Home » City specials » Qingdao
Swill time at annual beer festival
By Zhang Qian |
August 7, 2010, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE annual Qingdao International Beer Festival from August 15 to 30 will feature plenty of free brews, a beer museum to learn about brewing and plenty of bars to party and gan bei -- bottoms up.
The festival, founded in 1991, features all kinds of music and pretty girls dancing on stage. There are beer tastings and drinking contests and famous beers from around the world are featured in Asia's biggest beer blast.
The Qingdao Beer Street next to the famous old Qingdao Brewery features many bars and restaurants. Nearby is Tuanmu Food Street where you can try beer-drenched clams.
The city and surrounds offer beautiful beaches and scenery. The Western architecture gives Qingdao a distinctive feel.
Tsingtao Beer has a pleasant aroma and a well-balanced taste. Its high-malty flavor and well-hopped character make it a refreshing complement to Chinese and many other cuisines.
It's produced with spring water from nearby Mt Laoshan by the Yellow Sea. Ingredients include the highest quality hops, as well as the finest yeast and barley imported from Australia and Canada.
Beer museum
The Qingdao Beer Museum on Dengzhou Road opened in 2003 to mark the 100th anniversary of Tsingtao Beer. Located in the old brewery, it covers more than 6,000 square meters and makes full use of the original workshops and production line. Interactive exhibitions explain the history and process of beer making.
The museum usually receives around 3,000 visitors a day and many more in the August beer festival, says Jiang Wei, deputy curator of the beer museum.
The Qingdao brewery in a European-style building began operation in 1903, as the Germania Brewery, a branch of the Anglo-German Brewing Co Ltd. All the equipment was imported from Germany and it was run by Germans until Japanese took over in 1916. China took over in 1945 at the end of the war. It now produces 2,000 tons a day.
The first section covers history of the beer factory and the second covers development of beer production technology.
The original interior is retained. It features photos, text, advertisement, bottles, employee cards and numerous relics of the old beer culture.
Advertisement displays are a highlight, including posters and TV promotions over the years.
The earliest advertisement was a black-and-white poster in German, produced in 1903. The most precious treasure is said to be the first TV advertisement in China, made in 1947. It promotes the health properties of beer, including benefits to the stomach and appetite. It was also said to relieve athlete's foot.
The second section of the museum is located in the workshops of the newer factory established in 1987, which still operates today. Exhibits include machinery around 100 years old, and still in working condition (though not used). Visitors can see both the brewing and the bottling (10 bottles a second) and packaging. Of course, there's free beer during the tour.
Visitors can see equipment that breaks down carbohydrates of hops into sugar, fermentation vats and filtration equipment.
There are three types of beer -- virgin stock, draft and regular beer. Virgin stock is the very first brew produced after 45 days of fermentation. You can only taste it in a brewery, as a rule because it's not preserved. Each visitor gets a free small cup of original stock, and every three visitors gets a free mug of beer.
Recently the bars and restaurants on Beer Street have started offering the freshest virgin stock.
The museum also offers a "drunk house" with sloping floors where you can feel tipsy, even if you're sober.
Qingdao Beer Museum
Open: 8:30am-4:30pm
Address: 56 Dengzhou Rd
Tickets: 50 yuan (adults), 25 yuan (children)
Tel: (0532) 8383-3437
The festival, founded in 1991, features all kinds of music and pretty girls dancing on stage. There are beer tastings and drinking contests and famous beers from around the world are featured in Asia's biggest beer blast.
The Qingdao Beer Street next to the famous old Qingdao Brewery features many bars and restaurants. Nearby is Tuanmu Food Street where you can try beer-drenched clams.
The city and surrounds offer beautiful beaches and scenery. The Western architecture gives Qingdao a distinctive feel.
Tsingtao Beer has a pleasant aroma and a well-balanced taste. Its high-malty flavor and well-hopped character make it a refreshing complement to Chinese and many other cuisines.
It's produced with spring water from nearby Mt Laoshan by the Yellow Sea. Ingredients include the highest quality hops, as well as the finest yeast and barley imported from Australia and Canada.
Beer museum
The Qingdao Beer Museum on Dengzhou Road opened in 2003 to mark the 100th anniversary of Tsingtao Beer. Located in the old brewery, it covers more than 6,000 square meters and makes full use of the original workshops and production line. Interactive exhibitions explain the history and process of beer making.
The museum usually receives around 3,000 visitors a day and many more in the August beer festival, says Jiang Wei, deputy curator of the beer museum.
The Qingdao brewery in a European-style building began operation in 1903, as the Germania Brewery, a branch of the Anglo-German Brewing Co Ltd. All the equipment was imported from Germany and it was run by Germans until Japanese took over in 1916. China took over in 1945 at the end of the war. It now produces 2,000 tons a day.
The first section covers history of the beer factory and the second covers development of beer production technology.
The original interior is retained. It features photos, text, advertisement, bottles, employee cards and numerous relics of the old beer culture.
Advertisement displays are a highlight, including posters and TV promotions over the years.
The earliest advertisement was a black-and-white poster in German, produced in 1903. The most precious treasure is said to be the first TV advertisement in China, made in 1947. It promotes the health properties of beer, including benefits to the stomach and appetite. It was also said to relieve athlete's foot.
The second section of the museum is located in the workshops of the newer factory established in 1987, which still operates today. Exhibits include machinery around 100 years old, and still in working condition (though not used). Visitors can see both the brewing and the bottling (10 bottles a second) and packaging. Of course, there's free beer during the tour.
Visitors can see equipment that breaks down carbohydrates of hops into sugar, fermentation vats and filtration equipment.
There are three types of beer -- virgin stock, draft and regular beer. Virgin stock is the very first brew produced after 45 days of fermentation. You can only taste it in a brewery, as a rule because it's not preserved. Each visitor gets a free small cup of original stock, and every three visitors gets a free mug of beer.
Recently the bars and restaurants on Beer Street have started offering the freshest virgin stock.
The museum also offers a "drunk house" with sloping floors where you can feel tipsy, even if you're sober.
Qingdao Beer Museum
Open: 8:30am-4:30pm
Address: 56 Dengzhou Rd
Tickets: 50 yuan (adults), 25 yuan (children)
Tel: (0532) 8383-3437
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