Why Does Your Baijiu Make You Feel ‘Up’?

People who drink alcohol often have this experience: after drinking, they have a headache in the morning, which is extremely uncomfortable. Some say it's because of Baijiu, while others say good Baijiu doesn't make you feel 'up.' 'Up' always refers to good Baijiu...

As for 'up,' many drinkers feel 'up' means experiencing neurological pain in the head, or redness of the face and eyes, dizziness, palpitations, nausea and vomiting... For this reason, many drinkers often use Baijiu's quality to comment on its effect. In fact, the 'up' state of alcohol is essentially a warning stage of drunkenness. When the human body is in a state of drunkenness, alcohol triggers a series of explosive drunkenness reactions through some minor external stimuli, and these reactions are commonly known as 'up'

We usually judge the quality of good Baijiu based on one criterion: good taste and smoothness, and another is 'not up.' This is why people often consider Baijiu as a bad product. Why is there such a difference? Is fermentation the same? Does getting drunk all come from alcohol? Can alcohol and alcohol be different? Which one is better for the body? These questions need to be explored through the following aspects.

01

What kind of wine are we drinking?

Baijiu definition: Baijiu belongs to distilled liquor, which is produced by using brewing microorganisms to convert raw materials into alcohol and fermentation flavor substances under certain conditions, and then distilled, aged, and blended to produce it.

From this definition, we can see that Baijiu = water + alcohol (ethanol) + fermentation flavor substances. A bottle of Baijiu contains a very complex composition, although (water + alcohol) accounts for 98%, but the remaining 2% is the main component that forms Baijiu's aroma and style. Because it accounts for only 2%, it is also called 'minor components'. Currently, 200 or so minor components have been analyzed and found. Therefore, when we drink Baijiu, we are not just drinking a pure ethanol solution, but a solution containing 200 or so minor components.

02

The difference between grain wine and alcohol wine

We often hear the saying: grain wine is good wine, and alcohol wine is bad wine. Here, 'grain wine' refers to Baijiu that is brewed using grain-based raw materials and traditional solid-state fermentation methods. 'Alcohol wine' generally refers to: produced using (something unknown) raw materials and (not using traditional methods) production. So, what is the actual situation?

When we talk about alcohol wine, we actually mean 'edible alcohol.' Edible alcohol also uses sugar or starch-based raw materials and yeast in fermentation tanks to produce it through filtration and distillation, without toxic substances such as benzene and methanol that are harmful to the human body. Edible alcohol is produced by liquid method, and raw materials are edible, such as corn, sweet potato, and sugarcane.

There are distilled liquor and fermented liquor in the world. Fermented liquor is not distilled and purified, so its composition is more complex. All distilled liquors, even after distillation, do not only contain ethanol, but also contain a lot of minor components, which gives them different aromas. However, there is an exception – vodka. Vodka pursues pure ethanol, and it doesn't want to have any other impurities. The more pure, the better.

Good wine is not necessarily grain wine. The flavor and body of solid-state fermented grain wine are complex, and may not meet the ideal body. To coordinate the aroma and taste, a small amount of grade alcohol is sometimes added to adjust the flavor. Similarly, alcohol wine is not necessarily bad wine. Vodka is a typical alcohol wine.

03

Anything has a good or bad ranking, and wine is no exception

We've all heard the saying: 'Look at flowers and pick wine, grade storage.' Traditional Baijiu has been divided into three, six and nine grades during distillation, let alone subsequent storage time differences, so the grade and quality naturally differ. Alcohol wine is also classified according to good and bad, generally divided into grade, superior grade, first grade, second grade, etc. Good alcohol wine is more expensive than ordinary raw wine.

Drinking 'up' usually refers to dizziness, headache, redness of the face and eyes, rapid heartbeat, nausea and vomiting after drinking. The main causes are:

1. Alcohol

Here, 'alcohol' refers to the main component in various wines – ethanol.

After drinking alcohol, 10% of ethanol doesn't change, it is directly expelled through breathing, urine and sweat. The remaining 90% needs to be metabolized by the liver, which is a process: ethanol → acetaldehyde → acetic acid → carbon dioxide and water. The human body's ability to metabolize ethanol is mainly determined by two enzymes: alcohol dehydrogenase and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase.

Whether these two enzymes are determined by genes also depends on the activity of the enzymes, and also on the body's state. If the activity of alcohol dehydrogenase is low, it's easy to feel dizzy and headache after drinking; if the activity of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is low, it's easy to feel flushed after drinking. If you have a low ability to metabolize alcohol, don't panic, drink slowly, control the amount and speed of drinking, a small amount of drinking is fine.

2. Flavors and Essential Oils

Earlier we mentioned that wine contains a lot of minor components, including flavors and essential oils.

Flavors and essential oils belong to alcohols, and their molecular weight is greater than that of ethanol (the number of carbon atoms in the carbon chain is greater than 2), so they are called 'higher alcohols'. They give Baijiu special aroma and can enhance the aroma of esters, making the aroma more perfect. However, they are not very popular, and once they appear, they will cause bitter and mixed flavors, and make the aroma difficult to coordinate. Therefore, they are called 'flavors and essential oils.'

If you choose a good base wine and flavor wine, and do a good job of filtering, flavors and essential oils will be reduced, and you won't feel 'up' when drinking. But doing this will increase the cost accordingly.

3. Aldehyde Ratio

About 12 aldehydes are present in Baijiu, which have strong stimulation and spiciness, giving Baijiu a spicy taste. They play a role in balancing the aroma and coordination of Baijiu, and are an important component. Acetaldehyde and ethyl aldehyde account for more than 98% of the total aldehydes.

Free acetaldehyde is absorbed and causes excitement of the sympathetic nerves, stimulating the heart and brain. It's also spicy, so it stimulates the mucous membranes. Therefore, when drinking aldehyde-containing wine, you'll feel dry mouth and headache, and throat and stomach discomfort.

However, with the increase of storage time, free acetaldehyde will gradually be replaced by ethyl aldehyde, and the spicy taste and stimulation will decrease, and it will have a smaller impact on the human body. Therefore, the wine with a longer storage time has a smoother body and a more comfortable drinking sensation. Of course, the cost is also higher.

4. Ester Ratio

The ester ratio is not coordinated, which can cause discomfort when drinking. The presence of organic acids helps to further esterify ethanol. Esters have an inhibitory effect on the nervous system, which can relieve pain and headache.

In addition, the addition of flavorings, such as D-type lactic acid ethyl ester, will cause 'up,' while L-type lactic acid ethyl ester will not. There is also the ratio of alcohol and water, which affects the drinking sensation. Moreover, if you are sick when drinking, or take medicine, or have a bad mood, it can also cause discomfort.

When we talk about this, we can see that the alcohol itself doesn't differ, but the human body's response to alcohol is determined by genes, and different people have different responses. Some people can drink two catties without any problems, while others are sensitive to one catties. What's different is the content of minor components, the combination, and balance.

Good wine is definitely produced by selecting high-quality base wine and flavor wine, through careful blending and advanced equipment production. Good wine has a coordinated body and taste, which is within your drinking capacity, and won't cause headache, spiciness, dry mouth, or hangover.

To avoid the situation of 'up,' besides drinking bad Baijiu, and controlling the amount and speed of drinking, it's also important to drink in a scientific and healthy way.

Although we cannot judge the quality of a wine solely based on 'drinking 'up'', it's also important to eliminate individual factors and drink without 'up' in a normal state, so this wine may not be good.

Then, when the market has a lot of Baijiu that makes people 'up', it's basically because 'conscience' and 'technology' are four characters, and so on.

“”

“”“”