Moutai – A Green, Organic Drink
Amongst all Chinese liquors, Moutai is the only one that has garnered the titles of Level-A Green Food, Organic Food, Geographically Representative Product, National Intangible Cultural Heritage, and National Organic Grain Solid-state Fermentation Liquor from the Chinese authorities.
Winning all these certificates wasn’t an easy task. Behind such achievements is a complex set of process and standards. From the grain seeds required for making liquor, choice of soil, sowing requirements and rules of green fertilization, to the production of base liquor, long-term again, blending, packaging, and delivery, every step has strict requirements and specifications. Take Moutai’s brewing raw materials for example, only the high-quality wheat and glutinous sorghum produced in the Chishui River basin that fully meet the standards of “good food” and “organic food” can be used.
A series of scientific researches and analysis has proven that Moutai is a liquor that’s not detrimental to health. From the scientific research of “Effect and Influence of Kweichow Moutai Liquor on Liver”, Moutai can induce the metallothionein inside liver to increase by 22 times and restrain the pathological precondition of liver fibrosis, that is, the proliferation of hepatic stellate cell and the generation of collagen.
In the 5th Metallothionein International Conference in Beijing, Chinese-American scientist Dr. Liu Jie further confirmed that “moderate consumption of Moutai can enhance the phosphorylation of glutathione S-transfers as well as significantly induce liver cells to produce more metallothionein and 16 genes to up-regulate.”
The advances of modern science increasingly clarify the reasons why Moutai can be good for the health. Firstly, Moutai contains plentiful natural phenolic compounds. Secondly, Moutai has a high content of organic acid which are beneficial to health. The standard acidity of Moutai is 1.5 – 3.0 g/L, whereas the acidity of other liquors is 0.5 – 1.7 g/L.
Third, Moutai contains less volatile substances. In Moutai liquor, after high temperature distillation and over three years’ cellar preservation, small volatile molecules gradually transform into larger molecular substances through chemical reactions. During distillation, the liquor is collected at over 40 degree C, at which, low boiling point substances such as aldehydes and sulfides are removed to the greatest extent. With no hangover, throat stimulation, or heart-burnt feeling after drinking, Moutai has unmatched advantage over other distilled liquors.
Furthermore, Moutai is a naturally fermented product. Without any additive, Moutai is a green, organic, and healthy drink through natural fermentation. With scientific and rational rate of aromatic components, Moutai is delicate, elegant, and well-balanced.
In addition, Moutai contains many healthful substances. Due to its unique technique, Moutai has extremely complicated aromatic components and high content of trace components beneficial to health, such as natural pyrazine and furans as important components of Moutai, natural homofuraneol with active anti-tumor function, 5-HMF with strong antioxidants, beneficial to oral health and with anti-ischemic effic, tetramethylpyrazine with functions of blood vessel dilation, anti-thrombus, anti-platelet-aggregation, and microcirculation improvement, benzofuran that improves gastrointestinal function as well as pyrazine ketone that improves sleep quality.
Finally, the alcohol content of Moutai is scientific and rational. The alcohol content of Moutai is 53% (V/V), at which water molecule associates most closely with alcohol content of all distilled liquors worldwide. With such alcohol content and at least three years of cellaring and aging, Moutai tastes mellow and mild, and has less stimulating effect despite its high alcohol content.
Today, in the data kept in Moutai Archives, the National Liquor Culture City and the Moutai TV Station, there are numerous records of Moutai’s healthy effects.
Source Reference: Moutai Magazine - International Edition Issue 7