Can baijiu, China’s sorghum firewater, go global?

DISTILLERS AT Kweichow Moutai, the world’s most valuable alcoholic-drinks firm, like to tell an old story about their company’s first big break. It relates how, in 1915, Chinese officials chose to exhibit Moutai’s sorghum-based spirit at an exposition in San Francisco. When the doors opened the snooty American audience sneered at the delegation’s plain earthenware jars. Fearing disaster, or perhaps simply by accident, a Chinese delegate smashed one on the floor, releasing its aroma to the crowd. The scent and the commotion attracted the judges, who eventually awarded it a top prize.