菊花酒
Double Ninth: chrysanthemum wine for a long life
9th day of the 9th lunar month (usually October)
A Han-era text already records drinking chrysanthemum wine on the Double Ninth 'to live long'.
The hidden road →
Wine →
travel
Taste it in China
Three days among the vineyards of Ningxia, with roast lamb, hotpot and the winemakers behind the bottles. Use code WINESILKROAD for a discount on Lost Plate tours.
Discover the trips →Choose your road
Pick a drink and travel its road, west to east, one region at a time.
the rare ones
Hidden roads 秘径
36 drinks most of China has forgotten. Where to find them, and who still makes them.
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Find your drink in 3 taps.
Tell us what you already love. We'll tell you what to try, and where it comes from.
Question 1 of 3
What do you usually drink?
New to Chinese drinks? · Start here
From zero to ganbei
Six short steps that cover all five drinks. About 40 minutes, no experience needed. Every step is illustrated and links to the Encyclopedia.
酒
Step 1 of 6
Meet the five drinks
Wine, baijiu, rice wine, beer and spirits: what each one is, on one page.
field notes
On the road 路上
What you see, smell and taste along the five roads.
昔Then
茅台镇 Maotai, Guizhou
At dawn the whole town smells of steamed sorghum.
绍兴Shaoxing, Zhejiang
Sealed with mud, the wine sleeps for years.
青岛 Qingdao, Shandong
Fresh beer, clams and a hot summer night.
大理Dali, Yunnan
Whisky aging at 2,000 metres, under snowy peaks.
贺兰山 Helan Mountain, Ningxia
Harvest crates waiting at the end of the row.
This month in China 本月
重阳下沙
Double Ninth: the sorghum goes in at Maotai
Around the Double Ninth Festival (usually October)
At the Double Ninth, Maotai distilleries load the year's red sorghum: the start of a cycle of nine steamings, eight fermentations and seven distillations.
The hidden road →麦曲
Making wheat qu in Shaoxing
9th lunar month (usually October)
In the 9th lunar month Shaoxing brewers make wheat qu, the second starter of their yellow wine.
The hidden road →Charts worth saving
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Mix it 酒谱
Our drinks section: easy cocktails that bring baijiu and other Chinese drinks to your home bar.
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