Late in 2025 our very own Billy Abbott headed to China, taking in one of the most exciting emerging whisky nations and exploring one of its leading distilleries: Laizhou.
"Sichuan, in southwest China, is not new to making alcoholic drinks. The home of strong aroma baijiu, the most popular style of the country’s national spirit, the province has a centuries-long history of alcohol production. The area around Chengdu is dense with baijiu producers. Nearby Qionglai has a wide array of producers, from boutique distillers to gigantic, town-sized operations producing some of China’s best-known spirits. Hidden among the baijiu makers is Laizhou, a newer entry into China’s whisky arena, but one that is already making waves internationally.
While only founded in 2021, the distillery was built with big ambitions, and the past few years have seen rapid growth. It opened its own cooperage in 2023 and a visitors centre and whisky museum in 2024. The plans include warehouse space for a million casks of whisky and distilling operations for brandy, plus apartments, a hotel, a spa and even a basketball court. Laizhou is a very different prospect to distilleries in other parts of the world.
On the whisky front, the comparatively tiny production area packs a lot into its space. There are both pot and column stills, producing both malt and grain whisky, with the latter key to the production of Laizhou’s most popular products: Blender 22 and Blender 66, blended Chinese whiskies focused on the home market. However, it’s the malt whisky which is now starting to make its way out into the wider world."