A Taste of Chinese Craft Rice Wine at Nuoyan Rice Wine House

Brimming with cocktail bars, wine bars, whiskey bars, and beer bars, Beijing never fails to meet our high expectations. Nuoyan Rice Wine House's take on craft rice wine only goes to expand on the options available. We recently attended a rice wine tasting to see what it was all about.

Owner and designer Huang Yu started brewing rice wine six years ago, but did not start serving it until 2015, when he began to sell his own creations at Nuoyan. There are 12 kinds of rice wine available, each using glutinous rice as a base. Six are labeled as “fresh,” which means they‘ve been fermented for between 30-90 days; whereas the “mellow” variety take 90 days to two years to brew. Huang also has “special” wines but these are not for sale on account that they take a substantial six years to make.

If you're looking to get acquainted with what's on offer, we'd suggest attending one of the bar's rice wine tasting events (RMB 150), so that you can revisit in the future and know which type you'll enjoy. We particularly liked the Fresh Sweet Rose (60 days, 12 percent ABV), which was full of soft floral aromas. The Mellow Sweet Original (13.7 percent ABV) was also tasty, with the sweetness balancing out the acidity, and bears the honor of being the very first rice wine that Huang made. “It goes well with desserts, and even soft cheese," organizer of the event Pan Xue introduced. The Special Sandalwood (17.5 percent ABV) would be a good option for lovers of whiskey, thanks to its woody, spicy, and herbal aromas, which arise from the Australian red sandalwood that it is brewed with.

Near Beixinqiao subway station, the venue itself used to be the People’s Art Printing House's storage space, its wooden beams still on show, but now accompanied with a few small modern touches and simple designs, such as framed poems the stark white walls.

If you are interested in attending a tasting, contact Nuoyan via WeChat (ID: panxueatbeijing). You could also check their website here. We can picture ourselves coming back here with a friend to ease into a relaxing night of sipping.

Nuoyan Rice Wine House
Daily 11.30am-2pm, 5pm-late. People’s Art Printing House, 7 Beixinqiao, 7 Banqiao Nanxiang, Dongcheng District (6403 4336)
糯言酒馆：东城区北新桥板桥南巷7号人民美术印刷厂院内左手

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure

Photos: Tracy Wang