In many Chinese cities, bringing your own bottle of Moutai to a restaurant is seen as the “safe” option — a way to avoid restaurant mark-ups and ensure the authenticity of the liquor. But one Shanghai diner’s experience shows that this belief in “BYO is more reassuring” is now facing a new kind of risk.
One evening this spring, a diner retrieving a bottle he had stored at a local restaurant in Xuhui district noticed the weight and feel of the bottle were not as he remembered. He stopped the waiter from opening it and demanded verification. Minutes later, the restaurant confirmed the guest’s suspicion: the original bottle had been quietly replaced with a fake.
Police were called, and an investigation found that two restaurant employees had been swapping bottles for months. According to the Xuhui District People’s Court, the pair — identified as Gao and Gao — exploited gaps in routine services such as bottle opening and alcohol storage. Using counterfeit Moutai they prepared in advance, they replaced bottles customers had entrusted to the restaurant.
Between early this year and May, one employee swapped 18 bottles of Feitian Moutai belonging to 11 customers. The second employee assisted in two swaps and helped sell the stolen liquor, earning 6,900 yuan (US$950). The restaurant later compensated affected customers by purchasing genuine bottles at a cost of more than 38,000 yuan.
The scheme unraveled on May 19, when the pair attempted to swap two more bottles worth over 4,000 yuan. The customer noticed irregularities immediately and called police, who arrested the employees on site. Both later confessed.
The court ruled that the repeated thefts constituted a criminal offense involving a “relatively large” amount of property. Both defendants received reduced sentences after admitting guilt. One was sentenced to two years and three months in prison and fined 9,000 yuan. The other, who had returned illegal earnings with help from family, was sentenced to seven months and fined 2,000 yuan.
Moutai, one of China’s most expensive and status-laden spirits, remains a frequent target for counterfeiters. Many consumers bring their own bottles to avoid fakes — and to avoid heavy restaurant markups — creating a false sense of security that this case has now challenged.
The presiding judge advised diners to discreetly mark their bottles before handing them over to restaurant staff, noting that even legitimate service steps such as storage, opening and pouring can present opportunities for tampering.
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