China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Finding baijiu in some surprising places
World Baijiu Day, an event designed to make the rest of the world more aware of China’s most popular spirit, is officially on Aug 9, but bar events in several cities are beginning early this week. This is the second year for the celebration, organized by Beijing blogger Jim Boyce, and it inspired us to look beyond the week’s official events (www.worldbaijiuday.com) and see how the fabled Chinese liquor might be expanding its reach in unexpected places.
In Shanghai bars
Why is Chinese liquor a surprise in a Shanghai bar? Because in this case, we’re talking about American baijiu.
he most widely distributed brand produced in the United States, Bye Joe, has made its way back to the Chinese mainland, where its base liquor is sourced.
American Matt Trusch, a self-proclaimed lover of Chinese culture, spent about 15 years in Asia before returning to his native Texas after the birth of his third child.
Calling baijiu “the juice that keeps China running,” Trusch has long been convinced that the white liquor could find a place on global shelves if the alcohol level was lower than traditional mainland levels and if it was marketed as a cocktail base instead of a ganbeistyle shot drink.
His Bye Joe is 35 percent alcohol, a five-year-aged lightstyle baijiu from China, “which we filter three or four times to give you a cleaner liquor that’s a good fit for cocktail mixing”.
Targeting younger and especially female drinkers, he found that Chinese-Americans embraced Bye Joe as a song from home, especially his fruit-flavor infused brands.
“Dragon Fire, our most popular label, has notes of dragon fruit, litchi and peppercorn,” he says. “Litchi has a positive olfactory sense for most Asians. It reminds them of home, of being young, and it gives a feeling of connection with something inherent to them.”
That sense convinced Trusch that there was a market for his product in the Chinese mainland, where young drinkers shy away from the heavy, high-alcohol style of liquor their fathers favored.
In the past few months, several Western-style bars in Shanghai and Chengdu have featured Bye Joe cocktails, and Trusch was recently back in Shanghai to cultivate Chinese bars as well.
In your coffee
Pacific Coffee introduced coffee drinks with baijiu in 2011 after the company re-entered the China market a year earlier, when it was acquired by China Resources Enterprises. “Inspired by the traditional Chinese mainland ‘ ganbei’ culture, we wanted to create something that signifies our brand’s DNA of the ‘East meetssays company spokesperson Eugenie Kan.
After six months of trial and error, and a big promotion during China’s National Day holiday last year, the company has added five more flavors to its Chinese liquor coffee selection as promotional drinks. Two sets of hot drinks are based on yellow wine, including Hua Diao (in the “Blooming Flowers under the Full Moon” series) and Kuei Hua Chen (in the “Gentleman’s Desire” series), with hints of mocha or chocolate. Meanwhile, the stronger white Erguotou — made milder by blending with fruity flavors — underpins the “Tough Man with a Tender Heart” series that’s served cold.
These drinks are available in all mainland stores and selected stores in Hong Kong. Since launched, it was particularly well received in the western and the northern regions of China, especially cities like Xi’an, Chengdu and Shenyang.
In your burger
Baijiu is often considered too coarse for the dandy city of Shanghai these days. But when it comes to fusion, Shanghai is more than ready to seek adventure, as in the Carl’s Jr beef burger with baijiuinfused barbecue sauce. Created by the US fast-food chain to celebrate both its 75th anniversary and the upcoming Rio Carnival, it’s offered exclusively at its Shanghai outlets. The otherwise standard burger, now branded as Summer Moonlight, is served with less-than1-milliliter of the alcohol each. The idea is to get the burger “intoxicated” instead of the diner — and to make the beef milder and a little less greasy. The burger is available till the end of August, priced at 34 yuan ($5.12) or 50 yuan for a set.