On the morning of November 26, the “Commendation Conference for Model Workers and Advanced Workers in Hunan Province” was held in Changsha. Zhou Tong, a liquor maker from Hunan Yanfeng Liquor Co., Ltd., was awarded the “Model Worker for 2020 in Hunan Province”.

Zhou Tong was honored“Excellent Artisan of Hunan Liquor and the “May 1 Labor Medal of Hunan Province in 2018”.

Zhou Tong, born in 1986, joined Hunan Yanfeng Liquor Co., Ltd. in 2012. He started as the youngest brewer in the brewing workshop of the company and remained so for a long time. Ordinary young people would not tolerate the hardship in brewing.

Hard physical work and high requirement for technical ingenuity ran through every step of the whole brewing process, from extraction of distiller’s grains, preparation and mixing of ingredients to steamer feeding and distillation. New apprentices had to start with learning how to hold a big shovel to pick up distiller’s grains that have been fermented from a cellar pit and then transport them to the steam barrels with a trolley for the subsequent step of preparation and mixing ingredients. Sweating and blood blisters in hands were almost routine after a day of hard work. In spite of all, Zhou Tong persisted with perseverance.

One of the key steps in the brewing process is “steamer feeding”, which means to feed distiller’s grains into a steamer barrel with a shovel and make sure the distiller’s grains are “spread gently and evenly, steamed uniformly, and fed when steam is detected and moisture is seen”. This step directly affects the yield and quality of liquor. Generally, a new apprentice has to learn from his master for at least two to three years and barely masters it. Zhou Tong was exposed to this technique in 2014.He humbly sought advice from his predecessors when he had questions and steadily improved his steam feeding capability. He is always the champion of steam feeding in every annual brewing skills competition held by the company. In the “Xiang Brand” Traditional Artisan Competition held in 2018 in Hunan Province, among 75 brewing masters from across the province,he was the best performer in the theoretical examination and ranked third in hands-on practice and fifth in the comprehensive score. This made him the youngest contestant with the title of “Excellent Artisan of Hunan Liquor”.

Despite all the honors, Zhou Tong remains pious and reverent as a wine maker. He said,“The trade of brewing is ‘half made by God and half made by man’. So much is unknown, and no one is 100% sure. There is no end to the journey of exploring ancient brewing techniques, and many profound mysteries exist. I would like to keep ingenuity and try to inherit,continuously explore and carry forward the traditional technique of Yanfeng ancient brewing.”

When consumers enjoy the liquor made by him, Zhou Tong’s satisfaction and sense of accomplishment are beyond words. “Brewing asks for patience. We not only make Yanfeng liquor, but also its culture and sentiment,” said Zhou Tong.