Zhao Yan put the yellow water and tail wine into the steamer in a seven-to-three ratio, and Zhao Xin burned the fire under the pot for two hours, and then Zhao Yan began to distill the 'alcohol' on another small stove.

At this time, the distillation tool is very rough, and the shape looks like a 'retort' magnified countless times, but there is a bamboo tube on the upper part of one side of the retort, which acts as a drainage tube, and the steam generated during distillation will enter the drainage pipe, and then gradually cool down into a liquid, and flow from the other end of the drainage pipe into the pre-placed wine jar.

Zhao Yan spent a long time on his strength, and only bought ten catties of Chinese wine, one because it was too heavy for him to hold, and the other because he didn't have much silver on his body, ten catties of wine cost him one or two silver, one catty is equivalent to a hundred dollars, this is still the soju produced in the nameless liquor shop, and I don't know how much the 'famous wine' in the world is worth.

Two hours passed, and after repeated distillation four times, there were less than three catties left in the end of ten catties of wine, Zhao Yan dipped his fingers and tasted it, feeling that the degree at this time should be more than seventy degrees, and if he continued to distill, he should be able to distill the 'alcohol' with a higher degree, but Zhao Yan's original intention was just to increase the degree of the liquor, and the purpose had been achieved at this time, so he did not continue.

Over there, Zhao Xin was covered in sweat, still filling the stove with firewood, Zhao Yan hurriedly stopped, and then the father and son ran outside the house to drink some water, and rested for a while, and then returned to the house to test the final results.

Seeing the clear and translucent 'alcohol' distilled by Zhao Yan, Zhao Xin's wine worm seemed to be hooked, and he couldn't wait to scoop a spoonful with a wine spoon, if Zhao Yan hadn't stopped it in time, I was afraid that the spoonful of more than two taels of alcohol would be stuffed by him.

With Zhao Yan's reminder in front, Zhao Xin was less impatient, he first put the wine spoon on the tip of his nose and sniffed it, and then took a small sip.

As soon as the wine was in his mouth, Zhao Xin already sensed that something was wrong, that small sip of wine was like a fire, and it hurt in his mouth, but this feeling was not uncomfortable, he took the wine for a while as if he was enjoying it, and then swallowed it slowly.

"Ahem, cough, cough ......" Zhao Xin has never drunk such a high amount of wine, although the amount is not large, but he still can't stand it when he drinks it in his stomach, and it takes three or five coughs to ease up.

Putting the wine spoon back in place, Zhao Xin wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead, and said with a flushed face: "Xiaolang, this wine is too strong, I'm afraid it can't even compare to Liaodong's burning knife." ”

Seeing Zhao Xin's embarrassment, Zhao Yan was inexplicably happy, and said with a smile: "This wine has not been concocted, so it is not suitable for drinking." ”

Zhao Yan put seven catties of yellow water and three catties of tail wine in the steamer, and after two hours of boiling, only one catty of translucent liquid remained, which was the crude wine-flavored seasoning liquid.

After many filters, Zhao Yan let the seasoning liquid stand for half an hour, and then took out the transparent surface of the seasoning liquid and stored it separately in a small wine jar.

The weight unit of the Ming Dynasty, one catty is sixteen taels, at this time there are only about twelve taels left in the seasoning liquid, according to the later generations of a catty is ten taels, that is, there are about eight taels left, but the weight of a catty in the Ming Dynasty is different from that of a catty in later generations, but the difference is not too much, Zhao Yan has no specific impression of this, so he simply takes the weight of the Ming Dynasty at this time as the standard, as long as there is no problem with the proportion.

There are small pieces for weighing in the workshop, which can weigh at least one penny, which can meet Zhao Yan's needs.

Weigh out a penny of seasoning liquid with a stick and put it in the 'alcohol' and stir, and then Zhao Yan added three or two weights of distilled water that had been prepared, and after stirring evenly, he took out a little liquor and tasted it, feeling that the degree was still a little high, so he spit out the liquor in his mouth, continued to add water to it, and added it three times, adding a total of one pound of distilled water, and the degree was about forty degrees at this time.

Zhao Yan looked at the liquor he had concocted with satisfaction, and then scooped a spoonful and handed it to Zhao Xin to taste.

Zhao Xin accompanied Zhao Yan to 'mess around' for a long time, and he had already sobered up, he didn't think that Zhao Yan was really more prescient than others, and he could make any elixir and jade liquid only by relying on the guidance of an unknown old Taoist priest, at this time he took the wine spoon from Zhao Yan's hand in disbelief, and took a sip of the wine in the spoon, but he didn't want to eat it, but it was sweet and mellow that he had never had before.

"Xiaolang......" After Zhao Xin swallowed the wine in his mouth, he hesitated and said: "This wine tastes good, but the smell is ......."

Zhao Yan knew it in his heart, and without waiting for Zhao Xin to finish speaking, he picked up the small wine jar containing the liquor, and said, "The smell in the house is too mixed, so I can't smell it, let's go to a ventilated place outside." ”

After coming to the workshop courtyard, Zhao Xin took the small wine jar into his hand and held it on the tip of his nose and sniffed it, and after a while, his eyes lit up and praised: "It's so strong, it's so fragrant." Xiaolang, this wine smells fragrant and tastes sweet, I'm afraid that someone will buy it if it sells for 200 yuan a catty. ”

Sell for 200 wen a pound?

Zhao Yan said that the cost of seven catties of yellow water and three catties of tail wine added up was two hundred and twenty yuan, and finally twelve taels of seasoning liquid were made, and one yuan of seasoning liquid cost two yuan, and four catties of wine could be concocted in the end.

Ten catties of liquor is one tael of silver, and finally distilled out three catties of high liquor, after modulation to get four catties of finished liquor, the cost of one catty of finished liquor is calculated at 250 yuan, plus the seasoning liquid, the cost of this catty of liquor is ...... Two hundred and fifty-two dollars? This does not take into account the cost of labor and tools, if it is really sold for 200 yuan a catty, it will definitely be a loss.

“…… Isn't it too cheap to sell a pound of wine for 200 yuan? Zhao Yan had no idea about the price of wine at this time, so he had to turn to Zhao Xin, the cheap father.

Zhao Xin laughed and said: "Xiaolang, you haven't been to a wine shop, the most common soju in it costs at least 100 yuan a pound, and even people with dozens of acres of land at home are drinking a few taels or taels, and they don't dare to let go of drinking at all." Ordinary soju is produced in an unknown small brewery, and there are also Cangjiu, Fenjiu, and Laobaigan on it...... These wines are between 200 and 500 wen per catty, and ordinary people can't afford to drink them at all, and most of them are supplied to those restaurants. For example, those big wineries with inheritance and old cellar wine, I don't know the name, but I heard that a pound of wine costs at least a few taels of silver. ”

After a pause, Zhao Xin said again: "I haven't drunk good wine, but I have tasted two sips of Lao Baigan produced in Hengshui County, although the fragrance is not as good as the smell you make out, but the taste is much better, so I said that if we sell this wine, it is most appropriate to sell it for two hundred yuan per catty." By the way, Xiaolang, how much does it cost to make this pound of wine? ”

Zhao Yan replied expressionlessly: "Two hundred and fifty-two dollars." ”

"Uh......" Zhao Xin was stunned when he heard this, and only said after a while: "Wang Yuan is well-informed, why don't you go and ask him." ”

Shochu, some say that it is a technology brought back by the Mongol army in the Yuan Dynasty to conquer Arabia, has an additional distillation process than traditional fermented liquor, which can increase the alcohol content to more than 50 degrees. Therefore, Li Shizhen said in the "Compendium of Materia Medica" in the Ming Dynasty: "Shochu is not an ancient method. Since the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, the method of using strong wine and bad retort is used to steam the gas, and the drip dew is taken with a vessel. All sour wine can be steamed. ”

This Zhao Yan didn't know, he only knew that his idea of wanting to make money by selling wine was shattered, and Wang Ye's assertion after drinking it also affirmed this.

"This wine is better than the old man's own wine, but it is not enough to compare with the above, and it is more than enough, but it is more suitable to sell it for two hundred yuan per catty."

Zhao Yan was ashamed when he heard this, and felt ashamed of the many seniors who had crossed over, but when he was losing his soul, he heard Wang Ye continue: "However, although this wine cannot be sold at a price, the method of steaming the virtuous nephew is quite novel, but the old man wants to ask the virtuous nephew to steam dozens of catties for the old man, and the old man wants to bring it to the wine tasting meeting to ask someone to taste it." ”

Zhao Yan was puzzled, and asked a few words on the side, but Wang Ye's tone was very tight, and he didn't reveal his thoughts at all, Zhao Yan couldn't ask directly under curiosity, seeing that Wang Ye just wanted to let himself steam dozens of catties of wine for him, and didn't reveal other meanings, so he agreed.

In two days, Zhao Yan distilled the 200 catties of liquor provided by Wang Ye repeatedly, and obtained 60 catties of high-grade liquor, which was modulated with seasoning liquid and distilled water, and finally obtained 80 catties of finished liquor.

Wang Ye was quite happy after the inspection, and left thirty catties of wine for the employees of the workshop to drink, and the remaining fifty catties of wine were divided into five large wine jars by his family, and when Zhao Yan and he set off for Hengshui County, the five large wine jars were also transported to the carriage and put together with the packaged soap and soap.

Hengshui County is under the jurisdiction of Shenzhou, the distance between the two places is only 70 miles, it can be said that it is a strip of water, and the wine tasting conference held in Hengshui County, the winery near the left side of Shenzhou City can naturally participate.

Hengshui in ancient times mostly belonged to Jizhou, Shenzhou, Jingzhou realm, Hutuo River around the city, is the thoroughfare of Shandong and Zhili, its southeast to Dezhou 120 miles, northwest to Shenzhou 70 miles, southwest to Jizhou 40 miles, west to Shulu 70 miles......

The inside and outside of the county town are similar to the difference between the city of Shenzhou, there are Sanguan Temple, Xuanwu Temple, Fengyun Thunderstorm Altar, Sheji Altar, Lao Ye Temple, Guandi Temple and other buildings outside the four gates, the buildings from east to west in the city are the Confucian Temple, the City God Temple, the City Shop (Post Station General Shop), the Horse Temple, the Yamen of the County Bureau, the Guanyin Hall, the Nursing House, the Baoyun Temple and so on.

Zhao Yan and Wang Ye arrived at Hengshui County on the evening of April 16, when the inns inside and outside the county were full, but this could not help Wang Dahu, who had many contacts with the merchants who did the rice and grain business here, and found a separate courtyard to settle down without much effort.

"Virtuous nephew, it's getting late at this time, you and I might as well rest early, and after everything is done, if the virtuous nephew has a heart, you can also play inside and outside the county." Wang Ye beat his waist, and said in his heart that he was getting older, and he couldn't stand it after a day's carriage.

Although Hengshui is prosperous, it is only a small county town in the end, and it is not far from Shenzhou, and the cultural scenery is basically similar to Shenzhou. ”