From September 20 to 21, on the eve of the 70^th birthday of New China, the 6^th Jar Sealing Cultural Festival was held by Guobao Lidu to celebratethe National Day. Lidu Sorghum 1308 was launched to the market, with only 13,960 bottles available per year.

The 800-year ancient cellar opens its door to distinguished guests

As a pioneer in immersive experience, Guobao Lidu has been respecting the “jar sealing culture” in the Chinese liquor circle. Nowadays, the four, or eight, famous liquor brands all organize jar sealing ceremoniesthat are charming in one way or another. For example, the jar sealing ceremonies held by Yanghe and LuzhouLaojiao almost set the standards in the industry.

Guobao Lidu opened its cellar in this autumn. For that matter, it invited Lian Bangchang, a famous liquor expert, to issue the “opening order”. His predecessors for the past six years have beenfamous liquor experts Zhong Jie, Wang Guiyu and Hu Yongsong, as well as Gao Yueming, the deceased liquor master, and further back Chinese liquor masters Qin Hanzhang, Shen Yifang, Zhou Henggang and Hua Lianhui, one of the founders of Maotai born in Linchuan, all of whom left their marks on the cellar.

In addition, guests invited to attend the 6th Jar Sealing Cultural Festival of Guobao Lidu included Jiang Xuelin, vice president of Jindong Group; famous liquor experts Liang Bangchang and Wang Guiyu;Full-time Vice President Liu Yuan and Secretary-general Qin Shunyao, who is also the founder of Yunjiu Media, of China Alcohol Circulation Association; Cheng Jingsong, deputy director of National Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center; Gao Jun, a chief liquor sommelier and liquor tasting master in China; Zhao Tong, editor-in-chief of Brewing journal.

Unique OTU in the ancient cellar dating back to in the Yuan Dynasty was unknown to the public

On the morning of September 20, Yang Tao, a postdoctoral fellow in the United States, core researcher of the National Engineering Laboratory of Rice and By-product Deep Processing, leader ofa first-level doctoral station specialized in food science and engineering and food biotechnology, and professor of Central South University of Forestry and Technology, first applied the genetic engineering technology to study Chinese liquor and published a report titled “The Formation Mechanism of Fragrance in Guobao Lidu Over Right Hundred Years”.

According to Professor Yang, of the 12 liquor flavors including Maotai-flavor, Luzhou-flavor, Fen-flavor, and rice-flavor, only Lidu’s ancient cellar dating back to the Yuan Dynasty is detected to have the unique “Operational Taxonomic Units” (OTUs), which are the only known OTUs that can survive and metabolize under ambient temperature conditions.

The liquor produced by “OTUs” contains n-propanol and ethyl propionate, and is more typical than Maotai-flavor liquor. Professor Yang’s team speculates that this is the important reason to explain the compound fragrance ofthe typical roasting scent (fruit scent, kiwi scent, etc.) and the aged fragrance in Lidu Sorghum.

2019 Concours Mondialde Bruxelles winner Lidu Sorghum 1308 is launched to the market

Lidu Sorghum 1308 stood out from 1,750 liquor samples and won the Grand Gold Medal of the 2019 Concours Mondialde Bruxelles. Guobao Lidu became the only liquor brand that owned 2 Grand Gold Medals after Lidu Sorghum 1955 received the honor with 53-degree Feitian Maotai in 2015.

As the Chinese liquor master Wang Guiyu put it, Lidu won the highest prize in the international spirits competition twice: it might be considered a dark horse in the first winning in 2015, but it has definitely become a swift horse in the liquor industry that excels this time. 

Lidu Sorghum 1955 has gone through 12 price increases from RMB 280 to RMB 800 now, but still only 4,600 bottles are available per year. Its sales doubled in the very month when its price was increased to RMB 800, but it was still a hard-to-get product in the market.

The number in the name Lidu Sorghum 1308 was the assumed year when the ancient cellar dating back to the Yuan Dynasty was born.  Lidu Sorghum 1308 and Lidu Sorghum 1955 are “twin towers” in the brand’s product line. A single bottle of Lidu Sorghum 1308 is sold at RMB 2,280, which is far higher than the prices of Maotai, Wuliangye, Yanghe, and Jiugui liquor. Jindong Group marketed only 13,960 bottles of Lidu Sorghum 1308 this time, which means every 100,000 persons own only one bottle.

Even better immersive experience

“Good liquor is stored in good cellar, and good cellars are located in Jiangxi!” said Liu Yuan, full-time vice president ofChina Alcohol Circulation Association.

“Innovations” have been made in past 6 jar sealing festivals organized by Guobao Lidu, making it a major cultural highlight in the Chinese liquor industry. Exploring the cellars of national level liquor is an upgrade of the “immersive experience” provided by Lidu Liquor Co., Ltd. 

The core liquor storage cellars of Guobao Lidu are located in dozens of rock caves with constant temperature and humidity. The caves maintain a constant temperature of about 18℃ and relative humidity below 60% all the year round, and they are guarded for 24 hours a day.