Baijiu spills out of China

Internationally, the drink is making gains among businessmen

Paul Mathew still remembers vividly the first time he tasted baijiu, the fiery white Chinese spirit. He was on a business trip to Yunnan in 2004. "Pungent" is the word he uses to describe the drink, and he did not appreciate it very much.

Today, however, he's become one of London's very few baijiu experts, and his bar, The Hide, will be hosting a day of creative baijiu-tasting and cocktail-making on Aug 8, which has been dubbed World Baijiu Day by organizers in Beijing.