Baijiu

1. 1

   The sugar

   Sorghum (and sometimes rice, wheat, corn) is cooked and mixed with qu, a brick of grain grown with moulds and yeasts that both convert the starch and ferment it.

2. 2

   The ferment

   A solid mash, not a liquid: it ferments for weeks, often in mud-lined pits or jars, and may be re-fermented several times.

3. 3

   The still

   The solid grain is loaded into a still and steam is driven up through it, carrying the alcohol out of the damp grain. Most baijiu is not distilled from a liquid at all.

4. 4

   The wait

   Rested in clay jars, sometimes for years.

The rules

• Many official aroma categories: strong, light, sauce, rice aroma and more
• The world's most-made spirit by volume, drunk mostly in China

In the glass

Strong aroma: pineapple and anise; sauce aroma: soy and roasted; light aroma: clean and floral.