Last year, the U.S. imported some $462.8 billion worth of goods from China. One thing virtually absent from those shipping containers stocked with Chinese products? Baijiu: China’s national alcohol. Outside China, baijiu languishes in obscurity. Inside China, baijiu sits at...
The company that makes China’s eye-wateringly strong Moutai drink is edging out Diageo (DEO), the owner of Johnnie Walker, as the world’s most valuable liquor firm. Kweichow Moutai, whose fiery signature product has an alcohol content of 53%, hit a...
When Chinese President Xi Jinping started to tackle official displays of excess more than three years ago, one local company suffered more than the others. Kweichow Moutai, whose pricey grain liquor became a staple of state banquets and a typical...
Brand Finance released its annual report on the most valuable beer and spirit brands, and for the first time, baijiu (bye-j’oh) labels came out on top, with a brand value market share of 37.5 percent and combined value of over...
Baijiu, the fiery Chinese alcoholic drink, has overtaken Whisky to become the world’s most valuable spirit, according to Brand Finance. Baijiu’s share of total brand value grew from 23% in 2016 to 37.5% in 2017. The surge saw the Chinese...
Unlike tequila or vodka, baijiu (白酒 báijiǔ), which literally means “clear liquor,” has yet to become popular in the West. To the unfamiliar palate, baijiu can smell and taste quite strong, and Dan Rather once compared its taste to “liquid...
Some think that historiography is a science more or less like ballistics; that the careful plotting of where a phenomenon has been enables you to predict where it is going. If only the world were thus! The future, as history...
It’s the most widely drunk hard liquor in the world but it’s rarely found on cocktail menus. Baijiu, distilled from sorghum and rice, rules every festive occasion in China, where it’s the tipple of choice for everything from wedding receptions...
As spirits go, baijiu (BYE-joe), which is Chinese for “white spirit,” must suffer from a serious inferiority complex in the U.S. While it holds a roughly 38 percent share in global spirits consumption, it has yet to take America by...
In China, there is an alcohol that’s been credited with improving international relations and uniting opposing empires. Described as the “drink of diplomacy,” it takes five years to produce a single bottle, and for nearly 400 years it has been...
The most-consumed spirit in the world—one that represents 35 percent of total global consumption—is a high-proof potable that few people outside of Asia have heard of. It is baijiu, the “official” drink of China, a nation of 1.3 billion people,...
Baijiu, the country’s home-grown firewater, accounts for more than a third of all spirits volumes drunk globally and more than a quarter of sales value. And while it’s gone through a tough few years in the wake of President Xi...