What's special about Mongolian wine culture?

Mongols have been a heroic and brave people since ancient times, and they like to drink. Drinking and riding horses reflect the rough and unrestrained character of this nation. They think that "no wine is no banquet", "no wine is no ceremony" and "no wine is no custom". Wine brings grand atmosphere and joy to guests and hosts, and deeply expresses the respect and profound friendship of Mongolian people to guests. Therefore, it is regarded as a way to enhance friendship that Mongolians provide their guests with mellow koumiss or white wine.

? It turns out that before entering the Yellow River valley, Mongolians mainly drank kumiss, which was called "Esuji" or "mare's milk" in Mongolian. 12 and 13 centuries, Mongols began to brew koumiss. Western travelers such as Kyle Poirot and Rubruk recorded their personal experiences in their travels. Koumiss is cool and refreshing. The traditional brewing method of koumiss is mainly impact fermentation. This method is said to have originated from the fact that herders often carry fresh milk in skins to prevent hunger and thirst when traveling or migrating. Because they ride horses all day long, the milk in the skin vibrates and collides, becomes hot and fermented, and becomes a sweet and sour spicy koumiss with hypnotic effect. Therefore, people have gradually explored a set of methods for brewing koumiss, that is, fresh koumiss is packed in containers such as leather or wooden barrels, and repeatedly stirred with special wooden sticks, so that the temperature of koumiss keeps rising in the violent turbulent impact, and finally it is fermented and separated, and the dregs sink, and pure whey floats on it, thus becoming a mellow and attractive koumiss. In addition to this fermentation method, there is also a distillation method, which is used to brew strong koumiss. Distillation is similar to the method of brewing white wine. Generally, fermented mare's milk is poured into a pot and heated. The pot is buckled with a bottomless wooden barrel or a cylindrical cover made of purple wicker and elm branches, and a cooling basin or pot is placed at the top. A small pot is hung in the bucket or a notch similar to a spout is made at the edge of the bucket. When the mare's milk in the pot is heated and evaporated, the steam rises, condenses when it is cold, and then drips into the small pot in the bucket or flows out of the bucket along the notch to become mare's milk wine. The alcohol content of koumiss brewed by this distillation method is higher than that of directly fermented koumiss. If this pot of koumiss is distilled several times, the degree will gradually increase. The brewing and drinking of koumiss in Mazhuang is mainly in the summer and autumn when the water plants are rich and the cattle are fat. Sour horse milk is generally translucent and has low alcohol content. It is not only mellow, greasy, sweet and sour in taste, but also mild in nature, and has the effects of expelling cold, promoting blood circulation, relaxing muscles and strengthening stomach. Since ancient times, it has been deeply loved by Mongolian people, and it is an important drink for them to entertain guests and friends in daily life and auspicious days.