American corn whiskey — commonly known as moonshine — will be available legally on the Chinese market by the end of 2008.
LS Moonshine, LLC, a Lansing, Michigan company, is in the process of building a whiskey distillery in Huarong County, Hunan Province.
Using a state-of-the-art German still, LS Moonshine, LLC will soon be capable of producing 90,000 liters of moonshine a year.
Traditionally bai jiu or other hard liquor is consumed at almost all weddings, festivals, parties, and banquets; and this is the market that LS Moonshine is targeting.
Tong Li, president of LS Moonshine LLC stated that in 2002, he and Ian Smiley — a Canadian expert on moonshine brewing and author of 'Making Pure Corn Whiskey' — went to China with a bottle of home brewed and distilled moonshine. At a local government welcome banquet, they opened the bottle and passed the liquor around and everyone present liked the taste. He added that it is almost like Chinese traditional bai jiu but smoother and with a hint of sweetness.