Spirited away in Shanghai: businessman tackles country’s top tipple

I was introduced to Moutai in 1982 on one of my very first trips to Shanghai, China. I was the guest of a client and a local government official then.

Moutai is a sorghum-based spirit and China’s top brand of baijiu, or “white alcohol”. The liquor, often served on official occasions and at state banquets, is considered a luxury item and has long been a popular gift.

China was a very different country over 30 years ago than it is today.

The tallest building in Shanghai at that time was the Peace Hotel. Pudong was nothing more than open space and an agricultural area. There were few cars and thousands of bicycles everywhere.

I was picked up at the old Shanghai airport and whisked away to a dinner which was hosted by my sponsors and which was held in one of the few Chinese restaurants open to foreigners. There, a large banquet was arranged in my honor.

I was served dish after dish of Chinese delicacies and traditional Shanghai-style food which I never had tried before.

The food was a far cry from the food I was accustomed to in Hong Kong, and a huge improvement from the socalled Chinese food I used to eat in the United States.

The hosts knew I enjoyed wines, so during the course of the banquet they were proud to introduce me to Moutai.

When the liquor was served to me I was overwhelmed by the scent and the high level of alcohol — most of all, the burning sensation when I drank my glass!

We went around the table of more than 20 guests quaffing Moutai, with ganbei, the bottoms-up toast, repeated again and again.

In order not to offend my hosts, I kept pace with the toasts. So needless to say at the end of dinner, I was completely smashed and had a very big hangover the next day!

As I continued to do business in China, I quickly learned the custom of drinking Moutai. Now, whenever I drink, I am careful that I don’t try to outdrink my hosts!

I have come to enjoy the drink and have learned to differentiate the good from the bad.

As with other alcoholic beverages such as wine, tequila and whiskey, there is a wide range in the quality of Moutai Group’s products. It can be aged and blended and bottled very elaborately.

The best comparison for me with Moutai would be tequila.

As you become acquainted with tequila, there is a variety of taste and quality that goes with many elements, including the year of production, the aging and alcohol content, and I have found Moutai to be the same.

After 35 years of business in China and hundreds of banquets and dinners there and in the US, I have had my fair share of Moutai.

China has changed tremendously since my early days of drinking Moutai.

Other beverages have now been introduced as part of a dinner or banquet to the nation.

You can now have the finest wines in the world for dinner and all other forms of liquors have been introduced into the world’s second economy.

However, the tradition of Moutai, the hospitality, the sincerity and friendship still live on. I welcome a shot of Moutai now and then.

I now have a more refined taste for the drink which has made me spoiled. I will enjoy a bottle of Moutai with my hosts, as long as it is a great bottle! largest The author is a senior vicepresident and head of the China service at Kidder Mathews, a commercial real estate company based in San Francisco.