 A bottle ofLao khao | |
| Country of origin | Thailand |
|---|---|
| Alcohol by volume | 28%–40% |
| Colour | Clear |
| Ingredients | Molasses,rice,jasmine rice,glutinous rice,maize, sugar cane juice,adlay,sorghum bicolor, etc. |
Lao khao (Thai:เหล้าขาว,pronounced[lâwkʰǎːw];lit. 'white spirit'[a]) or officiallysura khao (Thai:สุราขาว,[sùʔ.rāːkʰǎːw]) is a Thaidistilled spirit.
According to Chinese source “Yingya Shenglan” (1405–1433),Xiānluó (暹羅)[b] had two kinds of spirits, both of which are distilled spirits.[1]: 107 The French diplomatSimon de la Loubère, who visited Siam during the mid-Ayutthaya period, wrote about Siamese spirits:[2]
“But as in hot Countries the continual dissipation of the Spirits, makes them desire what encreases them, they passionately esteemAqua Vitae, and the strongest more than the others. The Siameses do make it of Rice, and do frequently rack it with Lime. Of Rice they do at first make Beer, which they drink not; but they convert it into Aqua Vitae which they callLaou, and the PortugueseArak, an Arabian word, which properly signifies sweat, and metaphorically essence, and by way of excellence Aqua Vitae. Of the Rice Beer they likewise make Vinegar.”
In 1790, during the reign ofKing Rama I,Bangyikhan Liquor Distillery was known to have been established. At this time, spirits that made at the government distillery were calledlao rong,[3] (Thai:เหล้าโรง).[4]: 1270 and the private distilleries that existed everywhere were declared illegal.[citation needed] In 1834, English sources mention that exports of Siam included white spirits distilled from glutinous rice.[5] The namelao khao came into existence whenlao si (Thai:เหล้าสี,lit. 'coloured spirits'), includingMekhong, were made afterWorld War II.[6]
Distilling lao khao in Thailand must be licensed, under the Criminal Activities Act which was introduced in the 1950s. This regulation was passed after a spate of lao khao of poor quality being produced, which resulted inmethanol related poisoning. The methanol was produced as a by-product of the spirits reacting with tin and aluminium stills used. The metals were switched out with stainless steel when the government took over all distilleries by 1960. The distilleries were then returned to civilian control as the government could not operate all of them. By 1984, only twelve distilleries were left.ThaiBev then took control of these twelve distilleries in 1985, forming a monopoly. In 2003,Thaksin Shinawatra fulfilled an election promise made during the2001 Thai general election to let people produce the spirits with licenses, thus breaking the monopoly. However, licenses are hard to come by.[7]
Most modernlao khao is distilled frommolasses instead ofrice to reduce production costs.[8]
