上月一中国买家收购维他麦公司(Weetabix)时，敲定协议的唯一方式是：拉菲(Chateau Lafite)和白酒。
现在，中国白酒即将来到英国。迄今仍未习惯喝这种烈性酒的外国人将白酒称为"火酒"。
富有的中国商人和消费者大量涌向伦敦，中国人喜欢拿着白酒与潜在商业伙伴推杯换盏的习俗，促使哈罗斯百货商店(Harrods)和塞尔福里奇百货公司(Selfridges)开始考虑销售白酒。
许多中国酿酒商计划最早于下月在伦敦上架销售他们的产品，其中包括中国第三大白酒制造商泸州老窖(Luzhou Laojiao)，以及帝亚吉欧(Diageo)控股的水井坊(Shui Jing Fang)。
泸州老窖副总经理孙跃(Leon Sun)表示，最初的目标顾客是海外华人。他补充称："根据我们的经验，西方人不是很喜欢我们产品的味道，因为太烈了。"
白酒的烈度无疑具有传奇色彩。众所周知，1972年美国总统理查德•尼克松(Richard Nixon)在开创性的访华之旅中得到这样的建议：远离白酒。
孙跃预计，销售主要将面向企业客户。他表示："这种酒有些贵，它并不便宜，我们可以把它视为白酒中的路易威登(LVMH)或Coach。"他指的是中国人钟爱的两个高档设计师品牌。
根据英国《金融时报》旗下《中国投资参考》(China Confidential)的数据，由谷物和水等原料酿造而成的白酒去年销售额超过600亿美元。高档白酒每瓶售价在150英镑以上，其中利润率高达80%，而伏特加和苏格兰威士忌等白酒的营业利润率仅有25%。
包括哈罗斯、塞尔福里奇和哈维•尼克斯(Harvey Nichols)在内的高端零售商全都表示，他们希望尝试销售白酒。哈罗斯负责葡萄酒和烈酒采购的乔•阿亨(Jo Ahearne)表示："如果它的味道和预期一样好，让人觉得有趣，在这里上架就没有什么障碍。"塞尔福里奇负责同样职务的道恩•戴维斯(Dawn Davies)准备下周去参加一个品酒会，看看白酒是否是"新的伏特加"。
伦敦多尔切斯特酒店(The Dorchester)里的餐厅唐人馆(China Tang)发现，"白酒之王"茅台极受店里中国顾客的欢迎。
酒吧经理朱利奥•阿莫迪奥(Julio Amodio)表示："外国人要的没那么多。它们太烈了。"阿莫迪奥将白酒与马提尼鸡尾酒混合在一起。
译者/何黎
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001044721
When a Chinese buyer swallowed up Weetabix last month there was only one way to seal the deal: Chateau Lafite and shots of bai jiu.
Now the Chinese liquor – called "firewater" by foreigners yet to acquire a taste for the potent tipple – is coming to Britain.
Well-heeled Chinese businessmen and shoppers are flocking to London and the cultural significance of performing a bai jiu toast with potential business partners has led Harrods and Selfridges to consider selling it.
Manufacturers including Luzhou Laojiao, China's third-biggest bai jiu maker, and Diageo-controlled Shui Jing Fang, plan for their products to be on London shelves as early as next month. Initially, it will be aimed at the Chinese diaspora, said Leon Sun, sales executive at Luzhou Laojiao. "In our experience, Westerners do not quite enjoy the taste of our products, because it's so strong," he added.
That strength is rightly legendary: President Richard Nixon was famously advised to steer clear of the liquor during his trail–blazing trip to Beijing in 1972.
Mr Sun expects most of the sales to be to companies. "This is something expensive, not cheap. We could see this as the LVMH or Coach of liquor," he said, referring to the high-end designer brands beloved of his countrymen.
Made from little more than grain and water, annual sales of bai jiu topped $60bn last year, according to the Financial Times' China Confidential. Premium brands sell for more than £150 a bottle. A huge gulp of that is pure profit: up to 80 per cent, compared to operating profit margins of 25 per cent on spirits such as vodka and Scotch whisky.
Top-end retailers including Harrods, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols, all say they are keen to give bai jiu a try. "If it tastes good for what it is supposed to be and is interesting, there's no barrier to entry here," said Jo Ahearne, wine and spirits buyer at Harrods. Dawn Davies, her equivalent at Selfridges, is heading to a tasting next week to find out if bai jiu is "the new vodka".
The China Tang restaurant at The Dorchester hotel in London has found Moutai – the king of bai jiu – is going down a treat with its Chinese patrons.
"We do not have such massive request for it from foreigners," says bar manager Julio Amodio, who has mixed the spirit into Martini cocktails. "They were powerful."
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