Erguotou Factory Tour: Hello and Good Baijiu (2)

（CRI Online）  08:47, February 06, 2013  

The adjacent warehouse was filled with 50 rectangular "tubs" pressed into the tile floor. Weathered striped tarpaulins would cover the "cooked" sorghum for up to 23 days while the fermentation was completed. Afterwards, the fermented sorghum would have cemented into a block that in turn would be heated to distill the alcohol stored within it.

In the corner, a couple of large metal cylinders with pipes sprouting from their bottoms and tops gently rumbled and dripped with condensation. A pipe stemming from the smaller one spewed freshly distilled baijiu into a sort of wheelbarrow canister.

Tour guide Liu pulled out a cup and began pouring smidgens of the liquor into paper cups. This raw version of baijiu was definitely different from the 55 percent alcohol baijiu available on store shelves. With up to 70 percent alcohol content, visitors were cautious about seeing how much punch it packed.
Irena from Russia braced herself for a swig. "I'll probably die," she giggled through gritted teeth, "because I don't usually drink." But she bravely tipped her head back and the clear liquid slid down her throat.

"It's horrible," she gasped, eyes blinking away the fumes. "It's like distilled alcohol. That's what it is."

Chabya, another visitor had a more positive review: "It's good because it's dry. It wasn't sweet, it was fruity."

The next tour stop seemed to be a slight diversion from the actual production of baijiu. The group squeezed into what looked like a traditional Beijing courtyard to take in a lesson about baijiu's 800-year history, aided by a series of statues. Baijiu has agricultural roots as shown by eight black life-size figures with the muscular chests and ample biceps typical of farm laborers. They carry out the original baijiu recipe, as culminated by one lucky fellow who tastes the final product from the "magic" cup.

The timing of this day's tour was a score when the group had the luck to try the freshly brewed baijiu, but the visit to the bottling section was a miss. The crew was apparently on lunch break, though one worker chose to sleep instead of eat. She lay hunched over in front of the light box at which she stares for hours at a time, assessing content levels and checking for foreign objects. A few members of the group snapped photos of her sleeping before moving on.