ABSTRACT
Among the most elaborate distillation technique is that used in making Moutai liquor. The (initial) saccharification/fermentation takes a full month, before the mash is distilled. The first pass distillate is returned to the fermenta tion vault in toto “to nourish the vault.” A month later, the looping passes of the distillation-revaulting cycle begin. In each pass a midportion distillate is accepted, but the liquor head and liquor tail are returned to the vault together with added qu. The production cycle of the raw liquor is complete only after looping six times, for a total of seven distillation passes over a span of 10 months. The last pass distillate also returns to the vault to join in the next cycle of manufacture. The second through the sixth midportion distillates are aged separately before blending.
