Anyone know about foreign beer availability in China?

probably lots of knock offs

 

With everything going on over there I give you lots of credit for going. I imagine they have some of the big boys like Bud and all. I am sure they have some decent local items, once you arrive just do some exploring and all.

 

I'm an American who lived and worked in China for over 10 years and specifically in Guangzhou from 2008 to 2013. I'm sure the situation has changed a bit since I was there, but during my time I remember the Guangzhou Friendship Store across from the Garden Hotel in Yuexiu District had a decent selection of foreign beers (ones you couldn't typically find elsewhere) such as Paulaner from Germany. There wasn't any American craft beer that I recall and no UK beers come to mind. Brands like Heineken, Carlsberg, Budweiser and Corona have a wide presence, and Chinese beer is cheap and plentiful (that's what I usually drank). Of the Chinese beers, usually the 纯生 versions ("chun sheng"... usually translated as "draft" but literally meaning "pure brew") are higher quality, though a few yuan more expensive. As I said though, things may have evolved since then, especially in a city with a large Western presence like Guangzhou--there are some expat areas around Guangzhou (perhaps in Yuexiu or Tianhe districts or Pearl River New Town) which may have more of what you're looking for. There used to be a website called www.gzstuff.com which a lot of local Guangzhou expats were on which I was going to suggest joining so you could ask there, but it doesn't seem to be functioning currently--maybe it's been replaced by some similar forum on WeChat or something. Good luck, and 天天高兴！ ("tian tian gao xing" -- happy happy every day!)

 

Thanks for that insight @John_M! I'll throw in a few more comments. From your information plus scanning through some of the China-related posts in this Asia forum (such as the one titled "Hong Kong and China" several posts down from this one), it does seem like the beer scene has evolved in China to some extent in terms of brew pubs and foreign/craft beer availability since the time I left in 2013. I didn't see any Guangzhou-specific information while scanning through those posts @ifnkovhg, but I would expect Guangzhou to have a fair amount of that type of thing too if other places do. Bear in mind though as @John_M said that prices for foreign and craft beer will be significantly higher than for local beer. Also, the cities of Shenzhen and Hong Kong are each only a 1-2 hour train ride away and will have plenty more to explore beer-scene-wise, and Hong Kong in particular will likely have a number of things you can't find in mainland China. Enjoy!

 

I had misplaced this magnet which I had bought at Stanley Market in Hong Kong some years back and rediscovered it again a few days ago, so I thought I'd just share it here since it sort of fits the theme... perhaps as a mantra and an excuse to keep you sane during your extended stay overseas. Enjoy your time!

 

By now you must have found out what beers they have there; maybe you're even living there by now; but I have to wonder why it is that you have to ask that question of other people. Did you take that job in China without ever having visited China?

From what I've seen in China the beer selection is pretty bleak, though in major cities that are places that import crafts. In Shanghai there were a couple of places that I visited that sold BrewDog and some other crafts. And I noticed some oddities such as PBR being sold on the train from Beijing to Shanghai. But if you want to drink imported craft beers and hang out in brewpubs you better be earning a decent salary or be on an an expense account - those aren't places that English teachers hang out.

 

Hi @krouge, I'm not sure whether the original poster saw your message or not--possibly not if he's already in China--but I decided to respond to your message. As someone who took previous overseas jobs both in Tanzania and in China without having ever set foot in either place beforehand, I don't think it's all that unusual for someone to commit to a job without visiting the location first.

I don't know your situation or background in Thailand, and I've only been there once, but I tend to think of Thailand as having a bit more of a presence with Western brands and products than China. Still, I worked in China for over 10 years and never had any trouble finding something to wet my whistle--I'm pretty easy to please though, and it was mostly cheap local beer I was drinking (I recall circa 2003 regularly buying a plastic-wrapped bundle of 9 bottles of Huanghe Beer in the shop downstairs from my apartment in Lanzhou for 20 yuan, or about US$2.50, which averaged out to about $0.28 per 600 mL bottle). I didn't go to Asia for the beer though, nor would I advise anyone to do so if you are specifically seeking out specialty beers, but I can understand somebody wanting a familiar taste from home on occasion. Personally I would recommend to anyone going to live abroad to aim to indulge more in the local flavors and culture alongside the local people, as that is sure to be much more interesting and rewarding (I drank my fair share of local liquor in both Tanzania and China). But everyone's got their own way of wanting to do things.

Anyway, I've already shared some insight on beer availability in China above--I just thought I'd add those thoughts in response to your post. Cheers!