Taiwan Craft Scene

Bumping this, I will be in Taiwan for a few days as well. There is a place in Hsinchu called iBeer, which seems pretty decent.

http://ibeer.mymy.tw/index.html?

Taipei, not sure yet.

Edit: iBeer's facebook page seems to be more helpful: https://www.facebook.com/ibeercraftbeerstore

 

There is a place called Beer & Cheese in Taipei that's run by a foreigner. It's VERY popular among expats. They have all kinds of delicious beers on tap. Thursdays there's some sort of discount. In any case, I really, highly recommend it.

 

I'm following the 'Craft Beer Clan Scotland' on Facebook, which are small Scottish breweries joining together to promote in the Far East. Today they visited Jolly Brewery & Restaurant in Taipei, judging from the photos and comments it looks like a spot I'd be more than happy to spend a few hours!

 

So I know I'm late to the party, but this may be helpful for the next people who Google this (as I just did):

Jolly is probably the best way to get local craft beer, as it's a brewpub where the beer is actually made on-site. Beer and Cheese wasn't there when I was, but it looks really good. There's also Gordon Biersch, but only if you're into a lower-key version of Hofbrauhaus.

Taipei's beer scene still has a long way to go, but now that Evil Twin's made a visit, I hope it continues its current upward trend. And if you're not picky about the craft part, I recommend Taiwan Beer Factory. SUPER macro, but any venue where you get to walk past pallets and forklifts is alright in my book. People will tell you to go when there's live music, but don't. Like, seriously, it's really loud. Really...loud.

Another place to watch is Hong Kong. It's a quick plane ride away if you're in Taiwan for a while, and in my personal opinion is (in other ways too) what Taipei will look like in 5-10 years. Young Master, Moonzen, New Empire, and Nine Dragons are the current small players (HKBeerCo is the equivalent of your Sierra Nevada or Sam Adams - good but huge distro that in my opinion leads to low flavor profiles). Plenty of places to get these folks on draft, too, which include The Globe, The Tipping Point, and TAP: The Ale Project (a side-project of the owner of Young Master and two other guys). A lot more of this info will be available on my blog soon. (I'm visiting right now, and editing the post this week.)

 

I'm in Kaohsiung for the next few days. Anyone know of any good beer down here?

 

Kaohsiung has a couple places north of downtown. BeerBee has a nice selection https://www.facebook.com/BeerBee.CraftBeer.Shop there's also another in eastern part of the Gushan district that I forget the name of and some places across west of the Love River that are sort of European-style cafes with a really-stocked couple of fridges.

 

Timely response, I'm traveling to Kaohsiung from Kenting tomorrow for a few days. Thanks!
For anyone that's interested, I know of a few places in Taipei. Just ask.

 

I know.im here late but, Taiwans starting to rise as the.asian beer scene. Yilan Jim&Dad's brewpub. Jolly, broklyn, beer&cheese, and redpoint from taipei and right out of taipei city is touyian and few places that have 23 brewing company, evil tein taiwan , 886 brewery as well. Id be remiss if i forgot to.mention shops like kid sorrow ran by kidd, gooden thats a belgian beer shop ran by joe. The Do It Yourself DIY brew system in Taichung or East Road Trading co. That brings west coast american tastes to Taiwan like Caldera, Heretic, and another. So with all this plus more from belgian america canadas flying monkey and japan im sure youll find the taste you are after