Maoming Datang Lixiang Liquor Co Ltd, an enterprise in Maoming specializing in the deep processing of lychees, was the first enterprise in China to develop and produce X.O. lychee brandy.

The enterprise's lychee liquor-making project can be traced back to 1997 when scientific research cooperation was carried out with professors from Peking Union Medical College. The project was set up and has been put into production since 2003.

More than 400 million yuan ($58.66 million) was invested by the enterprise in the research and development of the lychee brandy series of products. In 2012, the enterprise obtained the nation's first technical invention patent for lychee brandy.

The production of the lychee brandy needs to go through 37 major processes, including aging in oak barrels for more than six years.

The lychee brandy is in the process of aging. [Photo by Zhang Bo/mm111.net]

Maoming is the world's largest lychee production base, and its current lychee cultivation area spans about 1.36 million mu (90,666.67 hectares), accounting for one fifth of the world's total lychee cultivation area. The city's lychee production this year is about 520,000 metric tons, a year-on-year increase of 18.18 percent.

According to a person in charge of Maoming Datang Lixiang Liquor Co Ltd, it takes about 110 tons of lychees to produce 1 ton of lychee brandy, and the enterprise's annual lychee brandy reaches about 200 tons.

"We are thinking of expanding our scale of production. Supposing the annual lychee production in Maoming is around 500,000 tons, our enterprise can help consume about 10 percent of the total lychees every year after expansion," said the person in charge.

The X.O. lychee brandy. [Photo/mm111.net]