Business | Barrelling along

Can whisky conquer Chinese palates?

Western spirit pedlars think so

Bottles of whisky at a shop at the Pernod Ricard SA Chuan Malt Whisky Distillery in Sichuan Province, China.
Photograph: Getty Images
|Emeishan, Sichuan

SICHUAN IS THE land of baijiu. The south-western Chinese province produces more of the throat-scorching grog than any other. Pernod Ricard wants to make it the land of whisky. In December the first batch of The Chuan Pure Malt, made at the French firm’s five-year-old distillery in rural Sichuan, went on sale. The company hopes to make its tipple as indispensable as baijiu at Chinese banquets.

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This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Barrelling along”

From the March 2nd 2024 edition

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