The Pits That Never Stopped: Luzhou's 1573 National Cellars

In Europe we age spirits in barrels. In Luzhou, the treasure is a set of mud pits that have been working since 1573, and have never stopped.

A different kind of age

In whisky, age is measured in years in the barrel. In strong aroma baijiu, the pride is in the age of the fermentation pit. Every batch leaves behind microbes in the mud walls, and every year the pit becomes richer, more complex, more alive.

Chinese distillers have a saying: 千年老窖万年糟 (qiānnián lǎojiào wànnián zāo), "a thousand-year pit, ten-thousand-year grains". It means two things: the pit is old, and part of the fermented grain from each batch is mixed back into the next, so a thread of the original fermentation never ends.

How a pit works

A strong aroma pit is a rectangular hole dug into the ground and lined with a special yellow clay. The cooked sorghum, mixed with qu and old fermented grain, is packed in and sealed with mud on top. It ferments for weeks, sometimes months, without air.

Over time, bacteria living in the mud walls produce the fruity compounds, especially ethyl caproate, that give strong aroma its pineapple-like signature. A young pit makes a simpler spirit. A pit that has worked for decades, or centuries, makes a deeper one. The mud of the oldest pits is so valuable that distilleries use it to "seed" new pits.

Since 1573

In Luzhou, on the Yangtze in Sichuan, a group of pits has been fermenting baijiu without interruption since 1573, during the Ming dynasty. In 1996 China's State Council declared them a protected cultural site, and they became known as the National Cellars (国窖, guójiào). Luzhou Laojiao's flagship baijiu, Guojiao 1573, takes its name from them.

A living monument

Most monuments are preserved by being left untouched. These are preserved by being used every day. Stop using them, and the microbes that make them precious would die. That is why they have kept working through dynasties, wars and revolutions.

Luzhou, a spirit city

Luzhou sits where the Tuo River meets the Yangtze, in a humid, mild climate that suits fermentation. The city lives with baijiu: distilleries, old cellars, caves and the smell of steamed sorghum in the air. Together with Yibin, home of Wuliangye, it forms the heart of strong aroma country.

What it tastes like

Strong aroma from old pits is rich and fruity, with notes of pineapple, ripe pear, anise and a round, sweet finish. It is the style most Chinese drinkers grew up with, and a good place to start after light aroma.

In one sentence

In Luzhou, the most precious thing is not a bottle but a mud pit that has been working for more than four centuries.