China’s Moutai Wants to Satisfy All Your Cravings

livemint.com:

China’s most valuable liquor brand is pouring on the charm with its new marketing campaign targeting younger Chinese. Moutai’s new offerings may or may not stick. But the company’s traditional liquor business will probably keep raking in cash at a high level, even if the Chinese economy’s woes persist.

Kweichow Moutai—the second most valuable listed Chinese company—has created a buzz on social media lately with its bold tie-ups with other food brands. Its liquor-filled chocolates—a collaboration with the Mars-owned Dove brand—sold out immediately after their launch over the weekend. Around two weeks earlier, the company debuted its Moutai-infused latte at Luckin Coffee.

The Chinese chain said it sold 5.42 million cups of the new concoction on its launch day. Such boozy innovations aren’t usually what people think of when they mention Moutai, a fiery variety of baijiu, a spirit distilled from fermented sorghum. The liquor brand has long been considered a status symbol in China, served in national dinners and banquets.

Its premium variety Moutai Flying Fairy, with 53% alcohol, sells for around $400 for a half-liter bottle. Some rarer or older bottles could sell for several times more. Coffee and chocolates aren’t the first outside-the-box products from Moutai.

The company launched liquor-infused ice cream last year, and the icy treat—with a kick—has apparently done pretty well. Moutai’s revenue from its “other business" segment, which represents its non-liquor sales and includes its hotel operations, quadrupled year on year in the first half of 2023. But it still only accounted for 0.3% of its total revenue.