Baijiu, or "clear liquor", is China's national drink and the world's most-consumed spirit by volume.

However, the drink has few fans outside China. "Most foreigners don't like baijiu," says Jim Boyce, a Canadian wine blogger in Beijing. "To a lot of foreigners who've tried it, baijiu smells like gasoline, and tastes like gasoline most of them hate it."

Boyce, who has lived in China for nine years, is an exception, and he writes about the liquor on his popular blog, Grape Wall of China. Like many expats, Boyce didn't like baijiu the first time he tried it. But after he sampled a few different varieties, the drink began to grow on him.