Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Fermentation Atlas

Alcoholic drinks from Isan

Sato (Isan rice wine) and lao hai / ou (jar wine)สาโท

Steamed glutinous rice is dusted with powdered loog-pang, a dried starter ball of rice flour, herbs and spices, and sealed in a jar. For about three days moulds turn the rice into a sweet syrup (nam toi); then water is added and yeasts ferment it for another week or more into a cloudy, sweet-sour rice wine. Made in 7 steps over 11 days – 16 days. The longest step, ferment to wine, takes 5–10 days (Rattanasuk S 2026) and runs at 25–35 °C (Nienvitoon S 2025). Moulds of loog-pang (Amylomyces, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Mucor, Absidia), which turn the starch to sugar and Yeasts of loog-pang, including an alcohol-tolerant isolate close to Issatchenkia orientalis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step5–10 daysMeasured[rattanasuk2026][nienvitoon2025]Ferment to wine
Temperature25–35 °CMeasured[nienvitoon2025]Ferment to wine
AciditypH 3.4–3.8Measured[rattanasuk2026]Ferment to wine
Fully documentedAlcoholic drinks11 days – 16 daysMore alcoholic drinksMore from ThailandMore from Laos

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceA laboratory batch from Rattanasuk and colleagues (2026), whose starters came from sato makers in Roi Et and Yasothon. Village brewers work by eye.
100 gBlack glutinous rice · Soaked overnight, steamed 40 min in muslin, cooled[rattanasuk2026]
About 250 mLWater, sprinkled over the cooked rice · Loosens the grains[rattanasuk2026]
6 gLoog-pang, finely ground · Rice flour, herbs and spices, with powder from an earlier batch[rattanasuk2026]
500 mLWater, added after the sweet stage[rattanasuk2026]
Starterkoji/qu/mold-starter (loog-pang)

Total time across the recorded steps: 11 days – 16 days

Start
Drag the bar or press Play

What changes: Soaked glutinous rice is steamed in cloth until soft

Step 1 of 7
Soak and steam the glutinous rice
Time
40 min
Measured
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Moulds
Yeasts

Output: steamed sticky rice.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

Sato is fermented in two stages in one jar. The rice is first left solid so the moulds of loog-pang make a sweet syrup, and only then is water added for the yeasts. Thai law defines sato as undistilled liquor of glutinous rice fermented with loog-pang, at no more than 15 degrees.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Lao hai / ouFermented solid in small earthenware jars and drunk through bamboo straws, with water topped up as the level falls.
  • Khao makThe same rice and mould starter stopped at the sweet stage and eaten as a semi-solid, sweet, mildly alcoholic dessert.
  • Black glutinous rice satoMade from pigmented rice, which is rich in phenolic compounds and anthocyanins.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Under Thailand's Liquor Act of 1950, sato is defined as undistilled liquor made from glutinous rice fermented with loog-pang, of no more than 15 degrees alcohol.

  1. [rattanasuk2026] Rattanasuk S., Thinthapthai K., Khamthawi N. 2026, Development of a functional loog-pang starter using selected yeast and fungal strains for black glutinous rice sato fermentation, The ScientificWorldJournal 2026:e2063235, doi:10.1155/tswj/2063235paper
  2. [nienvitoon2025] Nienvitoon S., Bhanityanakorn K., Rongthong A., Potasin W. 2025, Using Pathumthani native plants Khao Hom Pathum and lotus petal for sato production, Recent Science and Technology 17(2):261091 (citing the Excise Department for the legal definition)paper
  3. [fao1999] Haard N.F. et al. 1999, Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138, chapter 3 (loog-pang microbes, citing Pichyangkura and Kulprecha 1977; khaomak)gov
  4. [WP:Sato (beverage)] Wikipedia, Sato (beverage) (outline only)wiki