The top five luxury Chinese liquor brands

Giving liquor as a gift is a popular practice throughout China and has long been considered a symbol of friendship, admiration and respect.

Maotai, one of the Chinese luxury liquor producers, reported net profit growth of 3.6% for the first half of 2013. That is the slowest growth since the company’s listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2001. The Shenzhen Daily reports that this slowdown reflects the Central Government resolve to tackle government overspending.

For a long time China’s luxury liquors were viewed as hard-to acquire and gained currency among China’s newly wealthy as the ultimate symbol of high social class and political power. The collecting of vintage Baijiu among China’s wealthy and corporate elite was not only viewed as an investment, but also an extension of one’s political connections.

The surging demand for vintage liquor made China’s two most famous high-end Baijiu brands, Maotai and Wuliangye, among the most valuable luxury brands, according to a report from The Hurun Research Institute last March. The Institute estimates Maotai’s brand value at US$12 billion and Wuliangye’s at $7 billion.

Click through the following pages to see the five most expensive liquors in China.

Guojiao 1573 Triple 60

Guojiao 1573 is produced by one of the best-known brands of Chinese liquor which has a brand history that can be dated back to 1573 and the Ming Dynasty. Guo Jiao 1573 “triple 60″ is Luzhou Lao Jiao group’s top luxury high-end custom liquor, a bottle of wine is priced up to 336,600 yuan (£34,500). It is a strong (more than 50% abv) but clear liquid with a sharp aroma of fermented peaches.

1960s Wuliangye

A bottle of Wuliangye brewed in the 1960s was sold for 980,000 yuan (£100,500) at a liquor auction fair in Hangzhou, on 2 January 2012. This product is made from sorghum, rice, glutinous rice, wheat, and corn, and is described as featuring “lasting flavours with luscious and refreshing tastes.”

Five Star Maotai

Five Star Maotai was made in 1955, and was sold for 1.26 million yuan (£130,000 ) at the Shanghai international commodity auction in 2011. Five Star Maotai offers an “exceptionally pure, mild, and mellow soy sauce-like fragrance.”

Lai Mao

At a Beijing Poly auction last June, an extremely rare 1930s vintage from the distiller Lai Mao, the company that eventually evolved into Maotai, sold for 2.6 million yuan (£266,000). The flavour is complex, which gives the product a unique style, and has a feeling that is “catchy, elegant and delicate” when you drink it.

Handi Maotai

Known as “liquor king”, Handi Maotai 55 degrees, and only 10 bottles are known to exist. One of the bottles, produced in 1992, presented at Guizhou Maotai’s first special auction in June 2011 eventually sold for 8.9 million yuan (£911,000). This product “embodies the cream of the National Wine. Like an imperial jade seal, the exterior packing box is formed, being classical and luxurious and it symbolises right and riches and honour.”