Tsingtao Whisky, China's first whisky brand with a 114-year history, has entered the South Korean market, the company announced Tuesday.
The brand began selling exclusively at Lotte Duty Free on Sept. 21, offering five expressions: Mongolian oak (Mizunara), Oloroso sherry, wine, bourbon and cognac cask.
Founded in Qingdao, China, in 1912, Tsingtao Whisky's distillery predates Japan's Suntory Yamazaki distillery by more than a decade, making it Asia's first whisky distillery. The brand is currently part of the Tsingtao Brewery Group.
The whisky uses high-quality Canadian barley, water sourced from Qingdao and a proprietary yeast selected for its Eastern characteristics. Only the "heart" cut — roughly 18 percent of the distillate — is used in production.
"Rather than introducing a single flagship product when bringing Tsingtao Whisky to Korea for the first time, we wanted consumers to be able to experience five different expressions at once," a representative of importer Black Stella Trading said.
spa@heraldcorp.com
