Chinese liquor baijiu takes a shot at the US cocktail scene

Lumos carries a full range of baijiu, including the No 1 brand, Kweichow Moutai, recognizable by its distinctive packaging of a white bottle with a red and gold label. Other major players include Wu Liang Ye and Shui Jing Fang. A newer brand is HKB, designed with cocktails in mind and bottled at a relatively mild 86 proof. There also is a US-produced baijiu, from Vinn, a distillery just south of Portland, Oregon.

Most of the $23 billion baijiu market stays in China, though there's been growing interest in exporting. Most of the baijiu imported to the US goes to Chinese restaurants and shops. But about two years ago, CNS Imports decided to expand their reach. "We looked at each other and said, 'Why aren't we introducing this category of spirits to people outside the Chinese community?'" says Liu.

They've moved slowly, introducing the spirit to bartenders and learning, from experience, to work with rather than mask the unique flavors. "Instead of trying to mask the spirit and make it into something it isn't, like vodka, they're essentially creating and building a cocktail around the spirit," says Liu.

Clearly, there's a push to raise the profile of baijiu in the West. Whether it will be successful is another story. Baijiu has an exotic appeal which is both a weakness and a strength, says Jim Boyce, who blogs about Beijing nightlife at beijingboyce.com.

"Baiju is such a novelty and that's going to be its challenge, going from 'Yes, I tried it once and it's interesting,' to something people buy regularly or even stock at home."

Chinese traditionalists wouldn't dream of drinking baijiu anything but neat and in very small glasses, which is how Kathy Fang serves it at her family's FANG restaurant in San Francisco's bustling SOMA district.

Meant to go with food, baijiu pairs well with savory bites, such as Fang's fried pork confit eggrolls, and it's been a surprising hit with tech workers who tend to be open to new tastes, says Fang.

"If you tell them it's really strong like moonshine they're even more like, 'Oh, I want to try,'" says Fang.