Overview: Chinese baijiu producer Guotai has launched two whiskies made using traditional baijiu fermentation methods and matured in bourbon casks. The Shang range went on sale Sept. 12 in Guangzhou, marking the company’s first whisky offering for the domestic market.
The Full Story
The Guotai Shang range went on sale Sept. 12 in Guangzhou, with a 50% alcohol sauce-aroma whisky priced at 429 yuan (US$63.90) per bottle and a 46% alcohol sauce-and-malt-aroma version priced at 318 yuan (US$47.52). The whiskies are jointly produced by Guotai’s parent company, Tianjin Tasly Health Industry Investment Group Co., Ltd., and US-based Maritime Brands Inc., with Guotai providing technical supervision.
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Renhuai, Guizhou province, Guotai is a prominent Chinese producer of sauce-aroma baijiu. Its sales revenue exceeded RMB 4 billion (US$595.83 million) in 2024, while annual base spirit production reached 20,000 tonnes. As its baijiu business faces pressure and competition increasingly centres on winning market share rather than expanding overall demand, Guotai has begun branching into other spirits categories, including whisky.
The company’s whisky initiative dates to early 2025, when it began working with US-based True Essence Foods (TEF) to develop a sauce-aroma whisky. In June 2026, SHĀNG, a brand developed in partnership with TEF, launched in Kentucky. The newly released Guotai Shang range is the company’s first whisky offering for the Chinese domestic market.
Production & Profile
Unlike conventional whisky production, which primarily uses liquid fermentation, Guotai Shang employs the solid-state fermentation process used in Chinese baijiu. According to information about the product, its sauce-aroma whisky begins with solid-state fermentation using Maotai town’s high-temperature daqu, a traditional fermentation starter. The spirit undergoes multiple distillations and ageing in ceramic vessels before being shipped to Kentucky for maturation in bourbon oak casks.
Brand & Industry History
Guotai is far from the first Chinese baijiu producer to enter whisky. Several leading producers have announced whisky strategies in recent years, and some have already brought products to market. They include Langjiu, which is building its own whisky estate at Mount Emei; Yanghe, which has partnered with Diageo on whisky products; Luzhou Laojiao, which has collaborated with KYLIN Spirits Group; and Gujing, which is developing a distillery with France’s Camus.
What This Means
The push into whisky by Chinese baijiu and ready-to-drink producers reflects the category’s development in China. As Vino Joy News previously reported, in markets with an established appetite for imported spirits, such as Fujian, whisky is moving beyond personal consumption and onto banquet tables. Import figures also show growth. China imported 35,835,965 litres of whisky worth US$445,416,561 in 2025, increases of 70.25% and 84.12%, respectively, compared with 2020.
Consumer Takeaway
The range will be available through brand flagship stores on JD.com, Tmall and Douyin. Offline sales will run through distributors serving the group-purchasing market in provincial capitals.
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