Job Discussion Forums

[AKA]

Here in the Shanghai residential districts, you wouldn't need to travel more than 50 metres if you wanted to buy a watermelon. There are pyramids of them, all sorted according to size. Mobile sellers on tricycles patrol the streets, or gather at busy pedestrian points. In a city of 16 million, if each family eats one a day [my wife eats one a day herself], that's....a hell of a lot of watermelons.

Beer! Even the tiniest hole in the wall shop has a stack of empty or soon to be empty crates. There's the working man's "Shanghai" brand, one yuan [plus deposit] up to good quality Suntory, about 3 yuan. You need to go to supermarkets for "top end" labels. Even the smallest shop can now sell COLD beer - and that's taken a while to catch on, I can tell you. One bottle per adult male per day.....6 million bottles. I drink two of them [no, not million Pointdexter]

The local pork butcher.....meat sellers and taxi drivers have this in common. They know, or pretend to know, EVERYTHING! My meat man knows all about currency exchange rates and world markets. Since he established I was Australian, he has always quoted the correct rates and market trends.

People, places, things. It beats daytime TV I can tell you.

PS Sorry folks, I put this on the "wrong" forum. It was those two beers that made me do it.

[Wolf]

[AKA]

Wolf-man, don't be fooled by the label.......it's owned and brewed by Carlton United Breweries, Australia's largest, makers of FOSTERS, main sponsors of Formula One racing.
When they bought the brewery, they kept the "Suntory" brand name, as it's so big here; in fact probably number one.
As for other Japanese beers, Asahi is a big seller, also made locally, and streets ahead of that tasteless BUD stuff.

OK viewers, what's the best beer in China?

[aaronschwartz]

In China at many middle school the boys urinate into buckets that are then collected and taken away. I wondered where they want and why.

Then I tasted Chinese beer and it became clear that filter it through pantyhose and bottle it.

[AKA]

So THAT'S why I see all the tankers with "Bud Brewery Wuhan" lined up in the side streets near the cesuo!

Anyway Aaron, I'll bow to your obvious experience in the flavor of boy's urine, and look forward to your first non-misanthropic post before Spring Festival...sometime this decade.

[Seth]

I think he's been watching Japanese DVD's again.

I think Chinese beer is as good as any other mass produced beer. Not as good as Belgian or Czech, but well enough. In Qingdao you buy beer in plastic bags. Stick a straw in the bag and away you go.

[MonkeyKing]

[NumberOneSon]

[MyTurnNow]

I second Seth's preference for the European beers, but I haven't had a bad beer in China yet....maybe I'm just easy.

I also agree with AKA in that there are some good Japanese beers...nothing puts out a wasabi fire better than a nice cold Kirin.

I like Suzhou's Taihushui and Shanghai's Reeb better than Suntory.

Best beer I've had here, though, was a black beer sold in the Beijing area. I don't remember the brand...you could simply ask for a "HeiPi" ("black beer") and they'd bring it. It was hard to find even in Beijing, though. It was very smooth and easy-drinking...much lighter than a stout or even a porter. But it had a touch more character than most Chinese beers, which tend to the ultra-light side.

MT

[Gray000]

Found a good 'un called Bai Le here in Suzhou too, MTN. Tastes wheaty, and is 5 mao cheaper per bottle than Taihushui. And so what if there are floaties from time to time?

AKA - At two local restaurants, a lanzhou noodle joint and a XinJiang place, the cooks have asked me to come to them if I want to change any US$.

[AKA]

Yes MTN, the word is you're easy..to please, of course. Most Chinese beers - and I've tried them from Xinjiang to Jiangsu - are light on hops, malt, alcohol; in fact all the things a good beer should have. But they still go down well on a hot day, and I find they are lower on gas than Australian lagers, so are easier to drink with food.
I've noticed many Western women who claim to hate beer can down the local stuff easily.
On a medicinal note, I read an article which said hops - a necessary beer ingredient of course - had been proven to kill off stomach "bugs". I told a visiting teacher with " a touch of the toms" about this, she started drinking a bottle a day [then two] and hey presto! It's pretty important for a teacher not to have to sprint to the loo mid sentence, especially not a student loo in summer. Gross! [Yeah, I know, mine stinks too}

[MyTurnNow]

AKA, I agree...Chinese beers tend to be a little light for my tastes too. But they aren't bad, and I'll take any of them over a Bud any day.
Perhaps you've hit on the key to my tendency to GI problems here: I'm just not drinking enough! Thanks, friend, you've solved a major problem for me. Maybe several problems.

Gray, I don't know Bai Le yet. It's obvious we gotta talk...you've found sleazy dives in Suzhou I don't know about yet! I had an awful time finding a place to buy dollars here despite the efforts of our helpful English-speaking staff, which as you know has the combined IQ of a springer (this amazing censor software won't let me say co cker) spaniel. Get their rate for me please! (Also check their bills for authenticity!)

MT

[Seth]

I heard on TV the other day that they've released a study on the medicinal value of hops. Apparently they're full of anti-oxidants and anti-cancer stuff, and they said that a glass of beer a day is better for you than a glass of wine.

Why not both, I say.

[Peter]

I visited Beijing 7 years ago; the local beer was cheaper than bottled water.
We kept it cool in the toilet cistern, Being has very cold artesian water.

How is it now?

[AKA]

The beer or the water, Peter? Still, irrelevant I suppose, as it all ends up in the same place.
Here in Shanghai, the cheapest beer is still cheaper than bottled water, and IMHO tastes better.
Since I started this thread, the heatwave has caused a beer shortage, with some brands being unavailable for days at a time.
And no-one can blame laowai for all of that.