Tsingtao

Apart from amazing acrobats, beasting the world at the olympics, having a suspiciously high number of male babies born each year and fake communism, there is not much else that China is famous for... Except that everything is made there. Regardless! This is a beer blog and they are not famous for their beer. However, the one breakthrough from the country that makes everything, especially doppelgängers of things that are already very successful, is the, widely sold, Tsingtao. It's a beer that has always been on my radar but, like other novelties from the far reaches of the planet who don't have much in the way of beer history, has never appealed enough for me to actually buy a bottle.

Tsingtao is my first beer, that I know of, that is produced from rice and my first impressions are all good. It has that usual lager smell (slightly damp white bread) and the colour is a lot closer to being a pale yellow than anything else but the taste holds up very well and overshadows anything else, which is what really matters. It is light and smooth with hints of raw sugar cane and beetroot that leaves a lingering sensation somewhat like the sensation you get half an hour after you've finished eating a toffee.

As I have previously stated: There are 2 types of beer, those to be appreciated slowly and considered at depth and those to be chucked down your throat greedily as if your life depended on it. Excellent beers will be a bit of both but this one is a true, blue (sorry, I mean red,) chugging beer. This isn't for people who just drink to get drunk, leave those saps to their Fosters and their Stella and their methylated spirits, this is for people who drink to get drunk like a fancy, continental gent or a wide eyed, explorer of a lady with the mindset of Lara Croft.

Food suggestion: Pancakes and maple syrup! This here is an example of what I, and the Germans, like to call an "old fashioned breakfast beer!" (The Germans don't actually say that but I want them to.)

Drink this if you like: Staropramen is a similar fit to this. Simple, with hints at being a bit more of a complex beast without ever really fulfilling those promises... But at least they both tried, huh?