The beers of China

The post everyone has been waiting for!  The beers of China post!!  Okay, I'll admit, this will likely be the least read post of all, and I don't blame anyone for that other than the Chinese for not demanding more out of their goverment fed beers.  Geesh...

There is one notable beer missing from this list. It's the Guiness Extra Foreign Stout.  I don't recall the word 'foreign' on the American cans so I was tempted to buy this at the 7-11. I didn't want to buy anything that I can get or have had at home, so I passed.  Then, last night when we had supper with Liena's family, the restaurant had those Guiness E.F.S.'s on their menu, so I ordered one. The first sip told me it wasn't the same stuff that we would get in America and Liena's dad agreed.  I tried to grab one at the 7-11 on the walk home, but it would figure, they were sold out.  Just as well... it's one of those memories that will become sweeter and sweeter with time.

On to the beers.  This first one is a Chinese Wal Mart brand beer. You could buy a twelve pack of these for 12 yuan, about 2 bucks.  I didn't do that so that should tell you something about the beer itself. It wasn't bad, but there was no need for another.

This Harbin is a Wheat beer. Not bad at all, but it had just a hint of a flavor that I don't care much for.

This Harbin was a light beer. Forgettable at best.

This beer was my favorite. It was a dark wheat by Donners Berger. It was the "biggest" tasting of the beers that I had, including the aforementioned Guiness. I risked walking across the street a second time in Changchun to grab a second bottle at the Wally Mart.

Tsingtao, we have this one in the States but it's the 'go to' beer here in China. Dirt cheap and for a good reason. They've somehow managed to cut the alcohol content to 2.5.  Many people panicked when they set these in front of them in the restaurant, but they're easy to drink with virtually no effect at all.

Pearl River, beer number 1. The second 'go to' beer in China.  The pearl river is the river where we had our dinner cruise a couple of nights back.  It's a good beer but much like Tsingtao, the alcohol content is well south of 3%.

Okay, okay...  this is technically a Japanese beer but after the difference in the Guiness at the restaurant I decided to get one of these once I discovered they were out of Guiness.  This is always a good beer. Kinda dry in the States, really dry here.  Good beer.

This was a good beer too. It's brewed by Tsingtao and is called 1903.  Nothing special but just a good, drinkable beer.  This would be outstanding on a hot summer day of mowing.

Here's another Wheat beer. It wasn't good as it seemed to have a LOT of a flavor that I don't care for. Oh sure, I drank the silly thing, but I was happy it was gone when it was gone.

Pearl River beer number 2. I really couldn't tell you what the difference was because everything on the label, sans the Pearl River you can see in the photo, was written in Chinese. It's darker.  It had a hint of a bock flair to it but I'm not sure if it was intended or not. If I had to choose between the two, I would go with this one as it had a bit more flavor to it.

Wal Mart brand Snow beer number 2.  I honestly think it was the same beer in a different label. The one above was on a huge pallet display up by the register lanes while this one was available back in the beer aisle. Very forgettable.

So there you have it.  Nothing too exciting and nothing that really knocked me out. 

I met several dads and the occaisional mom who were beer drinkers here and we all agreed that it's time to get back to the states for something with a little weight and flavor to it. 

Cheers!