top-fermented ale and flavored with sugar and
coriander to make faro; or re-fermented in the
barrel for four to six months with fresh whole
cherries or raspberries, to make kriek and
framboise.
Asian Rice Alcohols: Chinese Chiu and Japanese Sake
Sweet Moldy Grains
The peoples of eastern Asia developed their
own distinctive form of alcohol, one that the
rest of the world is coming to appreciate more
and more. It’s not exactly a wine, because it’s
fermented from starchy grains, mainly rice.
But it’s not exactly a beer either, because the
grain starch is not digested into fermentable
sugars by grain enzymes. Instead, Asian
brewers use a mold to supply the starch-
digesting enzymes, and the mold digests the
grain starch at the same time that the yeasts
are converting the sugars into alcohol. The