“Not in a million years” is a commonly used hyperbole to emphasise that something is either impossible or very unlikely to happen. It’s a phrase that has been said to us (no exaggeration here at all) thousands of times over the last few years. Like many things at Nine Rivers, we love taking these things […]
Read More“Not in a million years” is a commonly used hyperbole to emphasise that something is either impossible or very unlikely to happen. It’s a phrase that has been said to us (no exaggeration here at all) thousands of times over the last few years. Like many things at Nine Rivers, we love taking these things that can’t be done and doing them. We are proud, and maybe a little smug, at how well we rise up to the challenges of doing business in China.
Today, we’re proud to announce the launch of a new series of articles that are going to cover the most popular reasons why some people didn’t believe that Nine Rivers Distillery was possible. Through this, we also are going to debunk many of the myths that Westerners beleive about doing business in China and therefore help inspire other people bring their business ideas to fruition.
This first article will cover acquiring the land and building on it.
Claim: If you’re neither a Fortune 500 nor a multinational company, you can’t buy land. If foreigners are involved or if you’re a startup, don’t even bother. not in a million years
There’s some truth to this and there’s also a lot of misunderstandings. Let’s start with the truth. You really can’t buy land in China. Irrespective of your nationality, your global status, whether you’re well established or a startup, there’s no such thing as the Western concept of land ownership in China.
All land belongs to either the state, or in more rural areas, is owned collectively by the community. However, land usage rights can be secured. This is kinda like what we might call a long-term lease in the West. So, to save confusion, lets call it a lease.
Land can be leased for between 40 and 70 years (depending on how the land is used) and at the end of the lease there are rights and procedures to renew.
We have a 50 year lease on our land which was purchased in a similar way to how a lease would be purchased in the West. A value is assigned to the land for that time period, that value is paid, and then a lease title document is handed over. The document is called “不动产证” and it looks like this:
Now let’s cover the other concerns, specifically, the “impossibility” of getting land by being a startup as opposed to being multinational or enormous like Diageo or Pernod Ricard. Obviously, this is a myth that getting the land is impossible. The proof is in the proverbial pudding. We’re a startup and we have land. Here’s a little more showing off with a photo of our lease title:
We’re not going to pretend this was easy, though. It’s not like anyone can just rock up to a government office and say “I’ll take one land lease to build a distillery, please”. It’s a long and challenging process that requires finding suitable land, a formal application to the government, a presentation of a credible business plan, an online auction, a bidding process, and a number of formal reviews with all levels of government from local community right up to the provincial board. Then, maybe, if you’ve satisfied a huge amount of requirements that make Western processes seem like a cakewalk, you can finally buy the lease on the land.
This is something we have heard many times. It’s a common Western opinion that construction standards and quality in China are vastly inferior to Western standards. not in a million years
Thanks to the general psychology of bad news being covered more than good news, we’ve all seen hundreds of pictures and read equally as many stories of buildings collapsing in China. But it seems that it happens more in China right? not in a million years
Let’s examine this more logically. When a country has the world’s largest population, and therefore has many more buildings, the statistical liklihood of the populous country having more buildings collapse is higher. So, for example, if 0.01% of all buildings collapsed – then the country with the most buildings therefore have more buildings collapse. Combine that with media fixation on disasters, and presto: a popular but untrue myth is born.
China has some of (if not THE) strictest rules and regulations around construction in the world. All are there for the safety and protection of the population. No doubt at least some of the readers have just scoffed, raised an eyebrow, and laughed this off as utter nonsense. There’s probably nothing we can say or do to change the mindset of those people “educated” by YouTube clickbait videos and tabloid journalism.
We know this first hand because we’re living it. We’re breathing it. But most importantly, we’re complying with it to be able to build our distillery.
Concrete for any serious licensed construction can only be supplied by licensed and regulated concrete batching plants, who have to submit samples of every single batch for government testing (none of that “mix it on site with a shovel and a mixer” nonsense). Steel is heavily regulated in terms of standards and national level pricing. Once concrete and steel are secured, the design, architecture, and excavation all require unparalleled levels of documentation that has to be signed off by all parties involved and government-licensed specialist approval companies.
Every single aspect of construction in China is regulated and monitored to ensure that nothing less than absolutely perfect is ever delivered, even to the extent that every single construction site is a secure site and everything is covered by CCTV throughout the entire construction process. It’s exhausting. But that’s law. It’s not an option as it is in the West. Everything and everyone going in and out of a contruction site is monitored, recorded, and logged.
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough? If there are problems and people are injured, then it’s not just a case of construction companies being sued for damages and insurance companies shelling out money. In China, if there are problems with a construction that injure or even kill people, caused by cutting corners or using inferior quality products, people go to jail for a very long time.
There is every incentive to do everything by the book.
China is serious about construction quality – despite what some western media portrays. not in a million years
This has been a closer look at how a company like Nine Rivers Distillery is complying with local laws to do business in China. We hope that you have learned something or enjoyed reading. Our next installments in this series will examine topics such as guanxi, shareholding, product quality, and more.
If you enjoyed reading this, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
If you have enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about Nine Rivers Distillery, then use the QR Code below to follow our WeChat Official Account. not in a million years
Alternatively, if you prefer Linked In then you can CLICK HERE to follow us.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE.
Today we have the pleasure of introducing another member of our growing family at Nine Rivers Distillery, Mitchie Perrine. Here’s the transcript of the interview by our resident scribbler, Phill Stout. mitchie perrine Give us your 60 second introduction then Mitchie: I guess I don’t need to repeat my name, so I’ll dive in. I’m […]
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Today we have the pleasure of introducing another member of our growing family at Nine Rivers Distillery, Mitchie Perrine. Here’s the transcript of the interview by our resident scribbler, Phill Stout. mitchie perrine
I guess I don’t need to repeat my name, so I’ll dive in. I’m from the south east (armpit) of Washington State in the USA. I grew up on rock and grunge music (hence the haircut and the crusty wardrobe) and I came to China about 11 years ago to escape the army of groupies that were hounding me, since one of my “friends” leaked the fact that I was the stunt double for Mini Me in the Austin Powers movies.
Originally, I ended up in Hangzhou but the stories of the “atmosphere” in Dongguan created enough of a calling for me to head down South and see what all the stories were about.
Ha ha, well, none of THAT malarky. By profession I’m a graphic designer and I’ve spent most of my time here in China designing packaging for a company I used to work for here in Dongguan.
I also opened a bar back in 2015, called Ziggy’s. It’s lovingly referred to as a dive bar by Westerners but I kinda see it as my lounge which happens to sell booze at decent prices. I relocated the bar to a bigger place in 2017, and turned the original bar into a 1950’s style American diner. I’m currently opening a new bistro (the lady of my life wanted something a bit more classy – she thinks I’m a bit of a tramp) so I guess I’ll have to go out and buy some smarter clothes in a week or two. Mitchie Perrine
With F&B taking up so much of my time now, I moved on from a full time day job and now have my own design studio during the day.
Pretty much since it was nothing more than an idea being bounced around at whisky nights and in one of the Oak and Barley whisky groups on WeChat. Like most of the people involved, Jay is the connection. He’s the one that brought us all together and the reason that we all had enough confidence in this project to pony up our money.
Although – confession time…it’s only since being involved in Nine Rivers Distillery that I’ve actually started to explore whisky. Prior to the whole 9RD thing I was a beer and gin guy. Yes, yes, I know, totally shameful, but whisky is one of those things that you typically have a bad first experience with and then avoid like the plague.
My first experience (in my teens so not quite legal) was a cheap bottle of bottom shelf stuff with my older brother while fishing for trout in Montana. A combination of cheap liquor, way too much sun, and a badly cooked trout on a makeshift barbecue left me ill for almost a week. Subconsciously, I blamed the whisky, and never touched another drop until a few years back when Jay told me to get my sh*t together and grow a pair. Since then I’ve been enjoying some really good bourbons. I think bourbon is just one of those things that as an American, we are drawn to it – like moths to a flame.
He’s my dealer. Ha ha. Excuse the crap jokes. He’s actually my alcohol supplier.
Back when I first started Ziggy’s Bar in 2015, I knew I didn’t want to fall into that murky world of dodgy booze. I asked a few friends about who was on the level with supplying legit stuff and we had a mutual friend in the form of a guy called Jake (who’s also part of 9RD now).
I gave Jay a call, got over the fact he’s a grumpy, impatient ass on the phone, and invited him to come see Ziggy’s. He swung by a few days later when driving between Guangzhou and Shenzhen. We had a few coffees, chewed the fat about expat life in China, got along well, and the rest is history. He’s been our supplier of booze ever since.
(Am I allowed to say this?) – I’m looking forward to the first bottles of…GIN! Sure, the whiskey will be cool, but that’s going to be a few years away as it’s going to take at least 3 years to mature right? Gin, well that can happen a lot faster so I’m all over that when it’s available. In fact, I plan to be there at the site for the week when the first batch is made.
I won’t pretend I’m a gin expert, but I’ve got a few ideas that I’d like to explore for things that I think would work really well. There are some fickle rules about gin here in China that most people aren’t really aware of – but for example, there are a number of traditional botanicals that are used in gin (angelica root and oris root for example – two botanicals that underpin pretty much every gin in the world) that aren’t allowed to be used in China.
They fall under a classification of medicine, and because they are used in traditional Chinese medicine, they can’t be offered for human consumption without a doctors prescription. Therefore, you just can’t use them to make gin in China. mitchie perrine
This is a real challenge for gin, because angelica root and oris root act as a “fixative” (it helps the flavours and aromas from other botanicals to bind with the alcohol molecules in gin.) In other words, making gin without these two botanicals results in a really flat gin. The aromas are extremely faint and the flavours are just kinda boring.
I’ve got some good ideas for how to solve these problems with alternative botanicals.
Should I give you three guesses? Definitely not needed. That’s Jay. He’s a total nerd on all of this stuff. It’s the reason why I knew he’d be the perfect booze supplier back in 2015, and no doubt the reason why so many of us have piled into this project. He knows his stuff and he’s always happy to share his knowledge and bring us all along with him on the journey.
Nah, no need to plug anything. We’re not the biggest bar or the busiest bar. As I mentioned before it’s kinda like my lounge where I get to hang out with some amazing friends, that just happens to sell booze. So instead, I’ll do something else. Mitchie Perrine
Nine Rivers Distillery is important to me, as it is to everyone involved. So to support the spread of our story on social media, I’ll throw down a 10% discount on absolutely anything we sell (none of those dodgy deals where only junk gets a discount – this is across the board) on any Monday, to anyone following the Nine Rivers Distillery WeChat official account.
Mondays are typically quieter, so it gives me a chance to talk a bit more and get to know anyone that is interested in our project.
If you enjoyed reading this, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
If you have enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about Nine Rivers Distillery, then use the QR Code below to follow our WeChat Official Account.
Alternatively, if you prefer Linked In then you can CLICK HERE to follow us.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE. Mitchie Perrine
As mentioned in our last social media update, we are excited to host an event of legendary proportions across China, giving whisky lovers the chance to enjoy an experience of a lifetime. And no, this isn’t us being melodramatic! The Founders’ Flight is a 6 whisky flight of all six expressions of The Founders’ Casks […]
Read MoreAs mentioned in our last social media update, we are excited to host an event of legendary proportions across China, giving whisky lovers the chance to enjoy an experience of a lifetime. And no, this isn’t us being melodramatic! The Founders’ Flight is a 6 whisky flight of all six expressions of The Founders’ Casks from Nine Rivers Distillery.
We will have The Founders’ Flight events in the following cities.
All of The Founders’ Flight events will be Saturday 26th November. We are enforcing a strict 7 P.M. start time.
6 x 35ml measures of artisanal single malt whisky. One measure of each of the 6 expressions.
You betcha! It’s a reasonable ¥350 per ticket for The Founders’ Flight including 6 whiskies.
Each The Founders’ Flight event is being organised by a Friend of 9RD in each respective city. Scroll through the list below to find the Friend of 9RD for the city most convenient to you. There are a maximum number of tickets for each city and they will all sell out pretty quickly. In other words, book your ticket sooner rather than later. The Founders’ Flight
All events will be subject to local rules regarding health codes and travel codes. Please take notice that the rules local to your area can change at very short notice so our advice would be to ensure you’ve had a PCR test the day before the event and on the morning of the event.
If you need to cancel (due to changes in health codes or the such) please notify your local Friend of 9RD, who will try and sell your ticket(s) on to other people to facilitate a refund.
If the entire event is cancelled due to local rules or restrictions, then the event will be rescheduled as soon as possible after the planned date.
Danny will be leading the Shenzhen event. The event is limited to 60 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Texas Tim will be leading the Dongguan event. The event is limited to 60 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Lucas will be leading the Wuhan event. The event is limited to 20 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Mudy will be leading the Shenyang event. The event is limited to 20 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Jamal will be leading the Xiamen event. The event is limited to 40 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Navin will be leading the Shanghai event. The event is limited to 40 people. You can contact him on his QR code below. The Founders’ Flight
Jonathan will be leading the Guangzhou event. The event is limited to 60 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Steve will be leading the Beijing event. The event is limited to 20 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
Aaron will be leading the Nanjing event. The event is limited to 20 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
JP will be leading the Chengdu event. The event is limited to 20 people. You can contact him on his QR code below. The Founders’ Flight
Mark will be leading the Suzhou event. The event is limited to 20 people. You can contact him on his QR code below.
It’s going to be an epic event! Get in while you fit in or cry about it later!
If you enjoyed reading this, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published. The Founders’ Flight
If you have enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about Nine Rivers Distillery, then use the QR Code below to follow our WeChat Official Account.
Alternatively, if you prefer Linked In then you can CLICK HERE to follow us.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE.
What’s the best feeling in the world? Could it be the birth of a child? An amazing bottle to share with some friends? Or could it be the day you get a phone call from an express delivery person telling you THE WHISKY HAS LANDED? The first bottle released from the soon to be whisky […]
Read MoreWhat’s the best feeling in the world? Could it be the birth of a child? An amazing bottle to share with some friends? Or could it be the day you get a phone call from an express delivery person telling you THE WHISKY HAS LANDED? The first bottle released from the soon to be whisky distillery that absolutely everyone is talking about! Well, this article is actually going to about all of these!
The arrival of The Founders’ Casks – Expression One Madeira, has been a story of a long overseas voyage that luckily didn’t involve icebergs or pirates. Despite being a mundane journey (and the fact that it did take a frustratingly long time waiting in the queue to board a shipping container to arrive here in China) all of our investor, ambassador and whisky WeChat groups have been popping with pictures as excited recipients tore open the packaging, proudly positioned their bottle, and snapped a photo to share.
With no shame in showing chewed finger nails, ghastly curtains, gnarly placemats and coasters, dirty spoons, floors so dirty that even the mop and bucket went on strike, a lack of understanding the word focus, and composition in the context of taking photographs, and showing the world how old some people’s smartphone are – it’s been a complete frenzy of humble brags for those lucky enough to get some of our bottles.
One of our bottles even made it to the live birth of the second Nine Rivers Distillery baby. Both mother and father are investors in our project and father “wet the baby’s head” with a bottle of Expression 1. We’ve forgiven him for the blasphemy of paper cups…but we will never let him live it down. The Whisky Has Landed
One of the most exciting things about The Founders’ Casks was the inclusion of the names of everyone that was involved in our project when we originally designed the packaging. Bragging rights aplenty for all those named. The Whisky Has Landed
Sure, we now have more than double the amount of people involved, but they will all be listed on the next bottling that we do. But we can’t say anymore about that right now. It’s all top secret so shhhhhhhh.
Today, we are celebrating with a collage of photos before ending with a reminder about an upcoming exciting event to a Chinese city near you. While it is too late to get your hands on this bottle, Expression 2 is currently taking reservations and you have a chance to tell us why you think you deserve a bottle. CLICK HERE for more about that – the reservation form is near the bottom of the page. The Whisky Has Landed
If you are located in China, like most of us are, then you will be pleased to know that we will be hosting a Nationwide flight of the 6 expressions.
As a tribute to the very roots of our project, Whisky Networking Events across China, in all of the cities that have been supporting Nine Rivers Distillery, will be collaborating to launch a synchronous tasting. We will be covering this in a future post. The Whisky Has Landed
If you enjoyed reading this, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
If you have enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about Nine Rivers Distillery, then use the QR Code below to follow our WeChat Official Account.
Alternatively, if you prefer Linked In then you can CLICK HERE to follow us.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE.
It’s the day that many of us have been waiting for. The Founders’ Casks Expression 1, is landed and will be shipping to whisky lovers all over China next week! But before we get onto talking about The Founders Casks Expression 1, let’s make something really clear to everyone first. Expression 1 is SOLD OUT. […]
Read MoreIt’s the day that many of us have been waiting for. The Founders’ Casks Expression 1, is landed and will be shipping to whisky lovers all over China next week!
But before we get onto talking about The Founders Casks Expression 1, let’s make something really clear to everyone first. Expression 1 is SOLD OUT. It was reserved and deposits were paid some months ago. There are none left for sale. Not even a secret stash hidden away somewhere. It was a 100% sellout and we probably could have sold 3000 bottles if we had them.
Therefore, for Expression 2 (which will be released in about 6 weeks time) we are changing the way that people can secure a bottle – details at the bottom of this page.
Expression 1 is the first of a series of 6 bottlings that were conceptualised back in 2017 as a demonstration of the types of whisky that we want to craft here at Nine Rivers Distillery. We published some articles about it, and you can read Part One HERE and then follow up with Part Two HERE and Part Three HERE.
Bringing these bottlings to life has been a huge learning experience for us all and one of the many successful collaborations between all of the people involved in the Nine Rivers Distillery adventure. From designing bespoke glass, to the branding and packaging, under the creative leadership of Darryl Swanepoel and Fabien Dupont, the end result is something we’re all proud of.
Expression 1 of the Founders’ Casks is finished in carefully hand-picked wine barrels from the island of Madeira. Bottled at cask strength (53.4% ABV) and non-chill filtered for purity of flavour, this whisky derives its unique palate from the thick and velvety Portuguese wine.
The nose is fruity, laced with raisins and sultanas on a bed of vanilla and cream fudge. A final hint of citrus peel makes way for a smooth and honey-rich palate, complete with green apples, peaches and a viscous underflow of caramel, cream and malted milk biscuits.
The finish is light and quick – a tropical flourish that gives way to dried stone fruits.
Priority for all bottlings goes to those people that are investors in our project. As most of you know, Nine Rivers Distillery only exists because of almost 200 whisky lovers coming together to invest their time and money in turning our shared dream into reality. Logically, they take priority in allocation of bottles.
Of the 600 bottles of Expression 2 that were created, we expect there to be about 100 bottles available for purchase by people who are not investors. To make it fair for everyone we are taking applications from whisky lovers to have a chance to be allocated one of these bottles.
Names and contact details just aren’t enough. We want to hear from YOU and hear WHY you think you deserve to be allocated an opportunity to purchase one of the 100 or so bottles that are available.
Some of you out there are familiar with some of the characters and personalities that underpin Nine Rivers Distillery and could be perceived to have something of an unfair advantage in your application. So we’re going to level the playing field and make everyone aware of what is likely to influence the review of all the applications.
Whisky Lovers
If you’re not a whisky lover, you won’t even get a foot in the door. So make sure you detail your love of whisky.
Sharing is Caring
Details about how you intend to share this bottle with friends is really going to help your application. As all whisky lovers know, whisky is a social drink and is always best enjoyed with friends. A decent pour, a comfy chair and great conversation is something we all believe in at Nine Rivers Distillery.
Laughs, giggles and sharp wit
Humour is something that is part of the very fabric of our DNA. Business really can be serious, professional AND fun – all concurrently. We don’t do stuffy and boring. Jokes and banter really will help you and we promise to publish the funniest applications over the coming weeks.
请告诉我们为什么您值得获得一瓶创始人系列2威士忌 – Tell us why you think you deserve an allocation of Expression 2
If you enjoyed reading this, and you would like to catch up with some of our past articles, then please CLICK HERE and go to our News Section, where most of our other content is published.
If you have enjoyed reading this and want to learn more about Nine Rivers Distillery, then use the QR Code below to follow our WeChat Official Account.
Alternatively, if you prefer Linked In then you can CLICK HERE to follow us.
Facebook users, you can CLICK HERE.
An entire article without any Hayden baiting. Either this is the start of a new chapter in our articles……or we have something really big coming up.