Elegant Courtyard is where the owner of the Zhujiacaofang Distillery received his important guests. Stepping in here, you can not only taste the savoury and mellow liquor, but also experience liquor ceremony, customs, and enjoy the ancient tradition of liquor culture in the Ming Dynasty.

The owner of the distillery is not only a “shrewd” businessman, but a man of literati. He is fond of inviting his local peers for drinking and commenting on poetry.

Drinking is more than drinking; it is a serious study. As a Chinese saying reads, “the space and the time will expand when you get drunk”. Drinking alcohol is one of the most important matters in the world. Most wise men in history start to know the world, understand themselves and foster their character when they get drunk. The splendid civilization of China for thousands of years is a bright river that flows with liquor.

One proverb goes: “Graceful man releases anxiety by toasting; Honorable man dispels melancholy by composing.” The Elegant Courtyard is a fine place for drinking, for writing poem, and for hospitality. Liquor would be spilled on the ground to the grass and trees when intoxication occurs. Over time the soil has been saturated, and air refined. This elm was planted accidentally by a worker. Its branches grew prosperously after some hundred years and now looks like a drunk elder, almost falling down, with lush leaves bathed in the aroma of the good liquor.