Until around the early 2010s, the PLA had a whole bunch of side businesses like hotels (I think I still have an 八一 8/1 branded PLA hotel comb somewhere) because the state budget was focused on domestic development and there was tacit permission for the PLA to have side gigs to supplement it budget. That changed with the first wave of modernization reforms. These are probably a lot more modern than that but Maotai is a state owned brand so at least the proceeds are making their way back to the PLA in some way, whereas the American Whiskey is just a cashgrab.