Not only were Eastern Europeans interested in this spirit, but even the Spaniards began to place large orders with Marin's Chamber of Commerce.
Of course, the Spanish are not interested in drinking strong liquor. The reason why they are willing to order large amounts of liquor is actually to blend fresh water...
Previously, Marin told Ferdinand II that the "secret" of sailing - bringing strong liquor on a boat. Strong liquor is not easy to break, but fresh water becomes odor within seven days. When in the middle of the sea, if fresh water smells smelly, just use strong liquor to push it, after all, it is water.
In fact, Marin used this method at all. Marin's subordinates used the fresh water preserved by the can heating method, which means steaming the fresh water "cooked" like a can, then cover it with a cork, paste it with a sealing mud and bake it dry to achieve the effect of isolating the air. In this way, the fresh water can be kept as bad as a can. When you need to drink water, just pat the open-closed mud. Of course, the water will deteriorate within a few days. But no matter what, as long as it is not opened, it can be stored for a long time like the original can.
The method of liquor was actually Marin's trick on the Spanish. Of course, it was not considered a trick. Because this method really worked. In the 17th and 18th centuries before the British invented the drops of lemon juice for fresh water, Europeans did bring a lot of liquor with the ship. The kind of liquor, called rum, was the favorite of crew members and pirates.
Rum is brewed using sugar cane as a raw material. The principle is to use molasses from sugar cane to brew more flavoured soju (in fact, it is the soju that contains the pot head and the pot tail, and the taste is relatively steep), put into an oak barrel, and brewed after years of brewing.
Of course, this brewing in an oak barrel is actually to use the special substances of the oak barrel to affect the quality of the wine. At the same time, the relatively flushed parts of the pot head and the ingredients in the wine are decomposed and changed, and then the wine becomes more mellow.
This is the same as Erguotou. Erguotou directly avoids the more rinsing part of the pot and the end of the pot, only the mellow part of the second pot. And rum chooses to use special ingredients of time and oak barrels to dilute the more intense pot and the end of the pot.
Therefore, although Erguotou is not brewed for a long time, its taste is not worse than that of rum that has been brewed for a year, especially after adding black sugar, even the caramel sweetness of rum.
After tasting Erguotou, the Spanish navy general praised it and strongly recommended this kind of spirit wine to Ferdinand II, believing that this kind of spirit wine is very conducive to the great voyage to India.
Ferdinand II was counting on Indian routes to make a fortune, so he naturally attached great importance to it. So, as the king of Aragon and the regent of the Kingdom of Castile, Ferdinand II personally sent a large number of mercurys to the Chamber of Commerce under Marin to promote Erguotou in Spain. However, Ferdinand II asked to make the wine more intense. In this way, the sailors could save some wine when they got drunk early...
This request from Ferdinand II was easy to deal with. Because Erguotou was brewed to more than fifty degrees, but later in order to adapt to the taste of Europeans, it was reduced to 40 degrees with boiled water. Since Ferdinand II had the requirement, it would not be sold to them...
As for the price, it is not as high as selling it to the Russians. Erguotou is sold to the Russians for a bottle (one pound) of 1 gold coin, which is 60 Finney. When sold to Spain, it is a barrel (200 pounds, a barrel specially customized for liquor) of 80 gold coins, which is three-fifths cheaper than selling it to the Russians. However, it still has several times the huge profits.
Brandy in France has not yet appeared, and Scotland's whiskey is also very low due to limited grain production. Although the price is high, the Spaniards can only bear it with their noses...
Moreover, through the sale of Erguotou, Marin discovered a good way to make a fortune. Since selling rye in large quantities may attract other attention, then I will not be able to attract attention when I sell wine in large quantities and places like Russia and Spain, right? Moreover, selling spirits like Erguotou is very profitable. Selling them to Russians will have more than ten times the profitable profit. Even if they are sold to Spanish, they will have several times the profitable profit.
If brandy comes out, at most, you can compete for price reduction. Anyway, no matter how much you reduce it, you will have twice the huge profits, right? It is much more cost-effective than just selling food...
At the same time, due to the need for a large amount of cork, the cork collection and processing industry in Portugal and Spain also flourished. Even in areas suitable for cork planting in Portugal and Spain, people have planted many new cork-producing saplings. Even if Marin had ideas, he could not interfere in this industry. Because cork trees are suitable for the climate in Portugal and some parts of Spain, and the Grand Duchy of the North Sea cannot learn it.
In fact, the emergence of brandy was the mid-to-late 16th century when Dutch merchants discovered that French wine would easily deteriorate if they were accidentally transported. So they simply processed the low-degree French wine and processed it into a 40-degree spirit wine - brandy. Then, it was easy to preserve...
But it is the early 16th century, and Dutch merchants have not yet risen. Now the overlords of European business are Hanseatic merchants and Venetian merchants. Therefore, brandy will not appear in the short term. As for Scotch whiskey, it is limited by Scotland's scarce grain production and cannot form a scale at all, and cannot compete with Marin, which has sufficient food. Therefore, Marin can enjoy a period of high-price monopoly.
Of course, distilled liquor technology is not a very difficult technology. Marin guessed that when the Russians saw their huge profits, they would definitely be jealous and try to make similar spirits. At that time, he would have to lower the price. However, with the advantage of Erguotou's good taste, Marin could still maintain a high price. At least, it could guarantee twice the profit. If other spirits want to compete, they would have to be left for several years to eliminate the ingredients that affect the taste. The cost is completely different...
The case of the Spanish ordering a large number of rye Erguotou gave Marin a great inspiration - since Spain requires a lot of spirits, then the Portuguese can also ask for it... In addition to the Portuguese, it seems that the Venetians can also develop into customers...
Of course, the premise is that they have to know the benefits of carrying a lot of spirits during navigation. Then, Marin can expand the market and make a lot of money...
So Marin specially sent people to Portugal and Venice to teach them how to carry a lot of spirits to deal with fresh water becoming odor. Then, when the time is right, he will sell them Erguotou...
In this way, there will be a way to take action for more than one billion pounds of rye in the Marin granary to avoid mold in the granary. Moreover, selling Erguotou is much more cost-effective than selling grain.
If you sell a large amount of grain, it will not only easily expose the secret of high yields of grain, but also easily impact the decline in grain prices. However, selling a large amount of spirits is much more concealed. Moreover, it is sold to the Russians, as well as Spain, Portugal, Venice and other places, and will not attract the attention of neighboring countries at all...
Chapter completed!