All the beer in China

I mentioned in the previous post about Guangzhou, that I was gagging for a beer, and touched on the paucity of bars in the city, or indeed anywhere to just sit, drink beer and socialise. My Japanese colleagues found this situation surprising too as, like me, they were looking forward to sinking a few beers, especially after our successful business meeting.

I knew that there were bars in Guangzhou, constructed along the “craft beer” model, as I’d  carried out a little research, as you do, prior to my trip. I’d downloaded and printed off a guide from the Beer Travelist website, which detailed six bars offering good beer in the city, but Guangzhou is a large, sprawling city and trying to locate these places, particularly without out street-map, proved too much of a challenge in the limited time I had available.

It’s easy to be wise with hindsight, as there were reviews of a number of the city’s beer bars, but these were all done on an individual basis. I’m certain that if I’d had another day or two I could have tracked down some of thee establishments, as I became more familiar with the metro system and the overall layout of Guangzhou.

It was something of a disappointment then that my first taste of beer in China was a selection of cans, purchased from a mini-mart ,just round the corner from my hotel. I picked up three beers, all brewed by the Pearl River Brewing Company. They were refrigerated/ready chilled when I bought them, but there was no need to drink them all immediately, as there was a fridge in my hotel room.

I still drank two of them more or less straight away, but somehow it didn’t feel right knocking them back, whilst sitting in my hotel room. l can report that they were all perfectly drinkable, refreshing and thirst quenching, but weren’t anything special, and certainly nothing much to write home about.

When my colleagues arrived later that evening, the first thing on their minds was something to eat, followed by a few beers. I don’t think they believed me at first when I said there were no bars in the vicinity of the hotel, but after walking around the block we found a restaurant that was still open and piled in, mob-handed.

I left the choice of food to my colleagues, as whilst not understanding Chinese they are able to recognise 50 or so characters. These simplified Chinese characters, called Kanji in Japanese, are used quite extensively in Japanese writing. I told my companions that I could eat anything apart from duck. For some strange reason, this creature which features quite extensively in Chinese cooking, has an adverse effect on me. I won’t go into too much detail, but it doesn’t remain in my stomach for very long.

Various dishes appeared on our table as did the beer. It was none other than that best known of Chinese beers in the outside world – Tsingtao. Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd is China's second largest brewery, with about 15% of domestic market share. It was founded in 1903 by German settlers in the city of Qingdao.

The beer came in large 660ml bottles and was branded for the local market. Whilst it was refreshingly good and the perfect accompaniment to the quite spicy dishes placed in front of us, the drinking vessels were a real disappointment. Small and very flimsy, cups made out of clear plastic, it was quite difficult not to end up squashing them. We managed to get through several bottles, but with nowhere else to go after our meal, returned to our hotel. With a busy and important day ahead of us, an early night was a good idea.

Our supplier audit the following morning, saw us taking the metro, practically all the way to the airport, to a location called Renhe. We’d been told we could take a taxi from outside the station, but there didn’t appear to be any. We did notice one smartly dressed lady hail a cab, but that seemed to arrive with the aid of the local equivalent of Uber.

There was a queue of small motorcycles, which I didn’t take much notice of until one of my colleagues pointed out that these two-wheeled vehicles were the taxis! “Did I fancy going on one?”, my companion enquired. “No,” I replied, muttering something about the firm’s travel insurance not covering me in the event of an accident.

I was still looking at this rather dubious form of transport when one of the bikes was hailed by three young girls. I watched in amazement as all three jumped on the back; the girl at the rear practically sitting on the mudguard. The driver then pulled away, wobbling as he weaved his way into the rather chaotic three lanes of traffic. The girls had no crash helmets, and were dressed more for a shopping expedition than for a motorcycle ride.

The factory manager despatched a proper four-wheeled taxi to pick us up. My companions very kindly insisted I sat in the front. After watching the motor bikes I felt surprisingly relaxed sitting next to the driver whilst he plotted his route, and his next pick-ups on his tablet, whilst trying to avoid being crushed between a lorry which pulled out in front of us.

Our factory tour and audit went very well, and we were all impressed, and very relieved at what we saw. Choosing this Chinese supplier had been something of a gamble, but my colleagues had done their homework correctly, and their choice had been exonerated. I too was both pleased and relieved, as it had been a long way for me to come, but sometimes there is no substitute for physically being there.

After the audit was complete, our host took us for lunch at a restaurant just five minutes walk away from the factory. He was obviously well known there as we were ushered into  private room at the back.

What followed was without a doubt, the best meal I had during my time in China. With a good selection of rice and noodles, plus some excellent pork and beef dishes as well, the spicy, chilli-beef was amongst the best I have tasted. Rich in both ginger and finely-chopped chillies, it was a dish I just had to keep going back to. 

There was beer too, this time several chilled bottles of Supreme beer from the Beijing Yanjing Brewery. According to Untappd, Supreme is a 2.5% wheat beer, but it certainly didn’t taste like one and, like the previous night, was the perfect accompaniment to the highly spiced food.

There was one final opportunity to enjoy some beer and that took place the same evening. After returning to our hotel and changing into something more comfortable and less conspicuous than our business suits, my companions and I hit the town. One member of our party wanted to ascend the 600 metre high Canton Tower, and whilst the rest of us were much less enthusiastic, we went along with his plan.

We took the metro to a station on the south bank of the Pearl River, and made our way to the base of the impressive tower. It is an obvious tourist attraction, and there are reported to be spectacular views across Guangzhou from the top. There was just one snag, and that was the smog, which was particularly thick that afternoon. The majority of us surmised correctly, as it happened, that this would obstruct much of the view, but our tower enthusiast remained unconcerned.

In the end, we told him to ascend the structure regardless, and we would wait for him at the base. We grabbed a coffee, and I used the time to check in online for my flight the following evening. This not being able to check in for the return flight until 24-48 hours beforehand, is a development I find really irritating.

I much prefer to do this from the comfort of my home, prior to embarking on the outward leg of the journey, rather than having to find a Wi-Fi connection whilst away. I want to be relaxing and enjoying myself when I’m on holiday, and not messing around tapping in flight and passport details. I also prefer to print off a paper copy of my boarding pass, rather than remembering to save a QR-Code on my Smart-phone.

Okay, I managed it alright, but it does p*ss me off! By the time I’d accomplished my task and we’d finished our coffees, our heroic tower climber appeared. The consensus was we would find somewhere to eat, but in view of the large meal we’d consumed at lunchtime, it would be something light.

We found a place offering that most traditional of Chinese dishes - Dim sum. The restaurant was in a large and modern shopping complex at the base of the tower, and was very popular. We managed to get a table and sat down to enjoy a selection of the various steamed buns and dumplings on offer.

We ordered some beer with our meal, as well as the rather more traditional Chinese green tea. I was rather surprised when several chilled bottles of Hoegaarden appeared on our table, but this classic, spiced Belgian wheat beer was the perfect partner for our meal.

Afterward, we joined the crowds milling around on the banks of the Pearl River, admiring the multitude of skyscrapers on the opposite bank, all illuminated in a multitude of colours and different optical effects.

I met up with my colleagues the following morning for a final look around Guangzhou, but that’s worthy of a short post of its own. There was no beer involved though!