China Focus: China's traditional liquor brewing industry embraces digital transformation

Foreign guests tries ethnic dances with local performers in Maotai Town, Renhuai City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 29, 2025. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)

GUIYANG, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- In southwest China's Guizhou Province, which is famed for its signature sauce-aroma liquor, a centuries-old craft is embracing a new companion: artificial intelligence (AI).

Distillers here are turning to data and algorithms to decode the intricacies of traditional brewing, aiming to precisely control the subtle variables that define a perfect bottle of baijiu, China's fiery grain liquor.

Kweichow Moutai is China's leading liquor producer and has been at the forefront of this transformation. Its traditional sauce-aroma brewing technique, a form of national intangible cultural heritage, is being reimagined through data-driven production.

In 2021, the company launched a machine-learning project to digitize its brewing process, creating a closed-loop data chain that covers data collection, storage, analysis and application in pilot workshops.

The initiative followed Moutai's earlier "smart Moutai" program, which introduced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data and AI for real-time monitoring and analysis across its production lines.

"The data turned our master brewers' experience into visible numbers," said Tian Shaorun, a technician at the pilot workshop. "It helps us control temperature and raw materials mixing more precisely, improving both the output and quality of the base liquor."

Moutai's success has spurred a wave of digital transformation across China's broader liquor industry.

At the recent 2025 Chishui River Forum in Maotai Town, liquor producers, researchers and international experts gathered to discuss how digital technologies are reshaping the traditional spirits sector.

King's Luck, a liquor producer based in east China's Jiangsu Province, began operating an intelligent brewing workshop as early as 2015. "Digitalization in the liquor industry was not about subverting tradition, but about using technology to safeguard craftsmanship," Hu Yuewu, the company's deputy general manager, said at the forum.

According to Hu, the intelligent workshop has increased production efficiency by 2.75 times, raised the annual per capita output by 390 percent, and reduced energy consumption by 40 percent compared with traditional methods.

In Guizhou, liquor producer Kweichow Zhen has partnered with the local branch of China Unicom to build an intelligent baijiu-blending platform. Using AI and big data, the project turns what was once a manual and experience-based practice into an intelligent, data-driven science.

The digital shift is also reshaping how consumers experience liquor. 1919 Wines & Spirits Platform Technology Co., Ltd., which is a direct supply platform based in Sichuan, plans to launch an AI-powered interface to its app to provide personalized recommendations and rapid delivery services. And King's Luck has built immersive exhibition spaces using XR and VR technology, allowing visitors to take virtual tours of its scenic brewery.

Numerous companies across China are accelerating their digital transformation efforts. According to the China Internet Development Report 2024, the country now has nearly 10,000 digitalized workshops and intelligent factories. Of that number, more than 400 have been recognized as national-level benchmark factories in the field of smart manufacturing, utilizing technologies such as AI and digital twins.

The Chinese government's emphasis on integrating the real economy with the digital economy has provided strong support for the liquor industry's digital transformation.

In October, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a draft guideline to promote the high-quality development of classic historical industries (2026-2030) -- including brewing -- to encourage heritage preservation, innovation and industrial upgrading.

"Technological innovation has become the core driver of the industry's transformation and upgrading," said He Yong, secretary general of the China Alcoholic Drinks Association.

Digitalization has breathed new life into the time-honored craft of liquor making, from intelligent brewing and blockchain-based traceability to AI-powered marketing, turning experience into science, He added. ■

A foreign guest (1st L) tastes a kind of local liquor in Maotai Town, Renhuai City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Oct. 29, 2025. (Xinhua/Yang Wenbin)