Pernod Ricard is poised to roll out the first Chinese single malt in its US$150 million bet to convert nation’s baijiu drinkers to whisky

Pernod Ricard is upping the ante in its 1 billion yuan (US$150 million) investment to convert China’s drinkers from baijiu rice liquor to malt whisky, as it gets ahead of its larger rival Diageo in the world’s biggest market for alcohol beverages.

The company will launch the first Chinese single malt whisky called The Chuan, a tribute to the rivers that cut through Sichuan province in south-western China. The whisky will be released in a limited edition of 100 casks next month to private clients including members of Pernod Ricard’s Le Cercle programme and other high-net-worth collectors.

Bottles are on their way, subject to the outcome of China’s whisky standard, in which Pernod Ricard is playing a part to help establish, said the company’s Asia chairman Philippe Guettat, declining to provide price details.

“We will first aim to sell to the high-net-worth and middle-class customers in mainland China,” Guettat said in an interview with South China Morning Post. “The first bottles will come to the market in the near future, depending on the master distiller’s decisions about ageing, and the outcome of the Whisky Standard of China. When things go well, we will start to sell to other Asian and international markets.”

The Paris-based company, founded nearly half a century ago around its aniseed-flavoured aperitif Pernod, is the world’s second-largest producer of wine and spirits, with a portfolio of whiskies including the Speyside single malts Glenlivet, Longmorn and Aberlour, as well as the blended whiskies Chivas Regal and Royal Salute.