Towered over by giant cans of the distinctive green, we made our way past tour busses into the shrine of Tsing Tao. The Germans brought beer to the city of Qingdao (the more streamlined Westernization of the name) in 1903, and today, the brewery captures 15% of the domestic market in China.
Though the bottles and cans vary from that green as you drink from them throughout the land, the lager inside for the most part remains constant: What used to be simply hops, barley, and water now claims more frugal rice mixed into the mash. That feels right. Whether the water comes all from Laoshan Spring anymore…well, I guess if Coors can do it in Golden, so can the brewmasters of Tsing Tao (except outside of Qingdao, of course).
The self-propelled tour took us through a diorama of beer history in China, complete with honored workers in wax, and the delicate “antiques” on display free from careless touches. Worth heeding…this story is worthy of the best of the slogans on the walls: “Tsing Tao beer can give you passion and happiness.”
Well, yi {1}, er {2} Tsing Taos to that!
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- At the Shanghai Pudong Airport, I’ll take two little Tsing Taos for my journey
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- Through the forbidding tour busses into the Shrine of Tsing Tao
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- Keep the antiques safe from careless hands!