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Being in China and my love for the golden nectar I have come across numerous brands. Many very good Harbin, Tseng Tao, and Snow. Others not so good, and others so bad they cant be used for a beer shampoo on a dog. Trying over thirty different Chinese brands, still my favorite is Harbin, followed by Tseng Tao. As in the USA there are the national brands (Bud, Miller, and Coors), but also as in the USA there are regional brands and microbreweries. Some useful information Chinese beers such as Tseng Tao and Harbin have been brewed in China since 1900, both breweries are English and or German designed and the beer formulation is the same. Snow and Kingstar are breweries designed post 1990 and also very good. Most breweries from the late forties to the late seventies in China are not of European or American design and the beer taste is likewise. Many of the regional breweries are from this era and sometimes the beer is good but most of the time very bad.
Beer : Pi Ju
of course the empty center Harbin is my favorite
Budweiser clone, the look and taste(?) of the genuine
winner of better use as an ashtray award, terrible stuff
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cheers
- 2 votes
#1 - Tue Jul 20, 2010 7:15 AM EDTI don't know what your experience has been, but I've found that most of the 'real' Chinese beers (and wines) are not drinkable. However, I like Yanjing beer when I'm in Beijing and Zhujiang when I'm further south. I haven't tried (or even seen) Snow and Kingstar - are they regional beers? I'm off to China (Beijing and Chengdu) again in a few weeks, so I'll look for them.
PS: I think it's "Tsingtao" and it's "pi jiu". Harbin was originally Russian - not English or German. It's owned (at least partially) by Anheuser-Busch InBev now, but it does use German yeast, though.
Cheers!
- 4 votes
I actually drank Tsing Tao, and I think it's a bit weird tasting, but passable as beer.
But my favorite is Sapporo. A fabulous beer with very little aftertaste... And, for me, well worth the extra money I spend when I drink it. Which reminds me--with this baby coming soon, I'm looking forward to my first Sapporo in 9 months with great eagerness! :D
- 2 votes
USA: thanks! I'll have to look for Snow! :)
Oh, and I've clipped this to: The Gutter Girls--we love our beer there. :)
- 3 votes
The bottom photo looks like Tsingtao (at least, the first two characters on the bottle are Qing dao). Is Kai Feng a 'sub-brand' of Tsingtao?
- 3 votes
rls8r: I believe you're right--but doesn't it say it in Western characters at the top? *just checking, because it was the one thing I noticed on the bottle--given my inability to read Chinese characters, that is... ;)*
- 3 votes
Yes, it does - and now that I've put my glasses on, I see it even has it in raised letters on the bottle itself.
The city of Kaifeng is in eastern Henan Province - near Shandong Province (Qingdao - the city where Tsingtao is brewed is in Shandong Province). So - I was wondering if Kai Feng beer is a local 'sub-label' of Tsingtao. Who knows!?
"Henan" = "south of the river"'; "Shandong" = "east of the mountain". Have to love the Chinese for their pragmatic naming of Provinces and other things.
- 5 votes
HA! Yep - it takes a strong constitution to sit through a dinner drinking bai jiu! As a guest, I'm usually asked which drink I'd like to have for dinner and I always, always pick beer. It's generally greeted with some disappointment by the host - but I claim (truly) not to be able to hold my liquor, so the host and other guests generally accept my choice with minimal grumbling. Of the standard phrases that I know - I think that "sui bian" or "sui yi" (as alternatives to 'gan bei') are among the most useful.
I have two or three bottles of Maotai around here somewhere - I'm saving them for when I refinish some of my dining room chairs - it tastes like it would be great paint stripper.
Two kuai a bottle, huh? That's cheaper than Coke (as I recall). No - I guess you really can't expect much for that.
- 5 votes
I have two or three bottles of Maotai around here somewhere - I'm saving them for when I refinish some of my dining room chairs - it tastes like it would be great paint stripper.
Before I even had Tsing Tao, my hubby told me--it leaves a bizarre aftertaste... I'm guessing it would be a little like drinking embalming fluid, from what friends have told me.
I have no experience with embalming fluid drinks, but if they said so, they must know more than me! *LOL!*
- 4 votes
LOL! Reminds me of that old SNL Shimmer 'commercial'.
I suppose Maotai can be both - a dinner drink AND embalming fluid!
- 4 votes
Like moths to a light in the dead of night. Men will flock to BEER!
- 4 votes
#2 - Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:37 AM EDTI hope there's nothing wrong with some liquid bread... :D
- 4 votes
Nope - nothing at all wrong with it as far as I'm concerned. I often prefer the liquid form.
- 4 votes
I like Tsing Tao. Not bad at all. The Blue Diamond is funny to me...haven't tried it, but the can makes me laugh.
- 4 votes
#3 - Wed Jul 21, 2010 12:47 PM EDTPeter: try Sapporo if you haven't. That's my fave beer--no aftertaste, and very tasty!
- 3 votes
Lucy...that's usually my go to beer when i get sushi, lol. That, Ki-rin, and Ichiban anyway...:)
- 3 votes
I like Ichiban, too. Haven't tried Ki-rin... I'll definitely try anything... *of course, I gotta wait 'til I'm all done with the baby--I've been missing too many things lately, but it's not for much longer.*
Of course, once in a while, I do get a hankering for a White and Tan. :)
- 3 votes
I like Sapporo a lot. When I worked in Japan or visited I would drink a lot of it. Unfortunately it usually made me sick. The next morning after drinking 5 or 6 of the giant Japanese size Sapporos I invariably woke up with a terrible headache. Still don't understand it. Then again I used to have the same problem at beer fests in Germany in the morning after drinking four or five steins.
- 2 votes
Leo: can't blame you--hard not to like Sapporo! But, of course, if you drank stein-sized Sapporos (or larger!) I can see how come you'd feel a horror headache the next day...
Sapporo is awesome--but it's not without its side-effects... :D *ah, but we should all suffer for our drinking craft!*
Ben Franklin said: "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." The man couldn't be any more right about that! :)
- 3 votes
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