Diageo, the world's largest spirits producer, is on a mission to satisfy China's thirst for Scotch whisky and baijiu white spirits.
 
Sam Fischer, head of Diageo's greater China and the Asia-Pacific operations, has "great confidence" in travel retail in markets such as Hainan Island in China.
 
"China is obviously an enormous consumer market," Sam Fischer, head of Diageo's greater China and Asia-Pacific business, stressed in a recent interview with Nikkei Asia. The British company describes the market as having an "enormous emerging middle class with an appetite for consumption."
 
Baijiu and Scotch are two key products for Diageo in China. While Chinese white sprits are the country's national liquor, Scotch still has few regular drinkers. "Scotch whisky is the opposite of baijiu, it's quite nascent in China, but growing really fast. ... People are getting interested in the category," Fischer said.
 
Diageo is working hard to "educate Chinese consumers" through its online "whiskey academy." Said Fischer: "We know that China loves to learn, and loves to experiment and experience, so you know we can see green shoots appearing in the development of Scotch whisky." The maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch and Smirnoff vodka also holds "whisky summits," in China -- dinners where influencers learn the finer points of the spirit from Scottish experts.