Huangjiu (literally "yellow wine" or "yellow liquor") is a type of Chinese alcoholic beverage brewed directly from grains such as rice, millet, or wheat. Unlike baijiu, such liquors are not distilled, and contain less than 20% alcohol, due to the inhibition of fermentation by ethanol at that concentration. These wines are traditionally pasteurized, aged, and filtered before their final bottling for sale to consumers. The various styles of huangjiu may vary in color from clear to beige, yellowish-brown, or reddish-brown.

Huangjiu is either drunk directly after being cooled or warmed, or used in Chinese cooking. Major producers of huangjiu include China and Taiwan.

Classifications

Chinese "yellow liquors" (fermented wines) are classified based on several factors. Among them are the liquor's dryness, the starter used in its production, and its production method.

Dryness/Sweetness
This is the formal classification for all Chinese wines. There are five categories: dry, semi-dry, semi-sweet, sweet, and extra-sweet.

Starter/Inoculant

• Small starter: Wines inoculated using rice cultured with Rhizopus, yeast, and other bacteria. The mixture generates less heat, so they are mostly used in the tropical South of China.
• Large starter: Wines inoculated using rice cultured with Aspergillus oryzae and yeast. Almost all famous alcoholic drinks in China belong to this type.
• Red starter: Wines that are flavoured and coloured with Monascus purpureus or other red rice molds of the Monascus genus.

Production methods

• Hot rice: The steamed rice used to make the wine is cooled in the open air until it is still relatively warm before processing.
• Cool rice: The steamed rice used to make the wine is quenched with cold water before further processing. The unfiltered mash for this wine is sometimes eaten as a dessert or used as an inoculant for other Chinese wines.
• Feeding rice: Steamed rice is continuously fed into a fermenting mixture (up to three times), which produces a sweeter wine.
• Fortified: Distilled Chinese wines are added to the fermenting mash, which increases the concentration of alcohol in the mash and halts the fermentation process. This leaves a significant quantity of unfermented sugars, thus producing an especially sweet tasting wine.

Types
Some of the most popular yellow liquors include:

• Mijiu is the generic name for Chinese fermented rice wine, similar to Japanese sake. It is generally clear, and is used for both drinking and cooking. Mijiu intended for cooking often contains 1.5% salt. Alcohol content by volume: 12-19.5%.
• Fujian glutinous rice wine: made by adding a long list of expensive Chinese medicinal herbs to glutinous rice and a low alcohol distilled rice wine. The unique brewing technique uses another wine as raw material, instead of starting with water. The wine has an orange-red color. Alcohol content by volume: 18%.[2]
• Huadiao jiu, also known as nu'er hong lit. "daughter red"): a variety of huangjiu that originates from Shaoxing, in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang. It is made of glutinous rice and wheat. This wine evolved from the Shaoxing tradition of burying nu'er hong underground when a daughter was born, and digging it up for the wedding banquet when the daughter was to be married. The containers would be decorated with bright colors as a wedding gift, and, to make the gift more appealing, people began to use pottery with flowery carvings and patterns. Huadiao jiu's alcohol content is 16% by volume.
• Huadiao jiu, nü'er hong, Shaoxing jiu, and hong lu jiu; pinyin: hóng lù jiǔ; lit. "red dew wine") are basically made of the same wine except they are named differently depending on the age, the container, and how they are used. It is not uncommon for some varieties of huadiao jiu to be aged for 50 years or more. Shaoxing jiu is commonly used in Chinese cooking as well as for drinking, and hong lu jiu is a lower grade used primarily for cooking. The reddish color of these wines is imparted by red yeast rice.

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