Second Distillation

The mere mention of erguotou around any Beijinger or experienced foreign visitor to China’s capital city is likely to elicit a knowing smile.

Though Guizhou Provinces’ Maotai or Sichuan Province’s Wuliangye may be more widely known Chinese liquors (“white spirit” or baijiu) among foreigners, they are expensive pleasures, whereas the 800-year-old “white spirit” known as erguotou is an affordable, local-people’s drink that has its own distinctive bouquet, taste and solid customer base.

Stories about drinking bouts involving erguotou are almost certain to be included in any reminiscence about a foreign visitor’s trip to Beijing, especially those of college students and business people.

The most familiar brand of erguotou in Beijing, with a local market share of about 77 percent, is undoubtedly Hongxing Erguotou (Red Star Erguotou), which usually comes in a transparent green or a clear bottle with a red, white and blue label featuring a red star. It is part of the Beijing Red Star Brewing Group Company’s product line, which includes multiple versions of this time honoured brand, including an elegantly packaged, tamed-down version of Diamond Erguotou that is exported.

Erguotou means “second distillation,” which indicates its level of purity. Red Star Erguotou is a clear, white spirit which can be as potent as 60 percent alcohol by volume (usually about 55 percent in its familiar green bottle). Distilled from grain sorghum, the distinctive spirit also contains walnuts, longans, Chinese wolfberries, red dates, western ginseng and sugar. It takes about six months to produce.

“Erguotou is a local institution and has become a fashionable to drink, which can be served at home or in restaurants with family and friends,” said Fan Qing, a foreign company employee, who was born in Beijing and who has lived in the city for 35 years.

“We often entertain our foreign clients with erguotou, which has been warmly welcomed abroad,” said Fan.

Chinese beverages containing alcohol (jiu) have a long and fascinating a history. Archaeological digs indicate that the use of alcoholic drinks is as old as the 5,000-year-old Chinese culture. The history of drinking erguotou can be traced back at least 800 years. It is believed that this kind of Chinese wine was derived from shaojiu of the Yuan Dynasty. Red Star was the first branded version of erguotou created after 1949. Prior to this time, erguotou was usually called shaojiu, which was a grain-distilled spirit, often including sorghum, but also other grains, which meant the exact content of a particular drink was often unknown to its drinker.

In 2005, Red Star began marketing its high-end Diamond Erguotou brand in the United States, in a special blend designed to be more suited to its US customers’ tastes.

With a price of about US$30 per bottle in the United States, Diamond Erguotou represents Red Star’s attempt to export an attractive high-quality product that will serve to build Red Star’s name in the United States and optimize its potential in that market. This is considered an important step in marketing traditional Chinese products in the rest of the world.

In 2005, Red Star Erguotou produced 60,000 tons of spirits, earning 700 million yuan (US$89 million) in gross sales and a 9.65 percent share of the national spirits market. This ranks Red Star No. 2 behind only Maotai. Red Star Erguotou is exported to 10 nations and regions, including Japan, South Korea, Italy, the Netherlands, France and Hungary and the United States.

“We export about 200 tons of erguotou each year, with annual sales exceeding several hundred thousand US dollars,” said Qiao Junguo, an official with Red Star’s International Trade Department.

Old Beijing tradition held that drinking erguotou would help a body fend off winter’s chill, because the people believed it helped blood circulation and reduced noxious elements in the body. But the wisdom of the old also saw value in moderation and warned that consumption should be limited to no more than 100 grams per day.

The time-tested quality of Red Star Erguotou is allowing the brand to hold its own in competition with excellent and increasingly less-expensive imported and fine domestic red and white wines (putaojiu). This time honoured brand is still likely to be found on a banquet or dining table, whether visiting a family in the countryside, at a business banquet or during family reunions and social events.

During the 11h Five-Year Programme in Beijing (2006–10), the Red Star Brewing Group Company expects to create 80,000 tons of product per year with an annual increase in production of about 8 percent, which is expected to generate annual gross sales of about 1 billion yuan (US$127 million).