3 Facts You Did Not Know About Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor
If you ask people in Taiwan about Kinmen Island, one of the most common answers you will hear is Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor. This sorghum-based liquor is a staple across Taiwan and China. It is made by the Kinmen Distillery, the island’s most important employer. On top of that, it plays a major role in several key aspects of daily life for Kinmen residents. Thus, I want to share the three most interesting facts about this famous “firewater.”
If you are more into motion pictures, check out my video on the Best Products of Kinmen. For more general information about traveling in Taiwan and on Kinmen Island, feel free to check out the other pages of my website. Now, let us dive into the history of Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor.
Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Started as Cheap Replacement for Rice Wine
For a long time, producing a palatable sorghum wine was considered impossible. Kinmen has an abundance of sorghum, whereas rice hardly grows on the island. Thus, Ye Huacheng, the founder of the Kinmen Distillery, tried to adjust the liquor production to overcome the unwanted taste of the sorghum. Sorghum in Mandarin means kaoliang (高粱), btw. In Chinese, kaoliang can mean the grain or liquor itself.
Huacheng had lost a lot of money trying to import rice and yeast for his rice wine production. Desperate to turn his liquor business around, he began experimenting. It also helped that the Jiulongjiang Distillery brewed its first batch of kaoliang liquor in 1950. At the time, Kinmen was largely populated by soldiers, whose feedback and demand for cheap liquor helped improve the product quickly.
The Defense Command in Kinmen saw mass production of Kaoliang liquor through a government-owned company as a way to generate revenue for the military. In 1956, Jiulongjiang Distillery was renamed Kinmen Distillery. It remained government-owned until 1998. Today, it is fully privatized and no longer directly managed by the local government.
The original version had an alcohol content of 58%, making it very strong. To this day, Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor 58% remains one of the most widely sold varieties in Taiwan. But people also buy “Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor 38”, with comes with 38% alcohol. Still a lot.
Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Pays for School Lunches and Marathons
The Kinmen Distillery is a popular tourist attraction today – you will often see busloads of visitors at the visitor center. It is no surprise, considering that Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor is available in every convenience store across Taiwan. Kaoliang is sold as baijiu, a clean spirit. At one point, the distillery even sponsored a team in Taiwan’s Super Basketball League.
However, what is less widely known is the distillery’s strong local sponsorship. It supports schools across Kinmen and covers lunch costs for nearly all students on the island – including my nephews. If you get married in Kinmen, you will also receive a special edition of Kaoliang Liquor. The Marriage Edition comes in at 53% alcohol, so it is still quite strong!
The distillery is also a key sponsor of the annual Kinmen Marathon. I am not sure how far their support goes, but I do know this: finish the race, and you will be rewarded with a bottle of Kaoliang Liquor.
There are also other types of Kaoliang liquor, and Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Distillery produces baijiu using different grains. The alcohol content varies between the different varieties of Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor. However, the 58% (Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor 58) and 38% (Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor 38) versions are among the most common.
You Can Make Money by Carrying Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor to China
I already wrote a blog about Traveling From China to Taiwan by Ferry, and if you do exactly that, people will ask you about Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor. More precisely, they will offer you money for carrying a few bottles of booze over the border. There, in Xiamen, another person will wait for you and pick up the liquor
Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor is also famous in China, and with the procedure above, people save money on tax and customs. I assume the transport of liquor within the duty-free limitation is legal, otherwise, it would not be so common. It is not a lot, but some pocket money never hurts, especially if you plan to travel to China anyway.
If you want to see how common it is or learn more about the ferry ride to Xiamen, there is a video for you called Can You Take a Ferry from Taiwan to China?. Have a look at my first visit to Xiamen 🙂
Kinmen Is More Than Just Kaoliang Liquor
To be honest, as a foreigner living in Taiwan, I struggled a bit the first time I tried Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor. It is strong, and there are various ways to drink it – I had it straight, in the traditional tiny glasses. But over time, I began to understand how essential this liquor is – not just to the locals in Kinmen, but to the broader Taiwanese culture.
Thus, whether you decide to try it or not when visiting Kinmen, just remember how deeply it is woven into the island’s identity. And then act like it, when you decide to try it. If you come to Kinmen Island, you will try Kinmen Kaoliang liquor and learn how to drink it.
Thank you so much for reading! For more insights about Kinmen, check out my Kinmen Travel Tales playlist on YouTube, and feel free to follow me on Facebook.
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