I lived in China for a year teaching 4th grade at an international school. China isn't known for it's world class craft beer, and import laws make it tough for imports. That's not to say there wasn't any craft beer in China - there was. There was many a night where I could enjoy Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Old Rasputin Nitro, or any of the various Rogue offerings that made it to the local bottle shops. There was also a couple of craft breweries within walking distance from my house:
Boxing Cat Brewery: Probably my favorite of the 3, since it was fairly inexpensive, especially if you went during happy hour - about 5 bucks a pint. Since I'm typically used to NYC prices, this is a steal. They had a solid core lineup and experimented with seasonal offerings. I'd give the place 8.5/10.
Liquid Laundry: Boxing Cat's more upscale (and pricier) younger brother (same owner), they tend to have not only their own beers (which tend to be a little more creative and edgy than Boxing Cat's) as well as some of Boxing Cat's and some other local and foreign brews. They even had Founders, Boulevard, and Stillwater on tap at various points. And in Shanghai, that's pretty exciting. 8/10
Shanghai Brewery: Standard brews in standard styles. There wasn't anything exciting about this place. If you wanted a pretty standard pale ale or stout or IPA, this was a good place to go. The problem was, none of the beer really stood out for me. The food was good though, and the outdoor seating was nice. 7/10
But, in all honesty, probably my favorite beers to drink in Shanghai were Suntory and Tsingtao. And no, not because they were mind blowing-ly crisp. It's because a lot of enjoyment of beer has to do with the setting (location/time/place/who your with/emotions) in which you are drinking this beer. These were the beers that usually accompanied family meals around a large table at Lotus Eatery (my favorite restaurant in Shanghai), the beers I bought at the local Watson's and carried to my favorite Wonton Soup Place (RIP Trinidad Hong Wonton). These were the beers that I ordered bottle after bottle of as we sat around Huoguo (hot pot) and laughed about the stupid things kids did at school (or the stupid things we did at school) and complained about how terrible our principal was. These were the beers I drank as I sat at the airport waiting to head home at Christmas to surprise my mother (who had no idea I was coming home) and the first I had when I got back to Shanghai afterwards. And these were the beers I got so drunk off of at the holiday party that I threw up out of the window of a cab.
So, while flavor-wise, these beers may not necessarily wow you, and they may not even be worth trying in general, for me they are a great reminder of the memories I've created with the great (and not so great) people during the year I spent in Shanghai.
Boxing Cat Brewery: Probably my favorite of the 3, since it was fairly inexpensive, especially if you went during happy hour - about 5 bucks a pint. Since I'm typically used to NYC prices, this is a steal. They had a solid core lineup and experimented with seasonal offerings. I'd give the place 8.5/10.
Liquid Laundry: Boxing Cat's more upscale (and pricier) younger brother (same owner), they tend to have not only their own beers (which tend to be a little more creative and edgy than Boxing Cat's) as well as some of Boxing Cat's and some other local and foreign brews. They even had Founders, Boulevard, and Stillwater on tap at various points. And in Shanghai, that's pretty exciting. 8/10
Shanghai Brewery: Standard brews in standard styles. There wasn't anything exciting about this place. If you wanted a pretty standard pale ale or stout or IPA, this was a good place to go. The problem was, none of the beer really stood out for me. The food was good though, and the outdoor seating was nice. 7/10
But, in all honesty, probably my favorite beers to drink in Shanghai were Suntory and Tsingtao. And no, not because they were mind blowing-ly crisp. It's because a lot of enjoyment of beer has to do with the setting (location/time/place/who your with/emotions) in which you are drinking this beer. These were the beers that usually accompanied family meals around a large table at Lotus Eatery (my favorite restaurant in Shanghai), the beers I bought at the local Watson's and carried to my favorite Wonton Soup Place (RIP Trinidad Hong Wonton). These were the beers that I ordered bottle after bottle of as we sat around Huoguo (hot pot) and laughed about the stupid things kids did at school (or the stupid things we did at school) and complained about how terrible our principal was. These were the beers I drank as I sat at the airport waiting to head home at Christmas to surprise my mother (who had no idea I was coming home) and the first I had when I got back to Shanghai afterwards. And these were the beers I got so drunk off of at the holiday party that I threw up out of the window of a cab.
So, while flavor-wise, these beers may not necessarily wow you, and they may not even be worth trying in general, for me they are a great reminder of the memories I've created with the great (and not so great) people during the year I spent in Shanghai.
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