Chinese Whisky: The New Frontier

In just a few years, China has gone from importing whisky to making it. International giants, Chinese entrepreneurs and baijiu producers are all building distilleries. Here is the new map of Chinese whisky.

From buyer to maker

For years China was a market for Scotch and Japanese whisky, bought as gifts and served at business dinners. A new generation of drinkers then discovered whisky bars and highballs. The world's biggest drinks groups decided to make whisky in China itself, for Chinese drinkers and, one day, for the world.

The Chuan, Sichuan

In 2021 Pernod Ricard opened The Chuan (叠川) malt whisky distillery in Emeishan, at the foot of the sacred Mount Emei, the first fully operational malt whisky distillery in China by an international spirits group. Its first whisky was launched in 2023. The distillery sits in a green, humid valley known for its tea and Buddhist temples.

YunTuo, Yunnan

On 15 November 2024 Diageo unveiled the YunTuo (云拓) Single Malt Whisky Distillery in Eryuan County, Yunnan. The name joins "cloud", for Yunnan, and "exploration". The distillery sits high in the Yunnan highlands, near Erhai Lake, where altitude and climate shape a different kind of maturation.

Guqi, Anhui

In Bozhou, the Cognac house Camus has built the Guqi whisky distillery in partnership with the baijiu producer Gujinggong: East and West in one distillery. Bozhou is one of the historic capitals of baijiu, so the project brings whisky into the heart of Chinese distilling country.

Nine Rivers, Fujian

In the mountains of Longyan, Fujian, Nine Rivers is a single malt distillery backed by around 200 whisky lovers from around the world, with ambitions to become one of China's largest.

Chinese distilleries

Chinese distilleries are joining in from all over the country, some using local barley, like Holyland in Yunnan and Tianyoude in Qinghai, on the Tibetan plateau. In 2023 The Whisky Exchange became the first UK retailer to stock Chinese whisky, with malts from the Goalong distillery in Hunan.

What makes it Chinese?

Every whisky country finds its own voice in time. In China, the possible ingredients of that voice are already visible:

• **Climate:** from humid Sichuan to the high, dry plateau of Qinghai, maturation happens in very different conditions.
• **Barley:** local highland barley in Qinghai and Yunnan.
• **Casks:** experiments with Chinese oak, and with casks that held Chinese wine or other local drinks.
• **Know-how:** baijiu distillers bring centuries of experience with grain and fermentation.

The great question for the coming years is whether Chinese whisky will find its own identity, or simply imitate Scotland.

How to taste it

Young Chinese whiskies are often light, fruity and fresh. Taste them neat first, with a drop of water, then in a highball with soda and ice, the way many Chinese drinkers enjoy them.

In one sentence

In a handful of years, China has opened whisky distilleries from Sichuan to Fujian, and a new category of world whisky is being born.