Wuzhen Sanbai Liquor

Sanbai liquor is a traditional distilled rice liquor of Wuzhen handed down for centuries, named for its three white ingredients—white rice, white water and white wheat-qu—yielding a clear liquid with a rich aroma and a gentle, mellow strength.

The Wanli-era Jiaxing Prefecture Gazetteer of the Ming already records that "for boiled wine one first makes a qu of pure white wheat, together with white rice and white water, hence the name sanbai," showing the brew's long roots in the Jiaxing region; Wuzhen, riding the canal trade, carried its fame afar, and for centuries it has been the wine of weddings and festivals in the water towns.

Sanbai can be sipped neat from a small cup at room temperature or warmed to accompany a meal; people of the river towns love it with sauce duck and cured meats through crab season and the new year, the wine's fragrance lifting the food, the high point of a water-town table.

The plain "three white" ingredients, the natural aroma of grain qu fermentation and the warm, smooth mouthfeel are what set Sanbai apart from other rice liquors.