Zhang Zhong's family had a certain status in Qingshen County, thanks to the development of a business magnate under the protection of a high-ranking official of the imperial court.

The Zhang family's winery is on West Street, and Zhou Yi only found out about it not long ago.

"Looks like you've done a lot of homework, and you know that." Zhang Zhong said helplessly.

Zhou Yi laughed and said: "What do you mean, it's hard for the two of us to know what business you have done." Besides, I'm just asking, and I don't want your wine, maybe I can help you improve something. ”

"Improvements? Could it be that you will also make wine? Zhang Zhong's eyes widened.

Zhou Yi smiled slightly: "I know a little bit about it." ”

Zhang Zhong suddenly laughed, he remembered that some time ago, it seemed that someone in the brewery really came to reflect a problem, since Zhou Yi was so big this time, it would be good to let him try it, the problem was solved, and if it couldn't be solved, it would be good to laugh at him.

"I don't know why for some time now, the brewed wine seems to be a little unbright and contains flocculents, what do you say is the situation?"

Zhou Yi didn't know what the situation was, and he wasn't a winemaker. I couldn't answer for a while, so I had to laugh and say: "Now how can I know what the problem is, let's go to the brewery to see it with our own eyes, and analyze the specific situation before we can draw a reliable conclusion." ”

The two came to the brewery, this brewery, like all the shops, adopted the model of selling in the front shop and processing in the back workshop, Zhou Yi When they came here, there were not many customers.

"There were a lot of people who came here to buy wine before, and several inns designated us for wine, but since our wine went wrong, most of these businesses have been cut off, hey, what a group of ......" Zhang Zhong was obviously sad about the decline in business.

"That's not the case, it's like this in business, many people don't care about their feelings, and they only harm their own interests because they care about their feelings, and I think most people are not so noble. Let's go in and see how you make wine. ”

The Song Dynasty was a period of relatively developed winemaking in ancient China, and with the development of social economy and the stability of social life, people's demand for wine continued to increase. The winemaking industry attaches great importance to improving the quality of wines, and often introduces new wines to adapt to the market; And the family brewery, which is known for its decentralized operation, is also improving its brewing standards in an all-round way. After 300 years of evolution and development in the Two Song Dynasty, China's liquor industry has reached an unprecedented height.

For the Song people, wine is a very important drinking product, and people's daily diet, social banquets, and gifts are inseparable from wine. People of all walks of life will have dealings with alcohol. The literati, in particular, are more partial to drinking, not only seeking joy and excitement from the process of drinking, but also often expressing their knowledge and understanding of wine through a literary form, which is classical poetry. Turning the pages of the Song people's poems, we will find that the Song Dynasty literati wrote a lot of wine poems, which on the one hand shows that wine was the most popular drink of that era, and on the other hand, it also reflects the great interest that people gave to drinking.

In the Song Dynasty, the liquor industry was divided into government and private enterprises, with the government-run liquor industry occupying a monopoly position and the private liquor industry being relatively scattered. The state implemented a policy of licensing liquor for the sake industry, which led to an increase in liquor taxes and profits. In order to ensure this fiscal revenue, the rulers of the Song Dynasty had been stimulating consumption, so whether it was a government-run liquor or a private liquor, as long as it did not violate the state's liquor monopoly regulations, it would be encouraged. In this situation, the brewing industry in the Song Dynasty has always been in a state of exciting development.

Because of the high demand, it is not surprising that there are many breweries in the world.

Under the leadership of Zhang Zhong, Zhou Yi entered the courtyard at the back from the shop in front. In the courtyard, the smell of wine is overflowing, and the workers are busy brewing.

First, the rice is soaked, steamed, then fermented with koji, then pressed into sake lees, then clarified, and filtered out, which is the process of sake brewing at this time.

Looking at those workers busy, Zhou Yi seemed very unfamiliar, he came out of the countryside, although he drank more high-end bottled wine when he was older, but when he was a child in the countryside, he would make soju at home every year, and the steps were a little different from these.

"It seems that there will be impurities, and there will be flocculents in the clarification or something, so why don't you use another method?" Zhou Yi asked, of course, the other method he said was soju, although he vaguely remembered that the Song Dynasty already had soju, but he didn't know why Zhang Zhong's brewery still used press fermentation.

Zhang Zhong said: "You're talking about a sake bar, we have made sake before, but many people say that kind of wine cuts their throats, so the sales are not very good, although some people like it, but it is a minority, and it is not profitable for us, so there is no machine repair to do." ”

The so-called sake, that is, distilled liquor, what Zhou Yi called shochu.

"Cut your throat? Surely it shouldn't be a problem with the sake, and your sake is also made from rice? Zhou Yi asked, cutting the throat refers to the irritation of the throat after the wine is in the mouth, some people like to be gentle and soft, as gentle as water when drinking, and some people prefer this kind of "throat cutting" pleasure, such as burning knife wine.

"M, is there a problem?" Zhang Zhong is very strange, doesn't this brew have to use rice?

Zhou Yi was about to say why don't you use sweet potatoes, but think about it, I've been here for so long, and I don't seem to have seen sweet potatoes, so sweet potatoes should still be in the Americas now. So he said, "Then why don't you use sorghum?" ”

In China, sorghum as the raw material distilled liquor was born in the Southern Song Dynasty, as the saying goes, "good wine is inseparable from red grain", well-known Chinese liquor at home and abroad is mostly made of sorghum as the main ingredient or as an auxiliary material. In addition to a large amount of starch, a moderate amount of protein and minerals required for winemaking, the main thing is that sorghum grains contain a certain amount of tannins. An appropriate amount of tannins has a certain inhibitory effect on harmful microorganisms in the fermentation process, which can improve the wine yield. Aroma substances such as syringic acid and syringaldehyde produced by tannins can also increase the aromatic flavor of liquor. Therefore, sorghum varieties with a moderate amount of tannins are excellent ingredients for making high-quality wines.

"Sorghum? Can sorghum make wine? Zhang Zhong looked very surprised, as if he had walked in front of a door, Zhou Yi helped him open the door, and said, "Why don't you go in and have a look?" ”

Zhou Yi said: "There is no better raw material for winemaking in the world than sorghum, and the wine made from sorghum is absolutely the best wine in the world, without one of them." ”

"Is it really that good? Will you? Zhang Zhong was stunned by Zhou Yi's description, is there really such a good wine in this world? Then why don't you know?

"Of course, and just right, I'm going to make this wine, do you want me to sell you this winemaking method?" Zhou Yi said with a smile.

Looking at the expression on his face, Zhang Zhong said, "How can I smell the smell of profiteers?" ”

"No, no, no, how can this be a profiteer, I'm discussing with you now, fair trade, do you understand? Fair, pay attention to a willingness to fight and a willingness to suffer, oh no, this description is inappropriate, a willingness to buy and a willingness to sell. ”

Zhang Zhong touched his chin, thought about it and said, "You said, if you can really make such a kind of wine, then it is not impossible to buy your winemaking method, and it is foreseeable that this wine will be very popular." ”

"That's right, can you make money from popular wines? Work with me, you won't suffer. "Zhou Yi is now like a ** teenager who lures people to commit crimes.

"Think about it, it's like my milk tea, no one else will make it except me, although now Yunwu Tea Workshop also makes milk tea, but the taste is too far away, so if you can make a unique wine, then people who have tasted it will definitely be attracted by this wine, and then they can only buy it from you, you say, isn't this a lot of profit?"

Monopoly is the most profitable, after hearing Zhou Yi's words, and looking at the sinister expression on his face, Zhang Zhong couldn't help but gasp, this is simply the rhythm of pit death and not pay for life.

"Listening to you say that, it seems to make some sense, okay, I'm tempted, so what are you going to do?"

Finally took the bait, and it was not in vain that he spent so much saliva, Zhou Yi thought to himself.

"I won't say how high the price is, after all, we are all brothers, right, we will help each other in the future. In this way, I will charge you 5,000 guan, and the brewing method of this sorghum wine is yours, how about it? ”

"Five thousand?" Zhang Zhong couldn't help but shout: "Why don't you go and grab it?" I opened my mouth for 5,000 guan at once, and I asked for 5,000 guan to open a hot pot shop, this is 10,000 guan, you and my money are floating from the Minjiang River? ”

"If there is money floating in the Minjiang River, I will squat by the river every day. Brother, don't worry about money or not at this time, the key is that this thing is unique, think about it, how much money did you make when you took over milk tea? Did I ask you for money? No, it's just a little saltpeter from you. It's equivalent to you buying two things for 5,000 yuan, is it possible that you still feel lost? "Zhou Yi is kind and inducing.

Zhang Zhong was really fooled, he was a businessman, for the purpose of profit, and he knew the profits of milk tea clearly, if this wine was really as good as Zhou Yi described, five thousand guan was actually not expensive.

"Okay, 5,000 is 5,000, hey, I thought you wouldn't know anything other than gambling, but I didn't expect you to be so treacherous." Zhang Zhong finally relented.