Inside the cool, air-conditioned reception room is a granite table on which are arranged cup after cup of fine liquor along with bowls of renowned Kinmen peanuts. In the blue and white porcelain cups is fragrant, aged kaoliang liquor, and in the ceramic ones pale purple wine. His face flushed and beaming a broad smile, Director Chia first drains a toast to his guests, while the rich aroma of kaoliang draws even the most confirmed abstainers to venture sip after sip in suit. Chia's eyes crinkle in pleasure at their appreciative expressions.
"The air on Kinmen is fresh, and the water sweet and pure, so the kaoliang and grapes we grow here are top-quality, and the wine and liquor we make the best!" Chia touts, giving the thumbs-up sign.
Kinmen has never advertised its kaoliang liquor. Its reputation, like that of the island's famous peanut candy, is due completely to word of mouth.
"If you buy a bottle from us here, what you carry away is not just liquor; it's the flavor of our soil and the affection of our people."
If you don't quite catch on, Old Chia will explain:
It's no exaggeration to say that half the people on Kinmen are connected in some way with the liquor industry. The distillery needs kaoliang, and 4,800 families support themselves by planting it. The distillery employs 370 workers, nearly all locals. And the distillery keeps the island's ceramics factory busy producing new bottles. The distillery also profits the printing industry, by ordering labels and gift boxes.
"You could almost say that liquor's our bread and butter."
Kinmen's kaoliang liquor is much more renowned than its wine.
"For the enjoyment of drinkers at various 'levels of skill' we produce three classes of kaoliang according to alcohol content--tach'u, ch'ennien, and shench'uan," Chia tells his visitors.
Shench'uan is 96 proof. "It's got the aroma of kaoliang without the kick--just right for "raw beginners."
And for "qualified graduates"?
"That would be ch'ennien, 116 proof. One glass and the room's mellow, the mood's right."
As for "old masters," nothing less than 136 proof tach'u will do. "For me, tach'u is the taste of home. I never get tired of it." Chia Yun grew up in Hopeh Province. He remembers when he was child that he used to eat red peppers and sip kaoliang to keep warm in winter while squatting on the ground with workmen.
A large portion of the distillery's kaoliang liquor is mixed with exotic ingredients and sold in the form of Chinese medicinal cordials, which are credited with enhancing longevity and aiding recovery from childbirth. "A good husband won't neglect to bring a bottle home for his wife," Chia admonishes.
Kinmen's wine now gets a pitch.
"Close your eyes when you sip. It's like the flavor of a first kiss," Chia urges with a rapt expression, as the visitors involuntarily find themselves raising their cups to their lips.
In addition, the Kinmen Distillery makes special wines and liquors for Double Tenth Day, the Dragon Boat Festival, and other occasions, in bottles the shapes of helmets, people, tanks, and so forth.
While Kinmen kaoliang has always had an excellent reputation, the bottles were something less than elegant in the past.
"They were ugly for so many years everybody almost got used to it," Director Chia admits. "But recently we've been going all out to come up with new shapes and new designs." He points at row after row of his distillery's new bottles with the pride of a father admiring his first-grown daughter. "Look at them, round-bellied and slim-necked, tasteful and sophisticated. For just six or seven U.S. dollars, you can bring art and culture right to your living room."
Talking so convincingly about his distillery's wine and liquor, Chia Yun must be an old hand at the business, one would think.
"Thanks for the compliment, but I got into the line two and a half years ago," Chia says, producing some dropped jaws.
Chia Yun's career was the military, from which he retired with the rank of colonel a few years ago. As an instructor in the army, he was constantly trying to think up ways to lighten up his classes so the students would find the material easier to absorb and digest. This training sharpened his verbal skills and powers of expression.
"I don't come from a family in the distillery business, but I'm down-to-earth and willing to learn," Chia says diffidently. Suddenly he seems to think of something: "Now don't just write about me. It's the liquor that counts!"
He can't rely on the same sales pitch every time, can he?
"Of course not," his daughter Fu-lan, who frequently comes to the distillery to help out, answers for him. "If the visitors are village mayors, he'll give his talk more of a country flavor. If they're professors, then he'll wax rhetorical. With college students, he's paternal and tells them not to drink too much. . . .
"He's always writing drafts and working on slogans at home. He never spends any time with us," Fu-lan reveals, half-proud and half-peeved.
Devotion to his work makes Old Chia protective of his product. "I can't stand to hear it spoken ill of," he says with a wink. "Kaoliang's my son; wine, my daughter; and tach'u, my old lady. I don't care if you say I'm ugly, but don't criticize my liquor."
Since it's so good, why not advertise it in the media and let more people know about it?
"We don't advertise, because our products themselves are their own best advertisements," Chia boasts confidently.
No wonder people say, if you visit the Kinmen Distillery, it's tough to go away empty-handed!
[Picture Caption]
Chia Yun's glowing smile proves irresistible.
After the kaoliang has been steamed, rice husks are mixed in to keep it from being too sticky.
The plastic-covered troughs are full of fermenting kaoliang. Chia Yun comes here to keep an eye on things.
The staff's diligent work attitude is apparent in this worker's elbow grease.
Kinmen's distillery has invigorated its ceramics factory, pictured here. (photo by Vincent Chang)
Chia Yun's sales pitches are intoxicating.
Foreigners cede nothing to the Chinese in buying liquor at the distillery. (photo by Vincent Chang)
After the kaoliang has been steamed, rice husks are mixed in to keep it from being too sticky.
The plastic-covered troughs are full of fermenting kaoliang. Chia Yun comes here to keep an eye on things.
The staff's diligent work attitude is apparent in this worker's elbow grease.
Kinmen's distillery has invigorated its ceramics factory, pictured here. （photo by Vincent Chang）
Chia Yun's sales pitches are intoxicating.
Foreigners cede nothing to the Chinese in buying liquor at the distillery. （photo by Vincent Chang）
