Mini Sapporo Beer in Hong Kong

This mini can of Sapporo is something I picked up from a 7-11 near to the hotel I was staying at in Hong Kong.

In the photo the Carlsberg is a normal 330ml and the Sapporo was tiny in comparison, although the pricing was quite similar.

Sapporo tastes good whether in bottle or can and the 7-11's in Hong Kong really have their fridges turned up to full power so the beer was icy cold and ready to drink.

I finished it in one gulp.

Very nice indeed.

Tsingtao - Proud sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

The Tsingtao in Hong Kong was really, really fresh.

An absolute pleasure to drink.

It is available in every bar, restaurant and minimart as the defacto beer of choice.

I drank it out of cans, bottles and draft (I think did anyway) and it was by far the best I have ever had when compared to the Tsingtao I have consumed in other countries.

As far as the Olympics go the athletes of the world should be more than catered for alcoholically either in their celebrations or commiserations.

Roll on Beijing!

Pearl River Lager Beer – Since 1985

This brew is a typical German style lager so commonly found in China, although this one comes with a 1980’s style ring pull.

Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery launched Pearl River in 1985 and has achieved continuing popularity with China’s beer drinkers.

As with everything else in China this beer is now being exported across the region but has yet to make any significant impact in the alcoholic global consciousness.

Pearl River is fairly drinkable and I can find no reason to speak ill of it, although given a choice I would definitely prefer a Tsingtao.

Beijing Yan Jing Beer flying over China

Business has been busy so beer blog updates have been slow in recent months but thanks to my travels I managed to sample some new Asian brews.

Flying God awful economy somewhere over southern China the air stewardess asked the usual question (what would you like to drink?) and I gave the usual answer (Beer! Beer! Beer!).

I soon found out the only brew available on China Southern airlines is Beijing Yan Jing beer and over the course of several flights I managed to drink about half a case thanks to my finely honed patter with the cabin crew.

Q) Would you like anything else sir?
A) Yes! Beer! Beijing Yan Jing Beer!

The noticeably blue can claimed a quality grade of excellent and certified the brew as a “Green Food” i.e. environmentally friendly. At 4.0% a couple of cans per flight were enough to keep me entertained and taste wise it was okay considering the beer was served warm.

Apparently the Beijing Yanjing Beer Group Corporation is one of the biggest breweries in China with 20,000 employees and an impressive production capacity of 3.11 million tons of beer a year, a significant increase on their first few thousand bottles brewed when they set up in 1980.

Yanjing is actually the ancient name of Beijing and the brew has an 85% share of local market and is also the official beer of all government banquets.

Warm beer rarely hits the spot but it can be a real giveaway about the quality of the brew. If it is a chemi-brew then it would taste revolting above 10 Celsius but I can say that Yan Jing beer managed to pass the “doesn’t taste like chemical piss when served warm test” with flying colors.