The Ultimate Guide to Cheap Chinese Beer

By Dennis Ming Nichols

SHX answers the question that matters most: Which convenience store beer is the best?

In Shanghai, there are means of getting delicious imported and domestic craft beers, but sometimes all you need is a cold, cheap Chinese lager to get your night started. The first bar I hit on a Friday (or Wednesday) night is AllDays where the Reeb is always cold and the smiling cashier-ladies are dressed to impress. And no night out would be complete without an appearance at the new hip French bar “Le Outside of Lawson.” Your local dirty restaurant (家常菜) carries Suntory in lieu of Stella and we expats have to accept that. Not all beers are created equal, and though cheap Chinese alcohol-water does not match its foreign or microbrewed cousins, you’d be surprised how many convenient store beers are actually...tolerable!

The writers at ShanghaiExpat (aka me) went to the closest AllDays and bought two of every beer available. Then the rest of the staff (along with a few expat judges) took a blind tasting based on the 50-point scale and practices of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP). This table is a summary of that test. Use it as a field guide next time you want to get bombed on dank beer! And tell us what is your favorite beer (Chinese or Foreign) at the forums: http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/post1336282.html

	#1 (33.43/50) Asahi Super Dry 330mL 5% alc. 6.5¥	Everyone liked this beer, i think because it has a slight resemblance to actual beer. "Cheap beer but with a nice, crisp finish." - Ruth (USA) "Good balance of creaminess and carb." -Ben (Belgium)
	#2 (32/50) Taiwan Beer 330mL 4.5% alc. 5.2¥	Apparently, they do crap beer pretty good across the Strait. A common adjective was "fruity." "Warm, good body." -Ruth
	#3 (31.86/50) Tsingtao Draft 600mL 3.5 % alc. 7.8¥	"Very light, clean and good mouthfeel." -Zhou (China) "Sweet aftertaste, acidic finish." -Ruth
	#4 (30.43/50) Budweiser 580mL 4.8% alc. 5.9¥	The Chinese in the test liked this beer, the expats did not. "Sweet aftertaste, Lots of Carb, No body, another forgettable cheap beer." -Shane (USA)
	#5 (29.86/50) Heineken 330mL 5% alc. 8.5¥	Heineken apparently has a distinct taste. "Tastes like Heineken. Bad." -Ben "Its Heineken. Not Bad." -Shane
	#6 (29.57/50) Suntori Light 610mL 3.5 % alc. 3.4¥	Most everyone likes (or are highly tolerable of) Suntori in the blue bottle. From what I understand, this is actually the most popular beer among locals. In fact, if it wasn't for our resident Belgian's acutely low score of 9/50, the average would have been 34.17, making it #1. But I've learned you never question a Belgian about his beer ratings; he'll be inclined to smack you in the face with a dirty waffle.
	#7 (29.14/50) Snow Light 620mL 3.5 % alc. 3.5¥	pretty much all the beers ranking from 7 to 14 were not memorable.
	#8 (27/50) Snow Super Light 620mL 3.1 % alc. 5.2¥	"Bland and Boring." -Ruth
	#9 (26.71/50) Tsingtao (green) 600mL 3.3 % alc. 5¥	NOTE: this is NOT the same small brown bottle of TsingTao you would usually find at a bar or at some convenient stores. That one has 4.6% alcohol and is the same one that gets exported to the rest of the world. This is the more putong variety and is more commonly consumed by locals.
	#10 (25.86/50) Suntori Super Light 580mL 3.1 % alc. 5.3¥	So boring that I got NO comments for this one. Although, the bottle looks like it belongs on Mr.T's neck.
	#11 (24.86/50) Harbin Ice 600mL 3.5% alc. 5.4¥	"Tastes like Natty Light. Reminds me of fishing on a lake with a carton of decently cheap beer." -Ruth
	#12 (24.57/50) Suntori Premium Draft 580mL 3.5% alc. 5.9¥	Again, so boring, there were no constructive comments.
	#13 (23.86/50) Reeb Super Light 550mL 3.1% alc. 5.2¥	"Water. Fail." -Ben
	#14 (23.71/50) Reeb Light 550mL 3.5% alc. 3.2¥	"What the f*** are you making me drink?" -Ruth
	#15 (21/50) Naale Stout 500mL 4.7% alc. 6.5¥	Its interesting to note that all the Chinese tasters hated this beer and couldn't even bring themselves to finish it. The laowai subjects enjoyed the black beers fairly well. The consensus of the expats was that its pretty good if you're not expecting a TRUE dark beer and it its a nice break from the clear lagers.
	#16 (20.29/50) Reeb Black 500mL 4.7% alc. 5.5¥	Same comments as the Naale Stout. "chocolate," "chocolate-ish," "chocolatey," "chocobarf" and "chocoriffic" were common words used to describe this one.