UNLABELLED: Chinese rice wine (CRW), characterized by its extensive history, nutritional richness, and wide popularity among consumers, but the presence of biogenic amines (BAs) and higher alcohols, which are considered potential health risks, will severely limit CRW development. However, there are few studies on the dynamic monitoring of BAs and higher alcohols in CRW. This study dynamically monitored the changes in physicochemical properties, BAs and higher alcohols of CRW during fermentation. Among the measured BAs, tryptamine attained the highest concentration, with 189.90 mg L SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10068-024-01754-2.