The liquor sample with standard volume of less than 100 ml (10 CL) has three names among the three regions of the two coasts. In China, it is named ‘sample liquor’, in Taiwan, it is usually called ‘mini-liquor’. But the most recognised name is ‘miniature liquor’. Among various kinds of collections, miniature liquor though is not the mainstream of collection, it has been fused in our daily life quietly for a long time. In their houses, many people would display several miniature liquors in the gradevin for decoration. In fact that is already the beginning of collection.

Miniature liquor first appeared in Europe during the early 18th century. At that time, the media was not advanced, so the only way to promote products was posting posters or using ‘human amplifiers’, that is, salesmen. However the glass bottle, which is widely used now, had not appeared in the early 18th century. The trading of liquor was denominated by barrel. As many people requested to try out the liquor, the brewery then put little wine in a small porcelain bottle for customers to try out. That was the predecessor of miniature liquor.

Until 1930s, the trend of collecting miniature liquor began in America. At that time, America was enforcing a bar on wine. So nearly all the European producers of whisky and brandy invented to use small glass bottles of miniature liquor as samples and bulkily imported to American market to avoid paying tax, but in fact they were used for people to drink. Even the vinosity, appearance, label etc were exactly the same as the wine in big bottle. For the minimised liquor was very elegant with various kinds, it aroused the interests of a group of collectors. Then the trend of collecting miniature liquor started to flourish.

King of miniature liquor : Louis XIII	A.de FUSSIGNY crystal miniature liquor.

Introduction and Founding History

Hong Kong has been a meeting place of Chinese and Western culture for more than a hundred years. Also Hong Kong is the stepping stone for foreign products to enter China.Therefore, most of the wine from the world would be imported to Hong Kong or to the Southeast Asia through Hong Kong. Early before the World War II, whisky and brandy of big brand could already be purchased in Hong Kong. Before 1970s, it was very common to send gifts to the boss or the senior.
Among the gifts, wine is the most decent gift. Therefore the sales of wine in Hong Kong was very prosperous. At that time, in order to promote the wine of big brand, usually some gifts would be given to buyers while the miniature liquor was the most popular. As the big bottle of wine had been given to the boss or the senior, the miniature liquor would be reserved for own use or for collection.

I believe people above thirty would have similar experience. And the trend of collecting miniature liquor gradually formed in Hong Kong.
The founder of our club, Chan Wai Man, has collected miniature liquor since 1985, mainly collected the miniature of Cognac Brandy, the total amount has reached 13,500 bottles. Among them, there are 6,000 bottles of the 20 most prestigious brands of Cognac produced before the 60s. Also, he possessed 14 bottles of different types of the rarest miniature Louis XIII.

Although the collection amount is not the first in the World, but in the eyes of the collection experts, he is the king of Cognac. For promoting the trend of collecting miniature liquor in Hong Kong, he founded the Hong Kong Miniature Liquor Club in 1993 which has more than 700 members in 2000 and became the largest miniature liquor club in the Southeast Asia. As the admission requirement is collecting more than 100 miniature liquor, the number of members would probably increase continuously.