<p>Chinese Korean ethnic rice wine (CKRW), a traditional fermented wine made from rice or corn, has antioxidant and antihypertensive activities. There is no report on the study of α-Dicarbonyl compounds (α-DCs) in CKRW currently. The sensitive UHPLC-MS/MS method based on a novel derivatization reagent 3-benzyl-2-oxo-4λ3-thiazolidine-4-carbohydrazide (BOTC). It was used to label three α-DCs, including glyoxal (GO), methylglyoxal (MG) and 3-deoxyglucoside (3-DG) in rice wine. The calibration curves obtained good linearity (R² &gt; 0.9997) and a relatively wide range of concentrations from 0.39 to 62.5&#xa0;µM. LOD were 25–50 fmol. GO, MG, and 3-DG were detected in CKRW for the first time. Then, ten kinds of rice wine were purchased from five suppliers for quantitative comparison. At the result, the contents of the three α-DCs had differences in these wines. 3-DG was higher than the other two α-DCs. The method provided a reference for the detection of α-DCs in other fermented alcoholic drinks.</p> Graphical abstract <p></p>