ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Baijini

Baijiu is a type of alcoholic drink that is very popular in China. It is made from grains like sorghum, rice, and wheat. Now imagine making a cake. When you make a cake, you mix different ingredients like flour, eggs, and sugar together. Baijiu is made in a similar way, but instead of using flour and sugar, they use grains and water.

First, the grains are cooked and then left to ferment. This means that they are left alone for a while, so they can turn into alcohol. It's like when you leave milk out for a few days, it turns into yogurt. During the fermentation process, yeast is added to the mixture. Yeast is a tiny living thing that eats sugar and produces gas and alcohol as waste. So when the yeast is added to the grains, it eats the sugar in the grains and creates alcohol.

After fermentation, the mixture is distilled. Distillation is a process that separates the alcohol from the other parts of the mixture, kind of like when you pour water from a glass into another cup. Distillation uses heat to make the alcohol evaporate, turn into gas, and then it is cooled back into a liquid. This is done to make the alcohol stronger and purer.

Once the alcohol is separated, it is stored in containers to age. Aging means keeping the baijiu in a special place for a long time, sometimes even for a few years. Just like how cheese or wine tastes better as it gets older, baijiu becomes smoother and more flavorful as it ages.

When it is time to drink the baijiu, it is poured into small cups and enjoyed with friends and family. Some people like to drink it straight, just like you would drink water or juice. Others like to mix it with other things, like fruit juice or soda, to make a delicious cocktail.

It is important to remember that baijiu is an adult drink, which means it is only for grown-ups. Children should never drink baijiu or any other alcohol because it can be harmful to their bodies.

So, baijiu is a special kind of alcohol that is made from grains, fermented with yeast, distilled to make it strong, aged for a long time, and then enjoyed responsibly by adults.
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