Many thousands recently gathered to celebrate the burgeoning craft-beer scene in China at the 8th Nanjing Beer Festival, bringing producers and vendors together in a party for the great and the good from the best beer bars and breweries.
The Festival was held over the weekend of 24-26 June, at the Nanjing International Expo Centre, in a change of venue to accommodate demand to be present at one of China’s premier craft beer events.
All in were featured some 70 breweries, up from around 50 last year, alongside a variety of food and even coffee vendors.
COVID again stymied attempts to bring in beer from some breweries in Shanghai and Beijing, but few could complain about the variety and quality available. Each brewery featured an average of four or five beers (on draft and well chilled), alongside cans, bottles and brewery memorabilia.
Friday night was bargain night for those who had acquired advance tickets. Just ¥180 was all that was required for limitless beer, and from what this correspondent saw, those present put a significant dent in the total of 40,000 beers that were estimated to have been consumed over the weekend.
As with almost everything in China these days, the “free” beers were obtained by scanning a QR code at each brewery stand. Setting this up at the start was frustrating and tedious, to put it mildly, but once up and running, it was simplicity itself for even the most inebriated consumers.
There was also entertainment in the form of live music. Some was professional and some most decidedly not. The less said about that the better.
Affable host, Master Gao, seemed to have a word or two for everyone. This Nanjing local is the man credited with launching the modern-day craft beer scene in China, and this event is just one example of the ways he continues to promote it. Our thanks to him and the hard work of all who made it possible.
If you have not been to this event before, make a mental note to attend next year. Details will be published well in advance and this publication will put out a reminder. Those who have been before are sure to be back.
Two tips with which to conclude; take a small backpack to stash the goodies you buy and do take some water. If drinking water was available on this hot evening, this correspondent never found it. That said, with most beer being around 95 percent water, who needs it?
China is no exception to the rule that, as in most countries (and cities) craft brewing is an industry of collaboration as much as competition, and this was evident all night at the 8th Nanjing Beer Festival, as something of a reunion which contributed in no small part to the evident excitement and warmth of the atmosphere.
