ISpyShanghai

So I’m at the Supermarket, laden down with shopping and the assistant came over to help me by putting some beer in the basket.”Which one do you want?” she asked me.

And in that moment, I saw a sudden blinding flash and an idea came to me

“All of them”

“All of them?”

“Yes, one of that one, one of that one, one of that one…“.

“Hmm. Oi 张明! You’d better bring a basket. This bald foreigner’s an alcoholic“

See, a few weeks ago- me and Craig had been talking about doing a taste test. Beer in the supermarket is stupidly cheap, 3 or 4 RMB for a can or bottle of domestic beer, the same for Japanese and a couple of foreign brands. Before I came here, I’d never tried any Chinese beer other than TsingTao and I always just assume that’s the best one, but never really sat down and compared what was out there.

Clearly, it was time for a taste test.

So that we weren’t influenced by the eye-catching designs of the cans, or prejudice towards any particular brand, we used paper cups separated into three groups (one for each person). We wrote the names of the different beers on the bottom of the cup, poured some of that beer in, then mixed ‘em up.Simple enough really, but it took a pHd scientist and two Maths graduates about forty minutes to work that out.

To get the results we added up our individual rankings (1-7) and whoever got the lowest score won.

Matthew “Corky” Corcoran. Australian lightweight / beer sipper

The Results
(in reverse order)

Last Place- Reeb
The only beer made in Shanghai, Reeb has a bad reputation, and with good bloody reason.

Meakin “It tastes like….weak beer”

Me “No flavour whatsoever”

Matt “I’d like it better if it had no flavour, tastes terrible”.

6th place- Bud
Cheap, American, freely available- it’s the Christina Aguilera of beer. Didn’t fair well against the locals.

Matt- “I’m so proud that I picked this as my number 7″

Me- “Hangin”

Meakin “(Who placed it as his number 3) It’s alright actually. I’m a boney fidey Yankee!”

5th Place- Premium Suntory

The premium offering from Suntory placed lower than the regular stuff. Some poor sod at this Japanese brewer will have to perform ritual suicide when they read this.

Meakin- “(Who placed it as his number 7) Tastes chemically- I think that board marker is leaking through the paper cups…I’d better finish it off quick.”

4th Place- Tsingtao
The old standby, available at every restaurant I’ve been to, and probably some of the ones I haven’t.

Meakin- “I think Matt’s got tainted cups.”

Matt- “It doesn’t taste of anything”
Me- “That’s beause you’re only drinking the froth off the top, get it down you- you shirker!”

3rd - Asahi
Japanese beer, popular because of the cool silver can, and apparently also because it tastes pretty good.

Meakin- “(Placing it fifth)Hoppy. I don’t actually know what that means, I’ve just heard people say it. Anyway this one tastes fucking shit”

Me- “Well at least it actually tastes of something. That’ll do for me”

2nd - Suntory
It’s got a dragon on the can and a rocket in its pocket.

Matt (delighted to have shown some consistency by voting two Japanese beers as his top 2)- “Fucking Nihon!”

1st - Harbin
Cheap and nasty looking beer from the frozen wastelands of the north where they talk like pirates. This was the big surprise of the night.

Me- “Really nice is that”

Matt- “It’s the new Tsingtao!”

Me- “It’s the new black!”

Meakin “Is there any more Bud left?”

Meakin struggles to keep his mind on the task at hand

So there you have it, the unfashionable, bargain basement brew Harbin wins out when the lights are off.
It just goes to show, something or other.

Harbin Ale- Available at all good Chinese bicycle repair shops and the occasional Supermarket. Cheap.