Nowadays the well- - known distilled alcoholic liquors are classified into "Chinese Alcoholic liquor" (or Shao Jiu- - a Chinese name ), "Brany" "Whisky", "Vodak:" and " Rum" etc. The white alcoholic liquor is the specialty of China, generally brewed with corn and distilled to get. Brandy is a distilled grape wine . Whisky is made by using sprouted barley or other corn to ferment then distilling to obtain. Rum is made by distilling sugarcane wine.
From the ancient time on, the origin of distilled alcoholic liquors had been paid attention to. Different people held different opinions on it. Modern scholars abroad and at home are engaging in data collection and research of the problem. With more and more archaeological materials and evidences discovered and consultation of ancient ages' data and documents, the further understanding of the origin of distilled alcoholic liquors has been reached gradually. For not only does it concern the distilling of alcoholic liquors, but also concerns the epock---making distiller.
As to the origin of distilled alcoholic liquors, there are two problems needed to solve: One is when our Chinese distilled alcoholic liquors first occurred, the other is whether our Chinese distiller and distilling technique came from abroad, or were invented by our ancestors, or were exported to foreign countries.
Different ages held different sayings of the origin of distilled alcoholic liquors, All the different opinions are concluded as follows:
There were some records of distilled alcoholic liquors and distillers in Yuan Dynasty's documents such as in ¡¶Yin Shan Zhang Yao¡· £¨a book describing foods and diets£©published in 1331. From this fact we can conclude that there existed the distilled alcoholic liquid in the early 14th century. But whether it was originated by our ancestors or not was not clearly defined in historical paper.
So far as the distilled alcoholic liquor introduced from abroad in Yuan Dynasty was concerned , Mr. Zeng Zong- ye argued , ¡° that distilled alcoholic liquors was once introduced into China might be true , it was possible to be introduced from West Asia or southern- - -east Asia. As it was quite strange and new to people , it is quite reasonable that people at time paid little attention to it. ¡± ( ¡¶ Research on Origin of Chinese Distilled Liquors ¡· by Zeng Zong- ye issued in ¡¶Hei Long Jiang Brewing of Alcoholic Beverages¡·,1978).
(a). There Are Some Records of Distillers in Song Dynasty's Documents and Works
The opinion is supported by one of the most important proofs that there existed distillers in Song Dynasty. Zhang Shi- nan who lived in South Song Dynasty wrote in Volume Five of ¡¶You Huan Ti Wen¡· that a tin pot distiller with a tube on one side was full of mixture of alcoholic liquid, flowers and a kind of perfume, when it was heated, steam went through the tube and was cooled in it, then the alcoholic dew drops were formed and collected. There was a picture of a pot distiller used in Song Dynasty in ¡¶Dan Fang Xu Zhi¡·. Mr. Wu De- duo concluded that at least before Song Dynasty, we Chinese had possessed the pot distiller that was necessary to distill the alcoholic liquor. Of course, Mr. Wu didn't state that the pot distiller must be used to make distilled alcoholic liquors.
(b) The Distillers of Jin Dynasty were Discovered in Archaeological Activities
In 70's of 20th century , archaeologists discovered in Qing Long County, He Bei Province a pot distiller made of copper which was considered to be used in Jin Shi-zong Age. Xin Run-quan thought: "No doubt there was the pot distiller in Song Dynasty. " ( ¡¶ When did Chinese distillers started to appear ¡· by Xin Run- quan in ¡¶ Microorganism Journal¡·, volume 8 , 1981 ). Judging by the distiller's structure, the discovered one was as same as the one described by Zhu De-run of Yuan Dynasty in a book named ¡¶Zha Lai Ji Jiu Fu ¡· . The liquid in the distiller when heated changed into steam which went up and was cooled the inside of the container full of cold water, the steam condensed to liquid, which flew down along the wall of the pot. However the distiller used by Southern Asian countries which was illustrated in¡¶Ju Jia Bi Yong Shi Lei Quan Ji ¡· ( a handbook for family's daily necessity) in Yuan Dynasty didn't use the technique. The distiller used in Asian countries was as same as that used in Arabian countries. The steam of the container went in a slanting way and the distiller's tube was fairly long. As far as the structure of our Chinese distillers are concerned, ours consists of the remarkable Chinese feature. So it was probable that China herself invented the distilling technique during Song Dynasty.
(c). Records in Song Dynasty's Documents were Even in Harmony with the Features of Distilled Liquor .
The words "Distilled Liquor" frequently appeared in Song Dynasty's documents, which suggests that there existed the distilled alcoholic liquor. For example. Song Ci, a gentleman living in Song Dynasty, recorded in Volume Four of ¡¶Xi Yuan Liu¡·," If someone is bited by poisonous insects, another one just sucks the poison out of the wound with his mouth full of rice vinegar or distilled liquor whose character was the same as that of modern distilled alcoholic liquor. The words" Steamed alcoholic drink" are considered by some people actually to refer to the distilling process. For instance, Hong Man of Song Dynasty recorded a big fire taking place when a brewer steamed alcoholic drink and was caught by the fire in Volume Four ¡¶ Zheng Jiang Jiu Ku¡·of ¡¶Yi Jian Ding Zhi¡·. Here the author didn't mentioned clearly whether the words "Steamed alcoholic drink refered to cooking rice or distilling of alcoholic liquor." However "steamed alcoholic drink" refered to distilling of alcoholic liquor in Qing Dynasty. There were lots of records about" Steamed Alcoholic Drink" in ¡¶Song Shi Shi Huo Zhi¡·. A kind of " Tai Alcoholic liquor" by using the technique of "Steaming of Alcoholic Drink" was also considered as the distilled alcoholic liquor. but there was no records of it in several important works on brewing alcoholic beverages such as ¡¶ Bei Shan Jiu Jing¡· by Zhu Gong,¡¶Jiu Jing ¡·by Su Shi and ¡¶Jiu Pu¡· , an encyclopedia about alcoholic beverages, all published in Song Dynasty. During Northern Power and Southern Power periods of Song Dynasty, the alcoholic beverages were monopolized on sale by the state government. Large-scaled breweries and distillers were almost under the grim control of governmental agencies. If the distilled alcoholic liquor did exist, it was fairly quick to popularize it.
According to the records of making alcoholic drinks in ¡¶ Tou Huang Za Lu¡·of Tang Dynasty, the technique was actually a method to stimulate brewing and aging of the alcoholic. The book recorded, "The southern Chinese drink a heated alcoholic drink--it is firstly poured into a jar covered by mud, then placed on fire to heat otherwise it's flavor isn't pleasant to drink." From it, it can be concluded that it was not the distilling process of alcoholic liquors. The technique mentioned above was also called "Fire Heated Alcoholic Drink". Therefore it is hard to be acceptable that there existed the distilled alcoholic liquor in Tang Dynasty.
The bronze distiller's structure of Eastern Han Dynasty had some similarity to that of Jing Dynasty. The distiller was composed of two sections-a pot and a container which was 53. 9cm high, the container had a part for storing alcoholic liquid or solid fermented substrate with a cooling room, on the side of it was an outlet, through which condensed alcoholic dew flew out. On the top of the container was a inlet, which might be used to add alcoholic mash in at times.
The opinion that the distilled alcoholic drink started during Eastern Han Dynasty hasn't been accepted. For it is hard to determine existence of the distilled alcoholic liquor based on the distiller whose use was unclear and inadequate historical written records. Apart from them, many other brewing historical data after Eastern Han Dynasty had no records of it.