HKB founder Charles Lanthier, who lived in Shanghai for four years while working in the finance industry, sources his baijiu from China and re-distills it in Italy. Backers of HKB, or Hong-Kong Baijiu, include the French investment fund Weber Investissements.
About 100 locations in New York use it in cocktails, he said.
“You can bring the heritage, but you also need to adapt to a certain consumption mode,” Lanthier said. “Tequila in the U.S. is not drunk the same way it was drunk in Mexico 20 years ago.”
Matt Trusch, whose dragon fruit- and lychee-infused baijiu is served at two Disney World bars in Florida, started Byejoe after living in Shanghai for 12 years. Backers include former NBA star Yao Ming’s investment team, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper, and Trusch said the company is profitable after four years.
“What we’ve done that the baijiu companies didn’t manage to do is create a product for the young consumer,” Trusch said. “There’s a demand in the market that’s not filled.”
Byejoe’s website includes a recipe using Starbucks frappuccino, Frangelico, creme de cacao and Bittermens orange cream citrate. There also are commercials featuring Byejoe drinkers at a hip nightspot.
A place just like that is Lumos, where bottles of HKB, Kweichow Moutai and Wuliangye line the shelves. Lumos serves a Sesame Colada—baijiu mixed with mangosteen, white sesame paste, caramelized pineapple and agave.
Salicetti and partner Qifan Li opened the bar in June 2015, and now Salicetti teaches classes on mixing baijiu with prune, basil and fig.
“It’s an evolution,” he said. “We introduce cocktails in a fun way.”
Down the bar, Kayla Deaton agreed. The 27-year-old, who works in finance, learned about baijiu while studying in Shanghai.