NEWS
TRADE FORUM: CHINESE BAIJIU NEEDS SOME MIXOLOGY CREATIVITY TO GO GLOBAL
By Tony Zhu
1-8-2024
Source: DrinkBaijiu.com
Chinese baijiu makers will have to come up with creative cocktail recipes using the firey liquor as an ingredient in order for the Chinese national drink to go global, said Campari China managing director Pauline Cha.
Speaking at the Food and Beverage Innovation Forum held recently in Shanghai, Cha said international consumers may find the way baijiu is consumed in China unpalatable.
Despite being the most popular spirit in China, and that the leading baijiu brand Maotai has been repeatedly named the most valuable spirits brand in the world, baijiu as a category is still far from being well known in the global market.
“The main challenge we faced here was in terms of the consumption occasion for baijiu, as in China this is usually considered an accompaniment to meals and drunk straight, whereas in the West liquor is usually consumed after meals instead,” Cha said.
“As such, we realised we need to find other ways to integrate into more international dietary habits – and found that we could draw many parallels with tequila, which is also a strong alcohol and was previously just the national liquor of Mexico like baijiu is to China before making it big,” she added.
In order to go global though, Cha highlighted two core factors baijiu needs to fulfil before hitting the international spotlight, namely emerging in a format that all consumers in most market will find acceptable, as well as being able to integrate itself into consumers’ daily use and consumption.
Campari thus combined its cocktail expertise based on deep experience with items such as negroni and the Aperol Spritz with baijiu from local giant Wuliangye, blending these to create the ‘Wugroni’ which is essentially a negroni made with baijiu instead of gin.
“The key to this whole strategy is really to remember to respect the various cultures in the various markets, and what matters to consumers,” Cha added.
“Every market has its own values and culture – and the idea is to target these and local consumption habits with this innovation, such as creating cocktails to reach local consumers via a new cocktail platform for a traditional spirit.”
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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