China is the opportunity. Gen Z is the inflection point.

China is the opportunity. Gen Z is the inflection point. And this is where The Macallan underplays its hand.

From the perspective of a firm that designs experiences for the world’s most exacting brands, and as a whisky fan myself, I read the report on The Macallan’s recent China activation with interest. Then disappointment.

While many markets are seeing declines in drinking overall, the opportunity for luxury spirits in China is not just intact, it is accelerating, particularly with Gen Z. Drinking among Gen Z rose from 66 percent in 2023 to 73 percent in 2025, with whisky increasingly part of how this generation chooses to consume, on its own terms.

China is also unapologetically experience-led. Ipsos reports that 92 percent of consumers choose brands based on the experience they expect, and 87 percent are willing to pay more for a better one, versus 70 percent and 46 percent globally. Those numbers are not incremental. They are existential. In China, experience is not a layer. It is the strategy. Be experience-led or disappear.

So my expectations for The Macallan were high. What I saw instead was the same operating mode used since the dawn of time.

Bar takeovers.

A predictable fixation on the cask.

A cocktail-forward lens.

Beautiful visuals. Impeccable polish. Emotionally vacant.

It is the global alcohol playbook, deployed again, unchanged by market, generation, or cultural moment.

The miss here is not tactical. It is conceptual.

Chinese Gen Z is not looking to be just educated on heritage. Every brand is shouting that story right now, and the result is collective indifference. This generation is shaping identity, belonging, and authorship through how they drink. Brands win when they embed themselves into everyday rituals and personal meaning, not when they rely on fleeting nightlife moments and recycled narratives.

🔹 What was required was not louder storytelling, but sharper relevance.

🔹 Not temporary bar moments, but integration into how and why people drink now.

🔹 Not repeating a global formula, but designing explicitly for this cultural moment.

This is an extraordinary window for alcohol brands in China. But it cannot be captured with common playbooks and aesthetic perfection alone.

China does not need another bar takeover.

It needs brands willing to rethink what drinking means, who it belongs to, and how culture is actually being written next.