Theoretically, Chinese people should absolutely love cider. Theoretically. But of course they don’t. Or rather, they didn’t. And seeking a spot near the top of those emerging tastes is a home grown cider brand, of Chinese and American descent.
Sweet flavours. Frappuccinos are popular in China for a reason; they’re sweet. Then there are all those milk tea shops, the never-ending soft drink varieties, ice cream, etc. And they’re fruity to boot.
So it stands to reason that cider should have taken off long ago.
Not so fast. That it has taken until now for there to even be a few bottles of cider on the bar tops or supermarket shelves is down to a number of factors. But mainly it’s about money.
The Nanjinger sat down with Felix Zhu for the lowdown on the market and his co-creation, Nanjing’s cider brand, Hard Candy.
“People are starting to accept that beer can be something different from your Snow [beer] or Tsingdao”, Zhu started out by saying.
“The moment I had my first IPA I was like, ‘Wow’. I didn’t know beer could be like that. And I imagine that a lot of people in China had my experience over the past 10 or 15 years.”
On top of that, people’s expectations today for product quality are much higher than before. They also have more disposable income and changing preferences.
The market’s demographics have changed too. Today, many craft beer bars may find their clientele to be 50 percent female.
Such a perfect storm was the tipping point for husband and wife team; Zhu, who is from Nanjing, and Morgan Gallup from Michigan, USA.
Previously in the import/export business, Zhu took a look at existing craft ciders in China and found that none had a local identity. Considering that to bring in a foreign brand would be restrictive in terms of providing feedback to the HQ in a foreign country and expecting them to change something, Zhu and Gallup felt the time was right to take the plunge.
And given that a decent sized cider brewery dedicated to Hard Candy alone would likely cost US$5-10 million in set up costs, the solution was OEM.
Instead, money was put into marketing and finding the right people. The two teamed up with a former head brewer for Goose Island in Shanghai who was at the time living in Yunnan and next to a craft brewery in Shangri-La. Recipes were developed in late 2019 and then, just as the first samples were delivered, history played its hand, putting the project on hold for the better part of half a year.
But by June or July of 2020, the recipes were finalised and Hard Candy went into production in September. Now, from the moment he places his order, Zhu can expect his bottles to be delivered in around a month.
So they had their cider. But how to sell it? Through word of mouth is one way, but to also get things started, Gallup and Zhu headed to the industry’s top trade fair last spring in Chengdu.
With layers of flavour that dissipate in the mouth like a piece of hard candy itself, the brew’s name is also hoped to have a certain unisex appeal.
At time of speaking to Zhu, Hard Candy could be found in five bars around Nanjing, with one, Red Barron, which has three outlets, offering the cider on draft too. Further afield, Hard Candy is also being gulped down in a smattering of places in Shanghai and Suzhou.
Hard Candy comes in four flavours; berry and peach, blood orange, ginger and elderflower.
