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Beijing Beer Hunter
by James Edmonds & Simon Andrew
6pm San Francisco Brewing Company, Beijing Asia Hotel, Gongti Beilu (010-65007788 ext 6156)
He admits to being rather unambitious financially - his concern is to brew beers his customers want to drink. And he succeeds superbly. After testing his ales you may find your pub crawl ends right here. The Indian Pale Ale is the most easily accessible, and although punters familiar with English IPAs may well find it slightly surprising, we actually rate it as more interesting than most of its overseas counterparts. Wong's latest addition is a non-filtered Apricot Honey Wheat Ale, which may well win over customers lamenting the demise of his Raspberry Ale. It's a real easy-drinking number, but perhaps too sweet to go too far on, especially if you're out for a proper session. Our personal favorite was the Golden Gate Red Ale, which presents good bitterness and leaves a lot happening on your palate. Others may prefer the Smokey's Nut Brown Ale, however. One man about town rates it as the next best thing to Guinness. It has the bitter edge of a porter, but comes without the weight. All the ales are 30-35 yuan for a half-liter, or 80-90 yuan for a 1.5-liter jug. Try as many as you can in two hours, then take a short ride down Third Ring Road. 8pm Hof Brauhaus,15 North Dongsanhuanlu (010-65914597/4598) Manager Liu Changliang set up his own brewery in 1994 after being sent by his former employer - the infamous Beijing Beer - to studying brewing in Bavaria. There are three varieties to test here: the Hefe Lager (18.8 yuan for a 0.3-liter glass), the Hefe Pilsner (22.8 yuan) and the Hefe Dunkel (a slightly off-putting 34.8 yuan). You may find the lager rather ordinary, and possibly too bitter, while the pilsner has better drinkability despite being a touch on the yeasty side. Definitely the best bet, if your wallet can stand it, is the dark beer. The customers at the Hof Brauhaus are split fairly evenly between local Chinese and people from overseas. In surprising contrast to the common image of beer-swilling expatriates, Hof Brauhaus vice general manager Su Zhijie said Chinese customers generally knock back more than the overseas guests. Swill the lager and pilsner, savor the dark beer, then step into a taxi and continue up the ring road to Yansha Qiao. 9pm Paulaner Brauhaus, Kempinski Hotel, Lufthansa Center (010-64653388)
11 pm Tai Yang Palace, Liangmahe Lu, opposite the Lufthansa Center (010-64632782/83) The capital's newest brewery is in the slightly surprising setting of a Sichuan restaurant, which is surely the next best thing to an Indian restaurant for finishing off a night on the booze. Only one lager beer is on offer here - the Gleckes Pilsner - and while some days it is very drinkable indeed, on others it's downright dodgy. Furthermore, the fermentation tanks have been put on display in the window, which should make life rather challenging for their brewmaster once the summer sun starts beating down on them. The food is excellent (sometimes), and the beer comes at a bargain 9 yuan for a half-liter. |
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Revulsion against the nation's traditionally weak and insipid brews has made in-house breweries all the rage in America. Beijing's lovers of fine ales can rejoice that this trend has arrived here, with a number of small brewers offering an alternative to fizzy poison. In the spirit of serving the people, your humble reporters have struggled through an in-depth study of these developments in order to create the ideal Beijing Real Beer Pub Crawl.
It always makes sense to start with the good stuff so you can appreciate it properly. Master brewer Alex Wong brought his skills to Beijing just over two years ago and now offers a range of four excellent ales together with an eclectic food menu in one of the only places in the city where you can see new overseas movies in their original versions. "Brewing and the culinary art are very basically similar," says Wong. "You have to have passion."
This is the most well-established brewery on the night's itinerary, drawing on a tradition that dates back to the foundation of the Paulaner Brewery in Munich in 1634. Manager Robert Kunz claims it is also the only brewhouse in Beijing with a Bavarian braumeister, a Bavarian manager and a Bavarian butcher to look after the preparation of the sausages and smoked meats. He boasts that some German guests say the beer brewed here is even better than back home. One member of our party argued that it was impossible to brew good beer in Beijing because of poor water quality, but Kunz dismissed his claims. "Once the water is purified it has mineral water quality, making it the best in China for beer," he said. The Paulaner produces only one regular brew, an unfiltered lager that conforms to the Bavarian purity law of 1516, although braumeister Klaus Brehmer added a magnificent Maibock for the Maifest last month. Unfortunately, Maibock is available only for the duration of the festival, May 1-19, so you'll have to wait another year to try Beijing's best beer. The Paulaner unfiltered starts well, but you may find it a bit sweet and rather uninteresting compared with Alex Wong's ales. By this time you shouldn't be too discriminating, however, so have two before you stagger across the road to wrap up the evening.