Westerners’ aversion to baijiu

For context, I grew up in a Chinese household. As a kid, I ate a lot of pork belly; almost everything I ate was quite heavy–even the fish. Even the snacks were spicy and oily. We’re talking star anise, nutmeg, cinnamon, peppercorns, and fennel on everything.

When I had my first shot of guizhou maotai, I fell in love. I genuinely like the taste and the burn… well I don’t feel a burn lol.

I can say the same thing with jinmen gaoliangjiu, I love the taste of it (but maotai is still my favorite).

I see that online and, along with my western friends, people in the West really don’t like baijiu and equate the taste to gasoline. Is it because different taste palettes? Drinking habits? What do you guys think?