Founded in 1573 and believed to be one of the oldest distilleries in China, Luzhou Laojiao still uses many of its original clay fermentation pits. Since the distillery operates in a continuous cycle, the delightful red sorghum-based baijiu in this bottle is directly linked to 16th-century renditions. To put this into its Ming Dynasty perspective, 10-year-old emperor Wanli had just ascended the throne and the Chinese were still fighting Japanese pirates (Wokou) along the coast and Mongol hoards on its northern borders. So what does this sip of history taste like? True to its strong aroma style (浓香, nóngxiāng), the first impression is vibrant and tropical—a ripe cherimoya, which tastes like tutti-frutti, but this bears a more natural signature—followed by ripe pineapple, powdered licorice-coated dried plum, and bright chrysanthemum tea. There’s lovely depth and a lingering finish of those last two notes. Fēicháng hǎo hē!