That's the spirit: international markets acquire a taste for Chinese 'baijiu' wine

Baijiu is the most consumed spirit in the world. Known as China’s national drink, it is used to “ganbei” (the Chinese equivalent of “cheers”) during every special occasion, from weddings to business banquets. It’s what Mao Zedong and his comrades drank to toast the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. Today, vintage bottles of this fiery grain-based spirit sell at auction for hundreds of thousands of dollars – an 80-year-old “Lay Mau” distilled by Kweichow Moutai sold for a record 1.97 million yuan (HK$2.24 million) in July.

But outside China, baijiu remains largely unknown. While an estimated 10 to 17 billion litres of the grain-based liquor, also confusingly known as Chinese wine, are downed on the mainland every year, only a tiny fraction reaches overseas markets.

This is set to change. China’s state-owned producers, along with boutique baijiu brands, are setting their sights on bringing baijiu to the world, and everyone from international drinks companies to bartenders thinks it’s a good idea. But even so, baijiu may not be an easy sell, as it is an acquired taste. The aromas can lurk around the industrial end of the spectrum, and the flavours can include rotten fruit and funky floral. That’s not to mention the throat-stripping 40 to 60 per cent alcohol content of the spirit.

Still, even expats based in China, who are traditionally thought to revile the stuff, are jumping on the baijiu bandwagon. Two foreigners set up the world’s first baijiu-themed bar, Capital Spirits, in Beijing in 2014, and Jim Boyce, also a Beijing resident, started World Baijiu Day a year later. Boyce now celebrates the spirit every August 9 with partners in more than 30 cities.

“Cities in the US, UK and Australia, cities with diverse food and drink scenes, have been the most supportive so far,” says Boyce.

This year, World Baijiu Day events included a Chinese appreciation society teaming up with an organic ice cream company to make baijiu-infused gelato in Stockholm, Sweden, while in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, a craft brewery from Tianjin took baijiu to a tiki bar to use in cocktails.

Boyce says that only small producers, such as Yimuquan from Hebei province and Jiangxianghe from Anhui province, have shown interest in helping to build baijiu as a category outside China. Overseas brands, such as Taizi in New Zealand and Vinn in the US, as well as brands that source China-made baijiu but focus on overseas markets, such as Confucius Wisdom and Ming River, have also been open to working together.