Shanghai Beer Scene

Discussing good beer in Shanghai, the people that make it, and where to find it.

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Excellent porter by Founders Brewing. No surprise that it's rated 100 on RateBeer.com. Even better: no silly name applied to it. http://ift.tt/2aTke9R

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It's looking like a very successful tap takeover for @foundersbrewing at @theliquidlibrary tonight! #CraftBeer #Shanghai http://ift.tt/2ahmCLA

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Jackie's most recent batch of TPA was really excellent! http://ift.tt/2aaf7WB

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It's a great day at the Kerry Craft Beer Festival! http://ift.tt/28TpSuH

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Pacific Jade Single Hop ale at Boxing Cat. A rather nice hop. Flavorful, but only mildly bitter. Citrus and floral notes. http://ift.tt/1r9HypR

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The excellent Brass Monkey Cascadian Dark Ale at Boxing Cat Brewery. Hopefully they'll make this one again soon! http://ift.tt/1RTEtQB

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Delicious "Thrilla in Manila Berliner Weisse" at Boxing Cat Brewery, made with calamansi limes, ginger and pomegranate honey. http://ift.tt/1SJPTZ5

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Mornington Peninsula Brewery Tap Takeover tonight from 7pm-12:30am at Liquid Laundry. Happy Hour prices of 30¥ for a 350ml pour on 4 draft beers - IPA, Brown Ale, Lager and Pale Ale.

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Shanghai Brewery has a terrific Coffee Porter currently on tap at most branches. A definite must-try. http://ift.tt/1r2dIUs

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"Cream of Wheat Ale", a rather good Belgian wit/IPA hybrid currently pouring at Shanghai Brewery locations. http://ift.tt/26zrvmn

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Just over a month to go until Shanghai Beer Week! Shanghai’s best celebration of great brewing here and elsewhere in China. Information will be available at the official web site at http://ShanghaiBeerWeek.com and through the official WeChat account: ShanghaiBeerWeek 

Or scan the QR code above to follow on WeChat.

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Had a nice visit to the new branch of Dr. Beer, on Guyang Lu in Gubei New Area. Attractive, if a bit sterile in design. Part of the seating area looks down on the tanks in the brewery. Food is very average, but happily the beers are quite good, although the IBUs of several are definitely higher than stated in the menu. (The Pilsner, Pale Ale and IPA, to be specific.) Definitely leaning toward the American brewing style. Worth a visit, at least to try the beers.

Address: 749 Guyang Rd., near Yili Rd., Gubei New Area, Shanghai

古羊路749号, 近古北路

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Brewed in China - Roads & Kingdoms

It’s a balmy Thursday evening in Hong Kong and a crowd with pints of beer in their hands is spilling out onto the steep slope of Peel Street in the Soho neighborhood. It’s well past happy hour, so they’re here for a reason: the launch of One Beer, Two Systems, a collaboration between two of …

A good article from a few months back on the Roads & Kingdoms website, interviewing several craft brewers in Hong Kong and Beijing. Good to see the interest in sourcing ingredients locally. For craft brewing in China to truly “explode”, there will have to be substantial development of the resources in China, in volume and especially in quality, as brewer Carl Setzer notes.

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It might look like a stout in this picture, but actually it's a deep dark amber. Eliminate Doppelbock, currently pouring at Boxing Cat Brewery Hongqiao http://ift.tt/1TCjnvY

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Via the Shanghai Beer Week YouTube page: The 2016 Shanghai Beer Festival will have great beer from all over China but did you know there is a vibrant cider community in Shanghai? In this interview, we meet Leon Mickelson, the owner of Cider Republic. Leon previously worked at The Brew and has since ventured into the cider making arena. For more information about Shanghai Beer week, visit our website at www.shanghaibeerweek.com

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Via the Shanghai Beer Week YouTube page: The 2016 edition of Shanghai Beer Week is less than 2 months away! He’s Paul "DaddyBird" Castle, a writer and beer aficionado to tell a little bit about it. Learn more about the 2016 Shanghai Beer Week by going to www.Shanghaibeerweek.com!

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What’s going on here?

There is a lot of good beer to be had in Shanghai, and of many different sources. There have long been, of course, the Chinese large producers of mass market beer, but there also remain some smaller Chinese brewers that as yet resisted consolidation, plus some small restaurants brewing the basic German styles in-house, of varying quality. Since the opening of the Chinese economy and rise in affluence of Chinese consumers, many foreign beers have begun to be imported, and the numbers, sources and types of these continues to grow with each year. Finally, in recent years many Western style “craft” breweries have been established in China, following after the surge in this segment of the market in the West. While this site may be largely aimed at monitoring this last category, worthwhile offerings can be found among all of the above sources and will receive coverage when appropriate.

In writings elsewhere about beer in China, it has sometimes been said that there is a craft beer “explosion” occurring here. It would be wonderful if that was true, but it is at best an exaggeration. While in Hong Kong the craft beer scene seems to be expanding quite quickly, in mainland China the growth is much slower, if reasonably steady. And yet there is still quite enough development within the market to warrant attention, and ample activity by those involved that is worthy of enthusiasm.

Even in this developing beer market it can be difficult to keep track of what is available and where. While new brewers and beers join the market fairly regularly, some also disappear, and in both cases information is not always easy to come by to keep abreast of current availability. This is especially true when one is considering the size of China and its overall market, but even in one city, such as Shanghai, the task can still be daunting. This site will attempt to ease some of that difficulty, and add to the collective common knowledge of the beer scene in China, primarily in Shanghai, but elsewhere as well, when possible.

Additionally, the aim of this site is not just to record and report available beers in Shanghai, but to encourage the growth of the community itself, both consumers and brewers. Beer, as much as any other consumable, is a social beverage, and an amicable and improving community ultimately naturally leads to improved beer and better availability as well.