Fried Feige and his bar Moondog, which mainly sells various kinds of whisky. [Photo/ Chen Yingying]

Fried is very proud of the whisky he holds in hand, whose price is at 200,000 yuan.[Photo/ Chen Yingying]

Fried(middle), Jimmy(right), and a friend of them(left) talked at a whisky party.[Provided to InKunming]

[InKunming--Interviews & Polls]  Fried Feige, a German, who had lived in Kunming for about 10 years, had opened a whisky business company with another English man called Jimmy in Kunming 2 years ago. The company Fried and Jimmy both ran mainly sell single malt whiskies and some blended whiskies.

The reason why Fried and Jimmy ran the company together is firstly because they have the same interests in collecting and tasting whiskies, and secondly because they agree with each other on an idea that Kunming is a good place to popularize whisky, a kind of fashionable consumer goods representing western culture and having been acknowledged worldwide.

In April 2014, Fried and Jimmy were invited to join in an activity to present their goods, the Scottish highland whiskies. The activity "British Week in Kunming" was completely arranged by British Consulate-General in Chongqing. As the only exhibitor of single malt whisky during the activity, Fried and Jimmy blew a wind of Great Britain in Kunming.

"Now in Kunming, bars like Salvador, Salinger, Wooden Fish, Face, Laos, etc. buy some kinds of whiskies from us. We promise to guarantee goods' quality and charged fair prices from customers." Chan, Fried' wife, a Chinese woman told InKunming journalist. Until now, totally 35 bars and restaurants bought whiskies from Fried regularly.

In the neighborhood bar Moondog, which is partly managed by Fried, people can see lines of whisky bottles behind bar counter. Approximately, the number of all kinds of whiskies on shelves is not less than 40.

"If you go to have a look in some bars in Chengdu, you will find they only sell 3 or 4 kinds of whiskies. In comparison with them, varieties of whiskies in my bar are abundant." Fried said he felt very pleased to sell such abundant varieties of whiskies in Kunming. "You may not find another bar in the city like mine."

An American aged man who sat in Moondog and drank alcohol nearby the bar counter approved of Fried’s opinion about the bar's whisky collections. "It's true. Whisky collections in Moondog bar are really very rich." The man said, because of the abundant collections, he often goes to the bar to drink whiskies.

On order menu of the bar, over 60 varieties of whiskies are shown. Whiskies of Scotland, Irish, America and Japan are sold in the bar. Single malt whiskies of Speyside, Islay, Campletown, Lowland and Highland of Scotland are highly recommended by Fried in his bar.

However, types of whiskies displayed and sold in Moondog still can not stand for all collections Fried and Jimmy had stored in their joint venture. According to Fried, about 100 types of whiskies are collected in the company's storage room.

Talking about whiskies that were collected by Fried personally or both Fried and Jimmy jointly, Fried looked very happy. “A bottle of whisky I collected personally is aged 32 years, worth about 25,000 yuan. That is the most expensive whisky I have collected in Kunming. I also stored up some whiskies that cost me about 10,000 Euros in Germany.” Fried introduced.

Fried and Jimmy also jointly collected a bottle of whisky which is priced over 200,000 yuan and is treasured in Moondog. The whisky, branded Port Island according to Fried, was acquired at an auction on the internet. On the label that is sticked on the whisky bottle, information about names of Fried, Jimmy and two other friends', place of origin, and production batch No. are written in handwriting.

The whisky bottle is kept in a pretty and delicate wooden box. Fried held the box very carefully and cautiously when taking it out of the bar counter. "You can seldom see this kind of whisky in the world now. It is an absolutely rare type of whisky since its Scottish manufacture had bankrupted 15 years ago. Aging time of the whisky is 15 years." Fried said.

As a whisky collector, Fried knows a lot about whisky. "He learned by reading professional whisky books and visiting whisky shops in Germany." Fried's wife Chan told the journalist. But for Fried, there are still many types of whiskies he hasn't tasted or learned, as whisky types are too many and have many variants.

Before opening the whisky business company, Fried and Jimmy actually had made market researches in Kunming and Yunnan for half a year. "We searched information on the internet and verified them by way of talking with a few whisky sellers from Shanghai, Guangzhou or other first-tier cities in China."

After making enough data analysis, Fried and Jimmy finally decided to open the company. They think they had known whisky market situations in Kunming and Yunnan on the whole. In their opinions, Kunming seems like a vacant space for them to popularize whiskies.

"Kunming is becoming more and more international. Many Kunming people like to come into contact with western culture, so I am pleased to bring the best whiskies I think to Kunming people. Moreover, I can teach people to learn ways of tasting whisky by taking part in Whisky Society organized by me and Jimmy." Fried expressed.

In the Whisky Society, about 20-30 people have participated fixedly since it was set up in October last year. Foreigners and Chinese people went to taste and enjoy different kinds of whiskies in the society each time. "I probably share 4 types of whiskies with whiskey society members each time." Fried said, "Members can also try other snacks in the society party."

Mike, an American guy who almost joined in the society's activities every time, highly appraised the activities. "I have learned a lot from Fried. To taste whisky is to enjoy life, which is very popular in America. The Whisky Society is always organized among businessmen in America." Mike frankly spoke.

"My expectation to my company's development rate is to reaches 50% to 200%. If it is not attained, I would rather give up." Fried referred. To him, market in Kunming can be expanded quickly. He hopes to challenge to develop the market fast.

"More and more Chinese people become rich, you know. They have desires to change normal living styles and wish to improve living quality." Fried feels very optimistic about future development of whiskies in Kunming for this reason as well.

Click here to view Chinese report.

(Editors: Cathy Chen, Tracy)