I went to a bar last week that hires all its music performers on full-time contracts and then writes music for the bands to play and sells the music to feature on commercials so that they make royalties. Is that a bar? Is it a record label? Something else? Whatever it is, there are now seven of them across Shanghai and more franchising into surrounding cities. I think the big point here is that whatever China does next is totally unknown to anyone outside of China, especially when it comes to commercial innovations in making cocktails more broadly approachable to a wider consumer audience, or in bringing cocktails into more diverse consumer contexts.
Movie theaters, shopping malls, subway stations, your home - China is doing it all, and more importantly is not sacrificing on quality when bringing cocktails into any of these new environments. The winner of China's cocktail revolution isn't going to be the bar that succeeds in making the best cocktail. It's going to be the bar that successfully brings cocktails to a billion new drinkers.
