Tsingtao Beer
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Tsingtao Brewery buildings in Qingdao
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Tsingtao Beer (Simplified Chinese: 青岛啤酒; Traditional Chinese: 青島啤酒; Pinyin: Qīngdǎo píjiǔ; "Tsingtao" is the old postal spelling of Qingdao) is a beer brewed in Qingdao, a port city in Shandong, and the name of its maker, Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. It is one of China's oldest beer brands, one of its largest brewers, and for decades has been the Chinese beer most widely known outside China.[1]
History
Qingdao was leased to Imperial Germany in 1898. In 1903 German and British investors founded the Germania-Brauerei in the city, with German brewmasters, and the first beer was served at the end of 1904, mainly for foreign residents. During the First World War Japan occupied Qingdao, and in 1916 the brewery was sold to a Japanese brewing company. After 1945 it passed to Chinese ownership, and after 1949 it became a state-owned brewery.[1][2]
Tsingtao beer was exported from the mid-20th century and entered the United States market in the early 1970s. The company was restructured in the early 1990s, and in July 1993 it became the first mainland Chinese company to list H-shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange; it is also listed in Shanghai. It later expanded by acquiring breweries across China. Foreign brewers have at times held stakes in the company.[1][2]
Ingredients and style
- Barley malt, with rice as an adjunct (typical of Asian lagers)
- Hops
- Water — the company's traditional story emphasises water from the Laoshan mountains east of Qingdao
- Yeast (lager)
The flagship Tsingtao Beer is a clear, pale lager — light, crisp and lightly hopped — made to be drunk cold with food. The company also brews other beers such as darker, draught and wheat styles. Overview only — not a brewing recipe.[1]
Culture
Qingdao is closely associated with beer. The Qingdao International Beer Festival, held each summer since 1991, is one of the largest beer festivals in Asia, and the original brewery buildings house a beer museum. In the city, draught beer is traditionally sold fresh by weight and carried home in plastic bags, a local curiosity. The brand's logo shows the Huilan Pavilion at the end of Qingdao's Zhanqiao Pier.[1][3]
Across China, lager of this kind is the everyday drink with seafood, barbecue skewers, hot pot and home cooking; see Chinese Alcohol: Beer for other major brands.
Notes
- "Tsingtao" and "Qingdao" refer to the same city; the old spelling is kept for the brand.
- This page gives no prices and does not encourage drinking.