Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 February 1889 — CHINESE LIQUOR. [ARTICLE]

CHINESE LIQUOR.

Simple Ways of Making Distilled and Fermented Wines, N. Y. World. * With but a single exception all Chinese liquors are made- by fermentation. The exception in question is called“show due,” or “burning liquors,” so named because of its fiery nature. *lt is a regular brandy, and the pure phoW due will bum when ignited until every particle of it is gone. It is the same color as our regular Caucasian brandy and is,usually distilled from a species ofglutenous rice called “noi mai.” The noi mai dup commonly used by the Chinese in this country is not the real article except in name. I have seen very goed show due. made from sweet potatoes. The only first class show due is made in the provinces of. Shantung, Chili and Honan. Immense quantities of it are manufactured and sent all over the empire and into the southern provinces of Kwong Tung and Fooken, and from there occasionally sent into America. The fermentation or manufacture of other Chinese liquors are so primitive in their methods that as a rule every farmer-makes his own supplies, when occasion demands, such as New Year’s, betrothals, weddings or other occasions of extreme happiness. Sweet potato, broom corn, millet or wheat are generally employed to make these temporary drinks, although fruit (especially pears) are sometimes used. The materials are soaked with common yeast and boiled and subsequently sealed up in air tight tanks for about twenty days. The liquors are then withdrawn and are ready for use, but no good orthodox Chinamen would ever think of taking a drink Unless at his meals. He sips the liquid between the mouthfuls of meats and never drinks it. cold, for invariably the wines are heated to a boiling point and kept on the fire drinking. In this way tL e Chinaman as a rule never gets as “tight” as the Christians, as their “domentaries” are cnucked full ‘with other goods besides the exhilarating show due, and the use of the latter must cease at least five minutes before the conclusion of the meal. Wines and liquors are so cheap and so easily made in China that it does not pay as a rule to run factories nor even keep saloons, except in eating shops. When a man “treats” in China it is always a dinned, and therefore he seldom

“treats.”

WONG CHIN FOO.