Maotai ( Chinese trade. 茅臺酒 , ex. 茅台酒 , pinyin : máo tái jiǔ , pall .: Maotaiju ) is a Chinese strong drink ( baiju ), named after the town of Maotai (茅台 镇, pinyin: Máotái zhèn) in Guizhou province where it is made. The drink is produced by Kweichow Moutai Company. Maotai is made from sorghum . The strength varies from 35% to 53%.
History
The drink has been known since the Qing Empire [1] . The name Maotai appeared in northern China in 1704, and by the end of the Qing Dynasty (beginning of the 20th century ), the productivity of Maotai vodka factories was more than 170 tons.
In 1915, the three largest vodka producers in the Maotai region jointly presented their product at the Pacific International Fair. By negligence, several bottles of vodka were smashed. The spread of aroma so captivated visitors that the drink was awarded the main prize.
In 1951, the three largest plants were merged into a single state distillery "Maotai". From this began the modern history of the production of famous vodka.
Under Mao Zedong, maotai became almost mandatory at official government banquets in Beijing and presentations abroad. It is the "national drink" and "diplomatic drink" of China. Now in China it has appeared on open sale, and it is usually used in especially solemn occasions and at home: for the holidays , during weddings, etc. However, due to the fact that demand far exceeds supply, the price of Maotai remains stably very high .
A spike in stock prices of the Maotai producer was observed in January 2014, after China’s Central Television showed a story in which Russian President Vladimir Putin mentioned this brand twice and spoke positively about Maotai vodka [2] .