Chinese Beer

[Ian]

What are some decent Chinese beers?

I'm drinking a Snow Beer, simply because that's what's lying around. It says "Brewed For Good Time" and tastes like fizzy nothing.

Usually when I'm in China I just drink Baltika and various German beers, which they seem to import at random.

Every time I try Chinese, I'm disappointed. Harbin? Cat pee and shame.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

the only one they sell here is tsing tao.
it's passable, not a first choice though.
The japanese beers are superior by comparison as pilsners and lagers go.

[Chanchu]

Never had a good Chinese beer, they say Tsing Tao in Shantung is good, fresh and maybe different than export, Like San Miguel export bleh, domestic pretty good.

[Batesy]

I was told that beer from Shantung tends to be better as it was a German colony and therefore the breweries were set up by Germanic booze specialists!

[Orpheus]

Beijing Draft is ok. Its brewed by Asahi in China.
Harbin Beer makes a 小麦王 beer. Its a wheat beer. I think it tastes a little better. Still made with rice though.
Tsing Dao makes a dark and a stout that are good but are also hard to find outside of Shandong.

None of this is an endorsement. These are just the acceptable thresholds.

[bailewen]

"decent Chinese beer" is an oxymoron.

It's not like it tastes bad. I just generally doesn't taste like much at all.

Fuck the beer. Grow a set and drink the baijiu.

[Methods]

I have tried a few Chinese beers, they were mostly made by or for Dutch and German traders and colonists. The only thing that they are missing is the traditional ingredients and brewing process. which kills them. The Japanese have a better handle on Pilsners and Lager by making more malty beers. The Chinese beers are sort of piss poor representations of German and Dutch lagers and pilsners much like Mexican beer, it just doesnt stand up.

[Andy_S]

The weakest/worst beers I have ever had the displeasure of tasting:
- Can't remember the name of it, but the Henan lager they serve in Chenjiagou is appalling - taste-free and pish-weak
- Taiwan Beer - have not been since the early 90s,but as I recall it, it was not taste free, like most Asian beers, just tasted bloody horrible and offered a bouquet you'd expect from a toxic chemical plant
- Korean OB - Girl scouts beer that seems to get weaker and sweeter every year. Please, kill this brand dead.
- Any Vietnamese beer - due to the shortage of refrigeration facilities, you have a choice of drinking it either (a) pish warm or (b) on the rocks. As you might imagine, it is dreadful stuff either way.
- I also tried Yugoslavian beer as a student in the late 1980s and remember it being appalling, but not as bad as these diabolical Asian brews.

Frankly, no Asian beer I know of is anything near world class - the Jap stuff is the worst of a bad bunch - and I would hesitate to describe any of them as Pilsners, if we go by the definition of a Pilsner as a golden Czech-style, well hopped lager. I would concur with Methods that Mexican beer is dire stuff, but they do redeem themselves (slightly) with Negro Modelo, a Vienna-style dark lager that I occasionally enjoy a wee snifter of.

In an ideal world we would all drink European originals (ie British and Irish ales, Czech pilsners and dunkles, German wheats, and Belgian ales and lambics) with US micros a close second choice. And given that I am here in Korea, I will given an honorable mention to Makkoli, the tradtional rice brew that is outstanding stuff and (technically, at least) a beer.

[Darth Rock&Roll]

Andy, you are one of those strong flavoured beer drinkers and more than likely prefer a stout or an ale over a lager and you probably like your pilsners unreasonably sharp as well.

So, I can't take your advice because we have Canadians brews that are superior to several euro brands hands down.

I mean, come on, euros drink that piss carlsberg which is utter shyte and they drink it by the gallon in every fuckin country there!

Now, I'm a lager dude. I don't mind a kilkenny cream ale now and then but don't care much for guiness after taste and I don't like ales because they taste flat and tinny to me no matter what the brand. Pilsners are often a bit sharp but lager, blonde lagers are the superior type of beer to drink in my books!

I like French Lagers like Kronenbourg, or Irish ones like Harp, or Stella is nice and the DR has a nice crisp summer beer with their Presidente brand.(i wish i could get that here) Dos Equis is ok as well and pretty close to presidente in flavour and body. BUt I do agree that the great majority of Caribbean beers are closer to water than beer.

strong flavour doesn't always equal better beet.

I prefer more hops and more malt than liberal sugar use like you find in many lagers.

here's the kicker, I have always though Molson Canadian was shit and I don't like ANY, not ONE standard American beer.

Microbreweries more often than not taste like shit too. It's very hard to find a decent one that doesn't still taste like the inside of the oast or that isn't inconsistent in a constant and identifiable flavour. What the do offer is the perception of choice though.

[Ian]

I sense beer argument

Darth, I agree that ales taste flat. Beer should have bubbles, damn it! And I have yet to try one American beer that doesn't (objectively) taste awful

As for Carlsberg, it doesn't make the cut for Germany's 10 most popular beers, and I can't remember the last time I saw a "euro" drink it.

[Batesy]

Staropramen!!

[Steve James]

Every major city in Germany has its own beer. (Oh, afaik, "Carlsberg" beer has nothing to do with Karlsruhe ... or Vogelbrau, etc). However, I'm with bailewen. I wouldn't think of drinking Chinese beer, particularly in China. If there, I'd drink the local brew --just as I'd do if I were in Italy or France. Ok, I might drink a draft Stella, but not because I like it. As for "American" beers, I don't drink any of the commercial brands. But, I like Belgian bottle-fermented brews Then again, there are beers to drink with meals, beers to savor alone and beers to just drink to replace water. IPAs, for me, fall into the last category. Temperature has a lot to do with it, too. American beers are often taken close to freezing --which is perfect for outdoors at a ball game. Most beers taste like crap to me at those temperatures or they are almost tasteless. Yeah, drink them 20 degrees warmer and they do look and taste like pee.

[cdobe]

Every major city in Germany has its own beer. (Oh, afaik, "Carlsberg" beer has nothing to do with Karlsruhe ... or Vogelbrau, etc). However, I'm with bailewen. I wouldn't think of drinking Chinese beer, particularly in China. If there, I'd drink the local brew --just as I'd do if I were in Italy or France. Ok, I might drink a draft Stella, but not because I like it. As for "American" beers, I don't drink any of the commercial brands. But, I like Belgian bottle-fermented brews Then again, there are beers to drink with meals, beers to savor alone and beers to just drink to replace water. IPAs, for me, fall into the last category. Temperature has a lot to do with it, too. American beers are often taken close to freezing --which is perfect for outdoors at a ball game. Most beers taste like crap to me at those temperatures or they are almost tasteless. Yeah, drink them 20 degrees warmer and they do look and taste like pee.

Carlsberg comes from Denmark. I have never tasted it, nor have I seen anyone drink it in my entire life of living in Europe .

And BTW not only has every major city in Germany its own beer (it's probably more like dozens of breweries). There are many small cities which have their own brands of beer. I live close to two of the more famous breweries, one city has a population of 75,000 the other one has only 13,000. The one in the samller "city" is the best going brand in the whole state. And when you make a guided tour there, you can drink as much as you like afterwards. I think you guys would like that. I'm personally not that much of a beer drinker.

[meeks]

here's the kicker, I have always though Molson Canadian was shit and I don't like ANY, not ONE standard American beer.

+1 - Molson is just another big brew bitter beer that's about the profit margins rather than the taste. Labatts is pretty much the same to me.
American beer? just like having sex in a canoe, it's "fucking near water".

In China you need to stick to the local brews only...the ones that cost about 2RMB for a huge bottle. We drank Snow in Wuhan but it was made there and tasted better. I had Yanjing in Wuhan and thought it was a shitty Budweiser until I went to visit Tomasz in Beijing (where Yanjing hails from) and it was creamy good beer that tasted like 'more please'. Tomasz had it delivered to his door weekly like a milk man delivery...

If possible, look for a restaurant that makes their own beer - in Wuhan we went to San Wu Chun (3 5 Spring) and they made the best f-ing beer on Earth...as in "I'm never going back to North America" when you take each sip.

[Andy_S]

Darth:

You are plainly a padded blouse without good in your heart, iron in your soul, taste in your buds, balls in your trous or blood on your knuckles. MTFU, suckle a bottle of Chimay and report back! And have a razor at the ready to either:
(1) Shave off the hairs it will put on your chest; or
(b) Slash your throat if you find you STILL prefer a Molsons. *

Ian:

Beer needs bubbles like bathwater does. You know where the bubbles in your bath come from, I assume?

Meeks:

Glad to hear there are SOME decent brews in the Middle Kingdom, though I think you overstate the case. After all, IIRC, you DID relocate to North American, hmmm?

* Mind you, I give you kudos for your on-target analysis of my tastes. How the hell did you do that? Scary.