Ok, yes, this is beer from the land that gave you Malk and melamine in the puppy food, instead of puppy food in the melamine. It’s been on the cooler shelves at Don Quixote for more than a month, so I figure if there was a problem with it might have been found by now. All kidding aside, I figure I have to see what it’s like. China isn’t really known for a deep history of beer brewing, but who knows, maybe a pocket of German worked its way into this. OK, I crack open the seal and immediately smell the skunky/muskyness. It’s that strong, I haven’t even poured it. It pours with a moderately weak head that quickly dissappears. If you pour aggresively you’ll get it agitated and it bubbles, but it doesn’t form much of a head. Leave it for a while and all signs of a head is gone. Color is moderate yellow/gold.
Thankfully the skunkyness doesnt transfer too heavily to the flavor. It’s a fairly clean crisp beer, no detectable sweetness, a bit of bitter but does not linger strongly. Fans of Heinekin and Steinlager will probably like the musky. Honestly it wasn’t offensive. And hey, according to the label it’s China’s #1 selling beer…. Take that however you want. But wait, it says it’s Green Food too! Yay! The labeling could be worse, it could be like the Chin Chin juice over in the import teas and juices section. I guess they couldn’t change the brand, but there must be some other Japanese who get a chuckle out of that.
Anyway, I’ll give this a 2 out of 4 melamine loving monkeys. I’d drink it if there isn’t other beer around.
Hmm… never tried that one, but just from your description it sounds weak compared to Harbin Lager or Tsingtao. Yanjing is a state-owned company (Harbin is owned by AB, and Tsingtao also privatized, with minority shares owned by AB and Asahi). Harbin is probably my favorite PRC beer amongst the few I’ve tried. Search the site for the review (I’m too lazy to link it here).