Xinjiang Beer Kawas

4 min read

Beer,a necessary drink on the dining-table for summer, nowadays is not only man’s favorite, but also more and more popular among women. All these brands, such as Snow Beer of Qingdao, Hans Beer of Shaanxi, Xixia Beer of Ningxia and Wusu Beer of Xinjiang, which are famous in local areas or even the whole China, are conquering the general consumers’ appetites with their native local characteristics. Additionally, there are some house-made “folk beers”with strong local characteristics, such as Kawas, getting mellower after years of precipitation and they are attracting people with their unique charms.

In summer of Xinjiang, you will see a big bucket similar to a beer barrel marked with “Kawas”no matter in multifarious night markets, ethnic restaurants or the roadside barbecue shops. You can have a mug of Kawas with only four to five Yuan. It tastes not only sweet like honey, but also mellow like a beer and it is thirst-quenching as wellas refreshing. Furthermore, you will not get drunk after drinking it, because there is no alcoholin it. This pure natural drink is a unique native drink of the Russian ethnic group. Speaking of the Russian ethnic group, in most people’s impressions or memories, they are skilled in singing and dancing and that’s all, but actually it is not true. Diet culture of the Russian ethnic group also has its own style, containing the nature-respecting flavor of the Russians.

Tacheng in Xin jiang is the place where the majority of Chinese Russian ethnic group live.If we want to learn about their traditional culture，we shall start with the search on a Russian drink named Kawas.Kawas which appeared as early as 1，000 years ago is a miracle of the traditional diet culture of the Russian ethnic group.At that time，people pounded the grains into flour and made it into a paste by mixing with water.Then they heated it ina pottery to saccharify part of the corn starch and diluted it with water for natural fermentation.However，Kawas at that time was only a drink available for Russian noblemen to treat the honored guests.In the 18-h century，as a large number of Russians flooded into Tacheng of Xinjiang，Kawas settled in this place.In the mid-nineteenthcentury，the impoverished aristocrats of Russia brought the brewing technology into central Asian countries and the lli Valley，Altay and Tacheng prefectures of Xin jiang for the first time.Over the next 150 years，people of the Russian，the Uygur，the Kazak，the Hui，and the Han ethnic groups in these areas，especially the people in lli，had been making Kawas in their own way and maintaining technology exchanges with each other.Finally，it developed into the Kawas with strong quality.Nowadays，for the Russians in Tacheng，no matter poor or rich，men or women，old or young and no matter in fields，in big streets or small alleys，they drink Kawas when they are happy and they drink Kawas when they are tired.They treat the guests with Kawas and they give Kawas as a gift.

As the saying goes，”Beer is liquid bread”and it means beer is rich in nutrition.Kawas of the Russian ethnic group is made through mixed fermentation using traditional house-made black bread as yeast，whose raw materials all come from natural honey and hawthorn fruits with no content of alcohol and are better for physical health.As Kawas is made by original handcrafts，every family can be able to make it and it thus becomes a household drink Kawas is called Kwass in some places Kawas is the transliteration of in Russian and is commonly known as honey fresh beer.It sourced from Russia and is a biological drink with micro alcohol which is made by taking natural materials of mountain nectar，hop grain white sugar and brown sugar as raw materials and through compound fermentation of various lactic acid bacteria and yeast.It tastes mellow，a little sweet and is rich innutrition Kawas.along with the german beer.

Due to the unique making process of Kawas，its nutritional value cannot be underestimated，Scientific research shows that the large amounts of vitamins（vitamin b1 vitamin B2，vitamin C and vitamin D）contained in Kawas have the effects of refreshing and eliminating fatigue Kawas tastes sweet and sour and can help relieve heat and quell thirst as well as add the fun as a substitute for wine So since it was launched.Kawas has been generally enjoyed and advocated by people of all ages and two sexes.However，the storage life of Kawas made by traditional techniques is very short and it can be stored only for 3 days，even in insulation barrels.When you drink Kawas，you shall observe whether it is transparent and whether the smelling fragrance is light.