Johnnie Walker is no longer the world's most-valuable liquor maker according to market analysts. That title now belongs to China's Kweichow Moutai Co. as its market value reached $71.5 billion last week in Shanghai. Moutai is well known for its fiery drink, especially when it has an alcohol content of 53 percent.
Moutai, also known as the "drink of diplomacy," makes their famous baijiu drinks from sorghum and rice. The company has been exerting more than 50 percent of creating the drink than its usual pace. Surged of the shares were 55 percent more than last year and is incredibly twice the gain of Johnnie Walker, according to Bloomberg.
Shaun Rein of China Market Research told Money CNN, "They got smart. Perhaps they just don't have any real competitors." Moutai slashed its prices to halves in order to make it more affordable, and broaden its distribution channels for better accessibility. The branding, therefore, changed, making the drink more available to younger market segments of China than the government officials and businesspeople it initially has considered.
Moutai tried expanding its reach to international markets; however, it is met without any success. The company relies upon 95 percent market shares to the Chinese population. A 500 mL bottle of Moutai's baijiu costs $580.
Baijiu, being a hot drink, is stronger than the Japanese shochu and the Korean soju. It is also said that it's quite powerful than Western spirits like vodka. When U.S. President Nixon visited China for the first time, it was the drink served to him making the Moutai known as the diplomacy drink.
It is suggested that when one wants to drink baijiu, one should empty the shot of glass quite fast before one burns his mouth or throat with it. Afterward, the option goes whether the person wanted to down water first before chugging another glass of the drink.
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