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.
Theoretically, Chinese people should absolutely love cider. Theoretically.但他们当然不这样做。或者更确切地说，他们没有。 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.
甜味。星冰乐在中国很受欢迎是有原因的。他们很甜蜜。还有那些奶茶店，各种软饮料、冰淇淋等等，而且都是水果味的。
So it stands to reason that cider should have taken off long ago.
所以按理说，苹果酒早就该起飞了。
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.
没那么快。直到现在，酒吧顶部或超市货架上才出现几瓶苹果酒，这归因于多种因素。但主要是钱的问题。
The Nanjinger sat down with Felix Zhu for the lowdown on the market and his co-creation, Nanjing’s cider brand, Hard Candy.
《南京人》采访了 Felix Zhu，了解市场的内幕以及他共同创造的南京苹果酒品牌 Hard Candy。
“People are starting to accept that beer can be something different from your Snow [beer] or Tsingdao”, Zhu started out by saying.
“人们开始接受啤酒可以不同于雪花啤酒或青岛啤酒”，朱首先说道。
“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.”
“当我喝到第一瓶 IPA 的那一刻，我就觉得‘哇’。我不知道啤酒可以是这样的。而且我想在过去 10 或 15 年里，中国很多人都有过我的经历。”
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.
最重要的是，今天人们对产品质量的期望比以前高得多。他们还拥有更多的可支配收入和不断变化的偏好。
The market’s demographics have changed too. Today, many craft beer bars may find their clientele to be 50 percent female.
市场的人口结构也发生了变化。如今，许多精酿啤酒吧的顾客中 50% 是女性。
Such a perfect storm was the tipping point for husband and wife team; Zhu, who is from Nanjing, and Morgan Gallup from Michigan, USA.
如此完美的风暴，是夫妻团队的转折点；来自南京的朱和来自美国密歇根州的摩根盖洛普。
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.
此前从事进出口业务的朱查看了中国现有的精酿苹果酒，发现没有一种具有本地特色。考虑到引入外国品牌在向外国总部提供反馈并期望他们做出改变方面会受到限制，朱和盖洛普认为现在是时候冒险了。
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.
考虑到一家规模相当大、专门生产硬糖的苹果酒啤酒厂可能需要花费 5-1000 万美元的建设成本，因此解决方案是 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.
相反，资金被投入到营销和寻找合适的人才上。两人与上海鹅岛的一位前首席酿酒师合作，他当时住在云南，毗邻香格里拉的一家精酿啤酒厂。配方是在 2019 年底开发出来的，然后，就在第一批样品交付时，历史发挥了作用，使该项目搁置了大半年。
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.
但到 2020 年 6 月或 7 月，配方最终确定，硬糖于 9 月投入生产。现在，从下订单的那一刻起，朱预计他的瓶子将在一个月左右交货。
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.
所以他们喝了苹果酒。但怎么卖呢？口碑传播是一种方式，但为了开始行动，盖洛普和朱去年春天前往成都参加了业内顶级的贸易展览会。
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.
层次丰富的味道在口中消散，就像一块硬糖本身一样，该啤酒的名字也希望具有一定的男女通用的吸引力。
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.
在与朱交谈时，南京周边有五家酒吧可以找到 Hard Candy，其中一家是 Red Barron，该酒吧拥有 3 家分店，也提供桶装苹果酒。在更远的地方，上海和苏州的一些地方也有人在吃硬糖。
Hard Candy comes in four flavours; berry and peach, blood orange, ginger and elderflower.
硬糖有四种口味；浆果和桃子、血橙、生姜和接骨木花。
