departs from Shanghai and can reach Okinawa after more than 2 hours of flight. It often rains around the sea. The climate of this island is somewhat similar to that of Shanghai, but it is even more humid, which often makes people want to drink a glass of wine to drive away the cold. In Okinawa, brewing 号 (Awamori) is an ancient industry with a history of more than 600 years. This unique local spirit has a quality that is not inferior to whiskey after many technical improvements.
inherited 600 years of brewing skills
10 minutes drive from the airport and you can reach one of the well-known Basin wineries in Okinawa, Chungxiao Winemaking. This winery, which has been passed down to the third generation, is one of the few 6 wineries among the 47 Okinawa Sauce wineries that are open for tourists to visit.
Tadakami Sakura, not far from Okinawa Naha Airport.
The history of Okinawa can be traced back to 1371. At that time, Okinawa was still called Ryukyu, and it was an important transit station for trade exchanges in Southeast Asia and was closely linked to the Ming Dynasty. "The brewing method of Okinawa's Okinawa was also spread at that time." Tokuda Yasushi, a man made by Tadashi Sauna, introduced.
Select rice, soak, steam rice, make koji, brew, distille and ripen. At first glance, the brewing method of soaking is no different from ordinary grain distilled liquor , but the changes in details are the key to judging the difference between different types of grain distilled liquor.
Chinese liquor often uses sorghum, while Scotch whiskey likes to use barley and cereals. When it comes to the United States, whiskey is related to corn and rye. In Okinawa, the raw material used to make soaked rice is rice, and it is necessary to have high-quality Thai rice. It is said that this is because Thai rice itself has a strong aroma, and the rice grains are clearly divided and will not stick to each other after steaming. They can coexist harmoniously with the local Aspergillus niger in Okinawa, thus developing a more complex aroma. However, Thai rice is hard rice and the moisture content is not high. Therefore, it takes a long time to soak the rice before steaming it to absorb water, so that it can easily achieve appropriate softness during the steaming process, so that the bacterial species can reproduce faster and better during the koji process.
From left to right are Aspergillus leukemia, Aspergillus aflatoxin and Aspergillus niger, and the ones contained in a glass dish are Thai rice used to make wine.
Aspergillus niger is a local strain unique to Okinawa. It can convert the starch in steamed Thai rice into sugar, which is the food source for yeast to live on. In Japan, there are three common types of koji, namely Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus niger. Aspergillus niger is used to make soju and Aspergillus niger is used to make sake, while Aspergillus niger can only grow in high temperature and high humidity environments in Okinawa and is specially used to make baking. "The environment in Okinawa is relatively humid and the temperature is very high. Only the vibrant Aspergillus niger can survive. Moreover, this bacteria also has a strong acid production ability and can convert glucose into citric acid, thus playing a certain anticorrosion effect." The chief winemaker of Ruiquan Wine Manufacturing explained. As an old winery with a history of more than 100 years, Ruiquan winery is much smaller than Zhongxiao winery, but its geographical location close to Shuricheng is also quite easy to attract curious visitors.
Located in Ruiquan Winemaking near Shuri Castle, a tourist attraction in Naha, it is a winery with a history of more than a hundred years. The winery is hidden in the residential area. The environment is very quiet.
saccharification jar made by Okinawa Ruiquan wine.
When the saccharification is over, the preparations for the brewing of bacon is considered to be completed. "Usually, we will add water and yeast to the prepared koji to make moromi (moromi, a liquid that is mixed with water, yeast and koji. Whether it is color or taste, it is somewhat similar to the Yakka 3 that can be bought on the market)," said a staff member of Ruiquan Winemaking. "Yeast will convert the sugar in Moromi into alcohol. Generally speaking, it takes about 2 weeks to complete the alcohol fermentation process."
The black floating substance is Aspergillus niger. The taste of drinking it is similar to Yakka, but it is not that sweet.
distillation is the key to improving alcohol. In Okinawa, brewers often choose a single distiller for distillation of the wine, and the distillation time is often 2-3 hours, and then they get a raw wine of about 50 degrees. After a period of maturation, it becomes a common soaked wine on the market. It is worth mentioning that since Japan stipulates that the maximum degree of spirits cannot exceed 45°, so the soapy wine is often mixed with water according to actual conditions when it is sold. Generally speaking, the alcohol content of the commercially available soaked pork is mostly around 30°, and there are also products with more than 40°, but there will be some differences in price.
Soaked wine of different alcohol contents and aging years. In Okinawa, the open-visited Bashen wineries will have a tasting process. Generally speaking, consumers can taste a variety of classic works from the wineries for free.
Details of making the flavor of bacon 1 are very different from the method of more than 600 years ago. Even the brewing process of each winery is roughly the same. But in fact, the flavor of bacon 1 brewed by each winery is different. The reason for these subtle differences is entirely because brewers have their own different ideas and operating methods in each brewing process. The length of time of
making is one of the reasons for these changes.
"Generally speaking, the time for making koji is usually about 2 days, but some wineries will increase the time for making koji, such as spending 3 days to make koji, and some wineries may shorten the time for making their own koji," said the winemaker of Ruiquan Winemaking. "Generally speaking, the long time for making koji will make the wine more intense, because Aspergillus niger has very powerful activities. In addition to converting starch into glucose, it will also have an impact on some other ingredients. If Aspergillus niger comes into contact with rice for a long time, more flavor substances will be produced."
Zhongxiaojijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijijiji This wine breaks through tradition and takes 4 days to make the koji, making the body more full and the aroma more complicated.
yeast selection also affects the flavor. Ruiquan Liquor Made has used a yeast called "Fusanghua" before. "Overall our yeast is bought from yeast stores, so the difference is not big, but sometimes some microbial factories will be entrusted to develop their own exclusive yeast, so the flavor of the wine will be different from that of other homes." Zhongxiao Liquor Made has also launched a wine style that is fermented with yeast found on mango peels. Compared with other soy wines, "the wine style that uses this mango yeast performs better during fermentation. At the same time, its aroma and flavor substance complexity is higher than other wine styles that use ordinary yeast." said Ashi Tokuda.
Due to different seasons, the fermentation time of the soaked soup is also different. Generally speaking, the fermentation time during brewing in summer is often about 14 days, while in winter, the yeast activity slows down, and the fermentation time is as long as 20 days. "But some wineries will adjust according to their needs in order to pursue more delicate taste changes."
Although the distillation process seems the same, it is based on the boiling point of different substances for separation and extraction. , but the shape of the distiller, the distillation market, when to intercept the wine heart, and whether to remove the wine tail are all very particular. "Our wineries generally skim the wine tail because the wine tail has a lighter flavor and more impurities," Tokuda Yasushi introduced, "but it will not remove the wine head like some whiskey distillers. After all, there are still quite a lot of aromatic substances in the wine head." In addition to normal atmospheric distillation, there is another distillation method - reduced pressure distillation . The so-called reduced pressure distillation refers to distilling moromi in a vacuum environment. At this time, as long as the temperature reaches 50℃, the alcohol will be separated. The wine obtained in this way has a more obvious fruity aroma and refreshing body than atmospheric distillation. Whether it is pure drink or cocktails, it has excellent performance, especially for people who like new wines.
The wine cellar made by Zhongxiao Wine can be seen that part of the wine is stored in stainless steel barrels, while the other part is stored in a wine jar.
Different methods of maturing will also make the flavor of soaked wine different. Generally speaking, the soap wine that has been matured after half a year can be bottled and sold. The wine at this time is called a new wine. Once it matures for more than 3 years, the soap wine at this time will be called "ancient wine". Usually, new wines are often ripe in stainless steel barrels because they want to maintain a fresh and pure taste and refreshing fruity flavor, and are well isolated from the air. Ancient wines are often placed in pottery jars to store and communicate slowly with the air, thus slowly producing some oxidative flavors. Over time, they will produce flavors similar to nuts, vanilla, ice cream and even sauce-like aromas, which greatly improves the complexity and is not even inferior to whiskey.
In the wine cellar made by Ruiquan wine, the soaked wine is stored in a traditional local pottery wine jar in Okinawa. The ones that are mature in this way are often ancient wines, because the flavor will become richer after exposure to oxygen.
"Many of the wine stored here has a history of decades," said Mr. Daoshan, who was from Ruiquan Wine. "But if you ask me how many years the wine has been stored, I can't explain it. Only two wine cellar managers know the answers." In this way, this approach is somewhat like the wineries in famous spirits producing areas such as Scotland and Cognac . Except for the wine cellar master, no one knows which oak barrel is hidden in.
