A hand tips fermented grain from a wooden scoop into a steaming wooden vat, spirit runs from a bamboo pipe into a clay jar below, and baskets of grain and a wooden bucket with a ladle stand around it.
Aroma from the mud pit
Introduction
Baijiu of the strong aroma, fermented in mud pits and marked by the fragrance of the pit.
Strong-aroma baijiu is baijiu whose aroma is mainly the fragrance of the fermenting pit, and the national standard sets quality requirements of its own for it. These spirits are fermented in mud pits; the core steps are putting the fermented grains into the pit, solid-state fermentation, ageing to develop the esters and the mud pit producing the aroma, and the continuous-mash method (xu zao) is used. It is a widely drunk aroma type. Baijiu of the sauce, light and other aroma types is classed elsewhere, and particular spirits are recorded as entries.