Museum preserves renowned baijiu brand’s long heritage
A museum of an old distillery, which is seen as the root of liquor production in Shanxi province, was opened on June 23 in the city of Fenyang.
The museum, called Old Fenjiu Distillery, is a renovation and expansion of the former museum of the renowned white liquor, or baijiu, producer Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group.
Fenjiu, which literally means Shanxi’s liquor, can be used as a reference for all the baijiu products of the province. It is also a brand name of Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group.
The group is so named because it is a liquor producer in Xinghuacun, a township which is said to be one of the original sources of China’s alcoholic beverages.
The presumption is made based on an archaeological discovery at the production site of Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group, which points to a Chinese alcoholic beverage production history of about 6,000 years.
One of the remarkable findings was a waving spindle-shaped bottle with a distinctive feature of Yangshao Culture, an ancient civilization that resided in the middle reaches of the Yellow River between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago. Researchers believe this is the earliest alcoholic beverage-making utensil found in China.
The bottle is now on display in the museum, which is owned and operated by Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group.
In addition to this historically significant exhibit, an old distilling mill, with a history of 810 years, is the centerpiece of the museum. It is also called the living fossil of the ancient Chinese baijiu industry, as production based on ancient techniques is still going on at the mill.
The museum, covering about 9,000 square meters in floor space, is the former premises of time-honored Jinyu Fenjiu Company. Xinghuacun Fenjiu was founded in the late 1940s after Jinyu and other local distilleries merged. The museum also includes a 2,000-sq-m garden and an ancient well used as the water supply source for liquor making.
Jinyu attained its peak of development in the early 20th century when its Xinghuacun-branded baijiu won a gold medal during the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco, the United States.
In the museum, visitors are offered an opportunity to tap into the ancient techniques that have helped Xinghuacun’s liquor brands retain their quality and popularity for hundreds of years. These techniques include dry mixing of ingredients and yeast; fermenting in casks buried in earth for temperature stabilization; and double distilling for improved purity.
“The techniques still in use in the old distilling mill are the precious historical and cultural assets of Xinghuacun Fenjiu,” said Yuan Qingmao, board chairman of the group. “We should make great efforts to protect these assets, which are a source of pride and inspiration for our development.”