With the Beijing Olympic Games only a month away we thought we would feature a Chinese beer today. Harbin is one of China’s premium beers, this super premium pilsner style lager has won some pretty prestigious awards including the China Top Brand Award twice. The beer has a interesting fruity aroma which comes from the Qindao Dahua hops which is grown in the remote north western provinces of Heilongjiang. The beer undergoes a long and cold aging process which helps give the beer a really fresh and crisp finish. The beer originates from Harbin which is home to those amazing ice sculptures and castles you see every year. The brewery is China’s oldest dating back over 100 years. When drinking beer with Chinese people it is customary in China to consume beer from smaller “toasting” glasses, using the traditional Chinese phrase: “Gan Bei, ” which means “bottoms up “,or more literally,” dry the glass.” And as we said in the title of today’s story the beer is so tasty, if pandas drank beer this would be the one we think they would enjoy the most.
on Jul 7th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Nice work tracking this one down.
I spent a little bit of time working at a brewery in China – and the brewery used the Qindao Dahua hop that is a really great hop and highly underrated. Clean, crisp, and given that most beer in China is served at room temp, well at least it doesn’t overwhelm. But hey, since Harbin is further north than Vladivostok and probably spends more time under snow than not, that’s probably not an issue!
on Apr 28th, 2009 at 6:22 am
I remember a Panda Ice beer I had in Wangjing, Beijing. Delicious! It was a Korean place. I haven’t been able to find information on it.