raw material and wheat bran as a saccharifying and fermenting agent. Compared to distilleries made from rice and wheat using large and small koji starters, its process is simpler, production time is shorter, cost is lower, and output is higher, making it perfectly suited for penetrating the distillery market of this era. Most importantly, its production process is unique; no one else knows it.
He told Liu Ye, "Mr. Yan has reminded me that it's hard to find a master brewer with superb skills. But as long as you find me an ordinary brewer, I can make a unique spirit. It may not surpass the best spirits, but it has the advantage of stable production and large quantity. And it doesn't need rice or wheat, just sorghum!"
"Oh?" Not only Liu Ye, but everyone's interest was piqued. Although the people present came from different backgrounds and had varying levels of drinking capacity, there were few who didn't drink. Just as Yan Guang said, good wine is hard to come by, and what is easy to come by is not good wine. If there really was such good wine, and one could drink it whenever one wanted, that would be a real treat for wine lovers.
What Liu Ye cared about most was the uniqueness and stable production of this liquor. With these two things, they could seize the market. If the raw material costs were low and it didn't require grain, that would be even better. He was eager to know more and asked, "What kind of liquor is so good? Could it really be Erguotou?"
"It's Erguotou! Don't underestimate it. The raw materials are cheap, the cost is low, and the output is large. With a little packaging, it can easily penetrate the mid-range market. As for why it's unique, I'll keep you in suspense for now and tell you in detail later." Due to the time difference between the Ming and Qing dynasties, Liang Xiaoming really couldn't say it in public, so he could only tell Liu Ye, who was also a time traveler.
Upon hearing Liang Xiaoming's words, everyone tactfully avoided the question. It's only right to keep advanced technology a secret; too many people talking at once!
Although Liu Ye was a little confused, he always unconditionally trusted Liang Xiaoming when it came to technical matters. Since Liang was so confident, he must be sure. He immediately made the decision: "If no one else has a better suggestion, then let's try Erguotou... uh, this new spirit!"