Plum Wine Making Notes: Ingredient Formula Ratios for Kaoliang Liquor, Rice Wine Head, Sugar, and Plums

In the article “When April Green Plums Ripen: A First Experience Making Plum Wine”, I introduced the steps and materials needed to make plum wine. This time I’ll record in detail the formula ratios of sugar and plums used when making plum wine separately with kaoliang liquor and rice wine head, along with the actual timing, for friends in need to reference in the future.

First making date: April 22, 2021 (ROC year 110).

Plum Wine Made with Kaoliang Liquor

Since kaoliang liquor has a higher alcohol content, I thought I might as well make a plum wine with a heavier aroma and less sugar, to see if I could produce something like the feeling of traditional Chinese taro shochu (which is what more people now know as Japanese shochu), deliberately using more organic red cane sugar.

I personally recommend using Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor as the base spirit; among the three major domestic distilleries (Taiwan Distillery, Kinmen Distillery, and Matsu Distillery), it is also a very high-quality liquor, at an acceptable price.

Well, I actually prefer Matsu aged wine myself, but that belongs to the boutique grade, and using it to make plum wine would be too wasteful.

If, like me, you don’t care about the liquor quality and want to make it cheaply, Taiwan Distillery also produces Yushan Kaoliang Liquor, which is passable.

Ingredients:

1. Plums 1003 g, red cane sugar 251 g.
2. Plums 1006 g, red cane sugar 200 g.
3. Plums 505 g, red cane sugar 100 g.
4. Plums 520 g, red cane sugar 50, rock sugar 201 g.
5. Kaoliang 2400 ml.

Summary:

For the first making, a total of 3034 g of green-yellow plums was used, with 601 g of red cane sugar and 201 g of rock sugar (350 g more red cane sugar added on May 22, and another 350 g of red cane sugar on June 22), totaling 1500 g of sugar (a ratio of 50% of the green plum weight).

Plum wine made with kaoliang liquor

Plum Wine Made with Rice Wine Head

When choosing the base spirit at the store, because Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation (TTL for short)‘s rice wine head had been bought out, I could only choose a product from a private company; later when replenishing the liquor I bought a TTL product again, so the composition of the plum wine brewed this time can be said to be quite chaotic.

A single bottle of rice wine head is much cheaper than kaoliang liquor, and the plum wine steeped from it tastes very close to the Japanese plum wine Choya flavor, making it the base spirit most people use for their first brewing.

Ingredients:

1. Plums 1007 g, rock sugar 200 g.
2. Plums 1017 g, rock sugar 201 g.
3. Plums 1225 g, rock sugar 200 g.
4. Plums 1026 g, rock sugar 200 g.
5. Plums 1303 g, rock sugar 300 g.
6. Rice wine head 3850 ml, rock sugar 200 g.

Summary:

For the first making, a total of 5578 g of green-yellow plums and 1300 g of rock sugar were used. 1300 g more rock sugar was added on May 22, and another 1300 g on June 22, totaling 3904 g of sugar (a ratio of 70% of the green plum weight).

Plum wine made with rice wine head

Results and Discussion

Time came to the end of July, that is, the third month of making the plum wine. Since I bought a sparkling water machine, I opened the plum wine made with rice wine head to try it.

Using about 20–30 ml of plum wine, plus plenty of ice and sparkling water to make a sparkling wine, the slightly sweet, watery vapor rushing down the throat lets you feel the plum aroma and gentle mouthfeel—very suitable as a cool summer drink.

Now I have to worry about whether the plum wine made with rice wine head can survive this summer and smoothly complete the original plan of a one-year brew.