Young Spirits has appointed Mike Li in a newly created role as international sales manager.
The Edinburgh-based boutique bottling and spirits business is seeking to grow its bulk spirits business overseas; particularly in Asia.
Li previously worked for Diageo in China for seven years and was involved in a joint venture with a white spirits company, initially leading on an integration and transformation project to bring the two businesses and cultures together.
He then moved into an e-commerce role, where he was responsible for overseeing a team that managed all the major online retail platforms for the brands in China.
Following this, Li set up his own drinks business with a partner in China, selling the first carbonated white spirits in the world. He launched a range of ready-to-drink flavoured rums, before returning to Scotland to support his son’s studies.
This year China has overtaken the US as the largest growth market for whisky consumption and Young Spirits said that it intends to build its presence in the region to meet demand.
Young Spirits co-founder Alex Harrison said: "We are extremely excited to have Mike onboard, as he doesn’t just have a wealth of knowledge of the spirits and Chinese markets, he has a stack of energy and has hit the ground running already.
Young Spirits was established in June 2019 by Harrison and co-founder John Ferguson, identifying a gap in the market to provide bottling services with short lead times to meet the demand of the growing craft spirits market. The business began as a team of two and within 18 months had expanded to 19 employees.
