Rice wine

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A bottle of ginjō sake, a Japanese rice wine
A bottle of ginjō sake, a Japanese rice wine
Earthenware jars of rượu cần, a variety of rice wine made by the E De people of the Central Highlands of Vietnam
Earthenware jars of rượu cần, a variety of rice wine made by the E De people of the Central Highlands of Vietnam

Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage made from rice. Unlike wine, which is made by fermentation of naturally sweet grapes and other fruit, rice "wine" results from the fermentation of rice starch converted to sugars. This process is akin to that used to produce beer, however, beer production employs a mashing process to convert starch to sugars whereas rice wine uses the different amylolytic process.

Rice brew typically has a higher alcohol content (18-25%) than wine (10-20%), which in turn has a higher alcohol content than beer (3-8%).


Some types of rice wine include:

  • Amazake - low-alcohol Japanese rice drink
  • Brem - Balinese rice wine
  • Cheongju - Korean rice wine
    • Beopju - a variety of cheongju
  • Choujiu - A milky glutinous rice wine popular in Xi'an, China
  • Gamju - A milky, sweet rice wine from Korea
  • Lao-Lao - A clear rice wine from Laos
  • Lihing - Kadazan rice wine (Sabah, Malaysian Borneo)
  • Makkoli - a milky traditional rice wine indigenous to Korea
  • Mijiu or Lao-zao - a clear, sweet Chinese rice wine/liqueur, usually being served as a dessert in southern China, made from fermented glutinous rice
  • Raksi - Tibetan and Nepali rice wine
  • Rượu cần - Vietnamese rice wine drunk through long, thin bamboo tubes
  • Rượu nếp - Sweet, milky Vietnamese rice wine made from sticky rice
  • Sake (Nihonshu) - Japanese rice wine
  • Sato - A rice wine originating in the Isan region of Thailand
  • Sonti - Indian rice wine, also known as hadia in the state of jharkhand (india)
  • Tuak - Iban rice wine (Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo)
  • Tapai - Kadazandusun rice wine (Sabah, Malaysian Borneo)
  • Ang Jiu - Chinese red rice wine, popular among the FooChow chinese.(Malaysia,China)
A cup of makgeolli, an unfiltered rice wine from Korea
A cup of makgeolli, an unfiltered rice wine from Korea

Other types include:

  • Cơm rượu - A Vietnamese dessert consisting of rice balls in mildly alcoholic, thick, milky rice wine
  • Mirin - Sweetened Japanese rice wine used for cooking
  • Soju - Korean alcoholic beverage, often mistaken as rice wine, but actually almost always in combination with other ingredients such as wheat, barley, or sweet potatoes
  • Shōchū - a Japanese alcoholic beverage that can be made from rice, although it is more commonly made from barley, sweet potato, or sugar cane
  • Snake wine


[edit] See also

v • d • e
Alcoholic beverages
Types of Alcohol
Other topics
Fermented beverages