Expats and Beer

While Tianjin locals are slowly but surely expanding their alcoholic horizons by drinking more wine and beer, what about expats? What beers top the list of Tianjin expats? Based on the observations of Mr. Lee over the past 20 years of serving bear to expats, the top three are: Tsingtao (青岛啤酒), San Miguel® (生力啤酒), and Guinness® (健士力黑啤). Other expats have found Harbin (哈尔滨啤酒) and Yanjing (燕京啤酒) also to be decent Chinese beers. The Japanese beer Asahi (朝日啤酒), along with the Korean Hite (海特啤酒) can be found in Tianjin as well. Local beer brands can be found pretty much anywhere, from little convenience shops to large grocery stores. Imported beers however are not as "widely available". The best bet for Tianjin expats wanting to buy that brand from abroad would be to head to an international hotel, a bar marketing to expat clients, or an import store. Mr Lee comments the "after work" expat crowd was one of the first groups to start regularly coming to his bar in Tianjin some twenty years ago. For expats there is no "sales job" needed when it comes to drinking beer. It is pretty much a given for many. Not to mention while drinking beer with friends may be a common thing, getting drunk may not be. Unlike eastern culture where drinking alcohol may be closely associated with drinking a lot and getting drunk, in the west such behavior is far more commonly associated with teenagers or collegiate students having wild parties and getting hammered.

One thing expats may find a challenge in Tianjin is getting a cold beer. In the west beer must be served cold. Anything else would simply be lunacy. However the Chinese standard of cold can often leave expats dumbfounded. Overseas finding a cold bear is as easy as getting gas. There’s where the first problem starts. Gas stations overseas are typically at every corner. With gas stations comes a little store with refrigerators stocked with beer, and cold beer at that. In Tianjin gas stations are not at every corner. Not to mention it is highly possible no one is buying anything other than gas at the gas station. Therefore expats may find themselves going on a bit of journey trying to find that cold beer. Nothing is more frustrating than finally finding a fridge full of beer, only to find out the fridge isn’t turned on! Or the fridge has been set at some ridiculously high temperature so that the beer isn’t even cold!

Mr Lee knows well the issues associated with cold beer. He states if a beer really is cold, expat cold that is, locals may not want to drink it! For Mr. Lee it isn’t an option though. With an estimated fifty percent of his customers being expats, he not only sells some fifty kinds of beer, he makes sure they are all cold. However, Tianjin locals may have a real issue with this. This is due to cold being directly associated with disease. Be it cold from the air conditioner or cold from that beer, cold is bad. Cold will make one sick and cause a number health problems according to Chinese medicine.

Therefore Tianjiner’s accepting beer into their alcohol culture has more than a few challenges. One is that alcohol volume is too low. The watery nature of beer at a mere 4-6% of alcohol content might not even be classified as an "alcoholic" beverage to some locals. Second, it has a distinctly different flavor than white liquor. Be it craft beer, which is handmade by beer experts like Mr Lee using high quality imported ingredients, to the standardized flavors of mass produced beers, a common thread is there is no real "bite" to beer. Beer at its best is smooth and refreshing, no "jet fuel" after burn. Third, temperature is a huge issue. White liquor right on par with Chinese medicine methodologies is served at room temperature. Beer on the other hand is served ice cold.