GHOST HOUR LIQUOR LAUNCHES NATIONWIDE, TAKING ON IMPORTED SPIRITS IN CHINA’S WELL

Shanghai-born spirits brand enters national distribution with Telford as China’s growing cocktail culture drives demand for gin, vodka and rum

Ghost Hour Liquor, known in Chinese as 寅鬥烈酒 (Yín Dòu Liè Jiǔ - Ghost Hour Spirits), is rolling out across China with a four-spirit range built specifically for the country’s bars.

Created as a high-quality, high-value alternative to the imported brands that have traditionally dominated China’s house-pour market, Ghost Hour takes a different approach: produce or bottle locally where possible, put the savings back into the liquid and the price, and build the brand around the people pouring it.

The timing is significant. While China’s wider alcohol market remains challenging, white spirits have emerged as one of its clearest areas of growth. IWSR reported that gin volumes increased 20% in China in 2025, with vodka and rum also recording double-digit growth, supported by cocktail culture, casual drinking occasions and expansion into lower-tier cities.

Yet behind many bars, those categories are still represented primarily by imported brands.

“China imports millions of bottles of house-pour products. That never made much sense to us, particularly as we see the rise in quality and acceptance of local products,” says head distiller and co-founder David Moo. “Bars need something reliable, well-priced and built for their needs. Ghost Hour is that bottle - local, consistent and designed for high-volume service.”

Ghost Hour has spent more than two years developing the range around that proposition.

Its vodka and gin are produced in China, while bespoke rum and tequila are sourced from partner distilleries in the Caribbean and Mexico before being blended and bottled locally. The approach allows Ghost Hour to work with the production regions best suited to each spirit while keeping more of its supply chain and final production closer to the market it serves.

“In line with our goal of providing high-quality spirits, we have partnered with distilleries in Jamaica and Mexico to develop the highest possible quality rums and tequilas for Chinese bartenders,” says co-founder Fergus Woodward.

By producing at scale and bottling domestically, Ghost Hour says it can reduce costs by 20% or more compared with imported alternatives, reinvesting those savings into both product quality and price.

The result is deliberately not another prestige bottle for the back bar. Ghost Hour is designed for the well: approachable enough to pour at volume, consistent enough for everyday service, and good enough that bartenders do not have to compromise on what goes into the glass.

The brand itself comes from the same world.

Its Chinese name, 寅鬥烈酒 (Yín Dòu Liè Jiǔ - Ghost Hour Spirits), draws on 寅时 (Yín Shí - the Tiger Hour), the traditional Chinese time period from approximately 3am to 5am. It is the point in the night when service winds down, bartenders finally get off shift and another side of the city begins.

Late-night food, music, street life and the people working behind the bar sit at the centre of the brand - summed up in Ghost Hour's line:

Good Spirits Come Out At Night.

Ghost Hour's vodka, gin, white rum and tequila are now rolling out nationally in China through Telford Wine & Spirits.