Langkau is a clear spirit made by distilling tuak, the rice wine of Borneo. It is made mainly by Dayak communities in Sarawak, often at home, and it is usually somewhere between 30% and 60% alcohol. Few batches are ever measured, so no two jars are quite the same.

How langkau is made

Langkau starts life as tuak. Glutinous rice is cooked, cooled and mixed with crushed ragi, a traditional fermentation starter, then sealed in jars to ferment — the same process we describe in how tuak is made.

At that point the tuak can be drunk as it is, or distilled. To make langkau, the tuak is heated until its alcohol turns to vapour, and the vapour is cooled and collected as a much stronger, clearer liquid. Distillation is typically done in stainless-steel tanks, though home producers may rely on a simple pot-and-wok setup.

How strong is langkau?

Langkau is usually somewhere between 30% and 60% ABV. That is a wide range, and it is wide for a reason: most langkau is home-brewed in small amounts and never measured. Its strength depends on how strong the tuak was to begin with, how long it is distilled, the still itself, and how much of the run the maker keeps — so it changes from maker to maker and batch to batch.

For comparison, tuak sits at a wine-like 11–17% — ours is labelled on every bottle (see how strong tuak is). Langkau is several times stronger. Treat it as a spirit: small measures, sipped, ideally with food.

Langkau in Dayak life

Langkau is drunk alongside tuak at the gatherings that matter most — weddings, funerals and festivals, above all Gawai, the Dayak harvest celebration in early June. During Gawai, guests are traditionally welcomed with tuak or langkau, and a host’s generosity is often judged by how much food and drink there is to go round.

What is langkau in English?

There is no direct English word. The closest description is a distilled rice spirit. If tuak is Borneo’s rice wine, langkau stands to it roughly as brandy does to grape wine: the same base, concentrated by distillation.

Is langkau safe to drink?

This is worth being honest about. Distilling a drink at home carries a risk that fermenting one does not. The World Health Organization notes that higher, harmful concentrations of methanol can form when distillation is managed badly — and that most poisonings come from methanol deliberately added to informally made or illicit spirits.

The practical advice is simple: drink langkau from someone you know and trust, avoid cheap unlabelled bottles from unknown sellers, and know the signs of methanol poisoning. We explain the full picture in does tuak contain methanol?

Does Tuak Atelier make langkau?

No. Tuak Atelier makes tuak — the fermented rice wine — and we don’t distil anything, so langkau isn’t part of what we make. For a side-by-side look at how the two relate to tapai, the fermented rice they both start from, see tuak vs langkau vs tapai.

Common questions

What is langkau? Langkau is a clear spirit made by distilling tuak, the fermented rice wine of Borneo. It is made mainly by Dayak communities in Sarawak, often at home.

How strong is langkau? Langkau is usually somewhere between 30% and 60% ABV. Most is made at home and never measured, so strength varies a lot from one batch to the next.

What is langkau in English? There is no direct English word for langkau. The closest description is a distilled rice spirit — it is to tuak roughly what brandy is to wine.

Does Tuak Atelier make langkau? No. Tuak Atelier makes tuak, the fermented rice wine, and does not distil anything.

Sources

  • The ABV Project, Regional spirits of South-East Asia: Malaysia — production, 30–60% ABV range, Gawai customs.
  • World Health Organization, Methanol poisoning outbreaks information note (July 2014) — distillation and adulteration risk.

If langkau has made you curious about where it all begins, start with what tuak is or browse the collection.