Barley wine "wine" on a beer label would displease regulators. In 1983, Sierra Nevada Brewing released Bigfoot Barleywine, becoming the second barley wine label in the United States. A barley wine typically reaches an alcohol strength of 8 to 12% by volume and is brewed from specific gravities as high as 1.120; equal to 320g/L of sugars. Use of the word "wine" is due to its alcoholic strength similar to a wine; but since it is made from grain rather than fruit, it is a beer. Breweries in the United States typically release it once a year during the autumn or winter.
Alcoholic drinks in China liquor, the seed mash described above can also be made to be eaten or drunk as a sweet dessert. Traditional Chinese medicine frequently employed alcoholic drinks (associated with yin) and alcoholic drinks were likewise used as medicine. Alcohol including extracts of plants, herbs, animal parts, or minerals are not as common as they once were but may still be encountered. One example of such a medicinal alcoholic drink is realgar wine: consumed during the Dragon Boat Festival, realgar wine consisted of "huangjiu" mixed with realgar, an arsenic sulfide also used as an insecticide. It appears in the Chinese legend of