Sauce Aroma

The 12987 method

Sauce aroma baijiu is defined by a production cycle known in the industry by the numbers 1-2-9-8-7: **one** year of production, **two** additions of grain, **nine** steamings, **eight** fermentations and **seven** distillations. The spirit from each distillation has a different character, and each batch is aged separately.

High-temperature qu

The starter, or qu, is made from wheat and fermented at very high temperatures, which develops the toasted, savoury aromas typical of the style. Fermentation takes place in pits lined with stone and floored with mud, and the fermented grain is stacked in the open air between cycles so that it can capture wild microbes from the local environment.

Blending

After years of ageing in clay jars, the final baijiu is a blend of many batches and many distillations. Blending is a craft in its own right, comparable to the work of a master blender in Scotch whisky.

The empty glass

The most celebrated sign of a great sauce aroma baijiu is 空杯留香, 'fragrance in the empty cup': long after the glass has been emptied, its aroma remains.

How to recognise it

On the back label look for 酱香型 (jiàngxiāng xíng). Most sauce aroma baijiu is bottled at 53%, the strength of Moutai's flagship. In the glass it is often very slightly yellowish rather than water-white, and the first smell is unmistakable: soy, roasted grain, dried fruit, mushroom and earth, rather than fruit or flowers.

Not only Moutai

Sauce aroma is made along the whole Chishui River valley, in northern Guizhou and the edge of Sichuan. Renhuai, the city around Maotai town, is home to hundreds of producers, and famous names such as Langjiu and Xijiu work on the same river. Exploring them is the best way to understand the style without starting from its most famous and most counterfeited bottle.

How to taste it

Pour a very small amount and wait a minute. Smell from a distance, then closer. Take a tiny sip, let it spread over the tongue and breathe out through the nose. The finish can last for minutes. Then smell the empty glass: in sauce aroma, the fragrance changes and lingers long after the spirit is gone.

For European palates

Sauce aroma is the most challenging style for newcomers, and the most rewarding once you understand it. Think of it as the Islay whisky or the aged sherry of baijiu: start with light or strong aroma, and come to sauce aroma when you are curious.