Rice wine

Bottles of Sombai Cambodian infused rice wines

Rice wine is an alcoholic beverage fermented and distilled from rice, traditionally consumed in East Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia. Rice wine is made by the fermentation of rice starch that has been converted to sugars. Microbes are the source of the enzymes that convert the starches to sugar.

Rice wine typically has an alcohol content of 18–25% ABV. Rice wines are used in East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian gastronomy at formal dinners and banquets and in cooking.

List of rice wines

Name	Place of origin	Region of origin	Description
Agkud	Philippines	Southeast Asia	Fermented rice paste or rice wine of the Manobo people from Bukidnon
Apong	India	South Asia	Indigenous to the Mising tribe, an indigenous Assamese community from the northeastern states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh
Ara	Bhutan	South Asia	Also made with millet, or maize
Beopju	Korea	East Asia	A variety of cheongju
Brem	Bali, Indonesia	Southeast Asia	—
Cheongju	Korea	East Asia	Clear; refined
Cholai	West Bengal, India	South Asia	Reddish
Choujiu	Xi'an, Shaanxi, China	East Asia	A milky wine made with glutinous rice
Chuak	India	South Asia	Milky rice wine from Tripura, India
Chhaang	Nepal, India, Bhutan	South Asia	Milky rice wine from Nepal, Northeast India, Bhutan
Dansul	Korea	East Asia	Milky; sweet
Gwaha-ju	Korea	East Asia	Fortified
Hariya	India	South Asia	White; watery
Handia	India	South Asia	White; watery, from Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India
Huangjiu	China	East Asia	Fermented, literally "yellow wine" or "yellow liquor", with colors varying from clear to brown or brownish red
Judima	India	South Asia	Fermented, distinguished by the use of a local wild herb called thembra
Lao-Lao	Laos	Southeast Asia	Clear
Lihing	Sabah, Malaysian Borneo	Southeast Asia	Kadazan-Dusun
Laopani(Xaaj)	India	South Asia	Made from fermented rice; popular in Assam. Concentrated (pale yellow coloured extract) of the same is called Rohi
Lugdi	India	South Asia	Milky rice wine from Himachal Pradesh, India
Makgeolli	Korea	East Asia	Milky
Mijiu	China	East Asia	A clear, sweet liqueur made from fermented glutinous rice
Mirin	Japan	East Asia	Used in cooking
Pangasi	Philippines	Southeast Asia	Rice wines with ginger from the Visayas and Mindanao islands of the Philippines. Sometimes made with job's tears or cassava.
Rượu cần	Vietnam	Southeast Asia	Drunk through long, thin bamboo tubes
Sake	Japan	East Asia	The term "sake", in Japanese, literally means "alcohol", and the Japanese rice wine usually termed nihonshu (日本酒; "Japanese liquor") in Japan. It is the most widely known type of rice wine in North America because of its ubiquitous appearance in Japanese restaurants.
Sato	Northeast Thailand	Southeast Asia	—
Shaoxing	Shaoxing, Zhejiang, China	East Asia	One of the most famous varieties of huangjiu, or traditional Chinese wines
Sra peang	Northeastern Cambodia	Southeast Asia	Cloudy white rice wine indigenous to several ethnic groups in Northeastern Cambodia (Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri).
Sulai	India	South Asia	Rice wine from Assam region
Sonti	India	South Asia	—
Sunda Kanji	India	South Asia	Rice wine from Tamil Nadu
Tapai	Austronesian	Southeast Asia	—
Tapuy	Philippines	Southeast Asia	Also called baya or tapey. Clear rice wine from Banaue and Mountain Province in the Philippines
Tuak	Borneo	Southeast Asia	Dayak
Leiyi, Zam, Khar, Paso and Chathur	India	South Asia	Varieties of wine and beer from Manipur region
Zutho	India	South Asia	Rice wine from Nagaland

See also

• Beer
• Rice wine cup
• Japanese rice wine
• Korean alcoholic beverages
• Chinese alcoholic beverages

Further reading

• Campbell-Platt, Geoffrey (2009). Food Science and Technology. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 86–91.

External links

• Cambodian Rice Wine and Sra Sor Story. 26 June 2021. Sam Inspire.