The year the world didn't have whisky

While Qingdao Distillery is now known for its beer, the brand originally created China's first locally produced whisky, brandy and sparkling wine. (We have no way of knowing how they taste, but if anyone treasures them, we'd be more than happy to do a taste test for you.)

Let's fast-forward to the 1980s, when whiskies were produced all over the country in places like Beijing, Jilin, Shandong and Guangdong. They also had some really great names like Five Sheep Whisky and Panda Whisky. Interestingly, even Moutai (China's most famous baijiu producer, the "national drink" and the world's most valuable spirits brand) jumped on the malt train with its own whisky brand in the 1990s. But ultimately none of these brands flourished, allowing subsequent imports of whisky to take root in China.