Comments on: Beer in China

By: Marcus

Marcus — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:58:27 +0000

Did you know Tsingtao cures rheumatism, intestinal diseases and invigorates the spleen? Check out this Tsingtao video advertisement from the 1950's for more info. http://www.qingdaonese.com/tsingtao-medicinal/English translation included. Cool view of Qingdao when St. Michael's Cathedral still dominated skyline.

By: Bunnyhugs

Bunnyhugs — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 04:37:24 +0000

Qingdao still make two black beers, though I don’t think either is labeled as a porter.

The article actually seems slightly misleading to me. The more popular of the two dark Qingdao beers is probably easier to find in Chinese communities overseas (particularly in SE Asia) than in China. Last time I checked it was fairly widely distributed in Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia and Singapore. In contrast, In China you rarely see it.

One of the dark Qingdao beers is called 青岛黑啤, while the other is called 海岛啤酒 (or something similar).

The straight 黑啤 is sweeter and darker, while the 海岛 is a little lighter and drier. The former seems to have wider distribution than the latter. For some odd reason a few years back the 海岛 seemed to be popular in Korean restaurants in Beijing.

By: Xin

Xin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:31:11 +0000

Qingdao is really a popular brand of beer in China today.
My dad often drinks beer before dinner in summer, like Qingdao beer or Xihu(West Lake) beer. Yet in winter, grown-up people in South China prefer Yellow Wine which is probably heated right before drinking. The heated one in winter is with lower alcohol density and can warm body, the way from throat to stomach.
The Yellow Wine exported may be well packed and high priced. But in my hometown where is the hometown of Yellow Wine, it’s not that expensive. The money I spent on a bottle of red wine may worth a dozen or more bottles of ordinary yellow wine.
In my view, in China, beer is sth to chill down in hot summer but almost no one will seriously judge which brand is better. But tasting the yellow wine or some annually-home-made white wine together with family in cold winter and making new year’s resolutions is just like the atmosphere when a western family send each other gifts and get unpacked near a fireplace on a beautiful white Christmas day. ‘cuz that’s sth traditional and meaningful.

By: Sean M

Sean M — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:25:45 +0000

But did they drink it cold? I know it’s very American to want your beer cold, but room temperature Qingdao (Tsingdao) beer isn’t very appealing. I learned while living in Shanghai that if you didn’t say “bing de pijiu / cold beer” you were just as likely to get a bottle at room temperature. I think it especially surprised the little neighborhood kiosk operators when we wanted cold beer during the winter.

It’s a pity that they stopped Qingdao Porter so long ago. The only domestic dark beer I could track down when I lived in Shanghai was 新疆黑啤 (Xin Jiang Hei Pi)/ Xin Jiang Black Beer. I could only find it at Uyghur restaurants. Usually I could convince them to sell me a case at a time at some discount. Apparently, they shipped it in from Xin Jiang. It struck me as funny that the beer came from a largely Muslim area of the country.