Follow them on a tour of Distillery and learn about the irreplaceable "SHE"

Whiskey has gradually become a popular spirit.

At?Goalong Distillery, there is not only a group of hard-working men.

There is a group of women with "HER" power to make Goalong whiskey a little more special temperament.

"Rationalize and standardize everything, and build a whiskey quality control system"

In the quality control of?whiskey distillery, Qi Huan played a vital role. A young girl from Liaoning, doing something worthwhile and becoming a valuable person made her come to Hunan Liuyang alone. Before joining Goalong, she had been doing quality control management in the food industry and had over ten years of quality management experience.

Qi Huan, who had never stepped into the beverages industry before, learned about the excellent and young production team of Goalong Group and the whiskey dream of Chairman Alan Gao, and resolutely stepped into the unfamiliar whiskey industry.

When she first entered the industry, Qi Huan found that the liquor standards are not very clear, and the domestic whiskey is lack of standard system. After feeling around combined with their own experience, she single-handedly developed the Goalong whiskey quality control management system. From raw materials to the entire distilling process until the product filling, product factory quality control and quality risk assessment and control of each segment. The data management system, the distilling process management system and the traceability management system support the quality management and monitoring of the distilling of Goalong whiskey. Strict digital management, each process is under control.

In Qi Huan's understanding, quality control is not only a supervisory role, but also a guide and help for distilling.

Each data and each distilling stage of the string, guide the team to the next operation, there are abnormalities, the distilling team can be adjusted in time to ensure the quality and flavor stability of the wine. After ten batches of whiskey experiments in the previous stage, key data was collected and collated, providing an important reference standard for subsequent mass production.

Starting from the crushing of malt, the ratio of coarse and fine powder was managed by twice powdered wheat control to ensure that the alcohol conversion rate reached the target value.

During the mashing process, 65℃ water temperature control allows the alkali fibrillase activity in the malt to reach a high value, so that the long chain starch in the malt is sheared into short chains that can be digested by yeast. pH value, sugar content, water consumption and a series of other parameters control are the quality assurance for the next stage. The process of one time saccharification and twice washing ensures the full utilization of raw materials.

Fermentation is an irreversible process in the whole process, and the control of this step must be very strict. The temperature is controlled at 27~29℃ in the first stage, and yeast is put in at a fixed time to make it a strong bacteria to ensure the flavor stability of the liquor during the fermentation process, from which a series of tests such as PH value and sugar content are conducted at the same time. At this time, we often see the quality department partners counting the number of yeast in the lab, checking the yeast germination rate and mortality rate, and judging whether the yeast can finish digesting the sugar so as to reach the predetermined alcohol value.

After distillation, quality control will test various substances contained in the new make, such as total acid, total aldehyde, total ester, total advanced alcohol, etc. After the barrel aging period, the liquor will be tested again to ensure the safe quality and flavor balance of the liquor.

It is impossible to describe the complexity of these data in a few words.

The busy figure in the laboratory is the best return to the dream.

In Goalong whiskey distillery, real-time experimental sampling, management of more than 300 valves and control of nearly 100 kinds of data make her WeChat steps reach more than 10,000 steps every day. In these years, Qi Huan not only established a quality control system, but also to sort out the distilling process and draw a book together with the distilling team, the distilling process is more specialized and refined, the small body has a huge amount of energy. This energy comes not only from her dedication to the profession, but also from the love and expectation of the Chinese whiskey industry.

Around Qi Huan, you can always hear the sound of laughter, the brisk personality of the northeastern people in her body showed no doubt. She wants to become the one who can influence the quality control of the industry, she is moving forward towards the goal, looking at her smiling face in the sun, the beauty of the glowing live beautifully.

"It's really satisfying to take a hobby as a job."

Sprezzatura is our first impression of Ms. Guo, an introverted and outgoing personality.

Coming from a financial background, she participated in a tasting event in 2015 and was able to accurately distinguish the 7 major spirits when sniffing, Guo Hui, who is sensitive to aromas, accidentally discovered her talent in winemaking. Where the flavors of the liquor came from and how the flavors were formed aroused her curiosity, and her brief exposure led her to a long exploration of liquor flavors.

Since that time, she has followed the chairman of the board around the world to learn tasting. After six years of hand-distilling Goalong Lab No. 1?single malt whiskey, the very first she used beer malt, by learning as she went through the crushing, saccharification, distillation process, barrel-aged in Goalong's own brandy barrels. then bottled on January 8th, 2017, less than seven months’ maturation, until now this whiskey has a nice amber color, tossed around multiple people tasting appreciation, this treasured whiskey has already reached the bottom line. In order to commemorate the very first batch of whiskey, the Goalong Group make it sealed in memory in the Goalong Museum, Guo Hui started the history of Goalong whiskey. And now Guo Hui has become a product developer of Goalong, and more and more people are familiar with her in the industry.

She is very emotional, whiskey making is the sacrifice of the malt in exchange in her mind. In the distilling, she prefers saccharification, in the process, the fragrance that bursts out reminds her of the scene of her grandmother cooking maltose by the stove when she was a child.

She is very rational, in order to learn whiskey, she began her self-study, from the initial use of coffee machine grinding malt, small saccharification fermentation distillation, Try again and again, step by step to figure out. Initially, the most studied place is the brewery (the front-end process of beer fermentation is the same as whiskey), during which she visited many raw material and equipment manufacturers for study, and visited wineries and distilleries abroad for study tours. I followed the chairman of the board to study the system of other distilleries and distilling system. In the early stage, the selection of water source, plant site, raw materials and equipment played a crucial role.

Whiskey making needs to pay tribute to the classics as well as innovate on them.

She believes that in the iteration of changes in technology, equipment updates, enthusiasts' preference for flavor has made many changes in whiskey, but the basic process is the same. Fermentation, crushing, saccharification, distillation, maturation, each stage of the process is the use of the desired outcome of the reverse, the distillery wants to create what style, to meet what kind of people are required to think and innovate.

She loves everything about nature and is in awe of everything. In her spare time, Guo Hui loves to go to the pond to watch the sunset, read different kinds of books, study various flowers and plants, and analyze their flavors. Soak different plants in liquor to observe their changes and develop various flavors. Love whiskey because it comes from the gift of the earth, is the most simple display of the terroir, raw materials, climate, water on the influence of the liquid is vital.

Guo Hui's research on flavor is always unique, I think mostly because she likes to explore everything related to "taste". She is exceptionally talented in flavor exploration, curious about everything and traceable to the source, and her quiet and calm character allows her to quietly do research and development, there is no doubt that such a product developer will bring a different feeling to Goalong whiskey.

Mind deep at ease make people jealous and envious. At various whiskey shows, more and more people respect her as Teacher, watching her talk eloquently, teaching us how to distinguish excellent whiskey products, and constantly learning to dig deeper into the excellent works and processes of other distilleries. Guo Hui has proved that "she" is indispensable for whiskey making.

In the Goalong distillery

In Her Era, there are more "SHE" for the whiskey industry to achieve goals, to beyond perfection together, to witness the growth of Goalong gradually. "SHE” shows themselves and support each other on the platform of Goalong Group.

"SHE” stands out and shine in their own fields.

"SHE” loves life and grows towards the sun.

Only "SHE” can define themselves, and every "SHE” who creates value is worthy of respect.