When people think of baijiu going abroad, they tend to picture bars and tasting events in Europe or North America. Yet across Africa and Asia, too, baijiu is making new friends. The story of that friendship might well begin with a single grain of sorghum.
The long journey of sorghum
Sorghum is the most important grain in Chinese baijiu. Strong-aroma, sauce-aroma and light-aroma styles nearly all depend on it 3. Few people realise that the plant's homeland is Africa. Archaeological and botanical research broadly agrees that sorghum was first domesticated in north-eastern Africa and later spread, by several routes, to South Asia and then East Asia 12. Exactly when and how it reached China is still debated.
In Africa, too, sorghum has deep ties to drink. In many parts of southern Africa, sorghum, maize and other grains are still brewed into traditional fermented beverages that are shared at weddings, ceremonies and festivals. One grain has produced quite different flavours on two continents, and in both places it carries the same idea of sharing. When baijiu arrives at an African dinner table today, it is in a sense sorghum coming home.
Asian tables, shared manners
In Asia baijiu's new friends often find it familiar. Large Chinese communities across Southeast Asia keep a bottle on the table for Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn reunion dinners. Japan and Korea have distilling traditions of their own, and customs such as small cups, pouring for elders and lowering the rim of your cup when you toast echo Chinese drinking manners closely enough that newcomers feel at home.
For anyone meeting baijiu for the first time, a little advice helps. Baijiu is strong, so use small cups and sip; there is no need to empty the glass in one go. It is best enjoyed slowly with food: smell it first, then taste, and notice the layers of grain and pit aroma. A ganbei toast is a gesture of goodwill, not a test.
Qifu, far from home
Qifu has been distilling at the foot of the Longmen Mountains in Mianzhu for decades, and today it exports to Europe, Africa and Asia. Shun Tun, our export bottling at 52% vol in 500 ml, is listed at Systembolaget in Sweden. The red bottle and gold calligraphy of Bainian Qifu · 8 carry a Chinese sense of celebration to tables far away.
However far the spirit travels, the method is still the one used at home: pure grain, solid-state fermentation in yellow-mud pits under a red-grain cap, and ageing in clay jars. The name Qifu means "blessings, all together." Whatever rooftop the cups are raised on, we hope that wish comes through. Wherever you are, pour small, sip slowly and drink responsibly.
