"I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. " FRANK SINATRA "24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence?" STEPHEN WRIGHT "He was a wise man who invented beer." PLATO "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

The praises of beer are sung across time and boarders, and this month it is China's turn to celebrate the world's (arguably) greatest drink; the 16th annual Qingdao International Beer Festival is upon us. Beginning as a local event to celebrate Qingdao's Tsingtao Brewery, it has since evolved into the largest beer festival in Asia and now attracts more than 2.9 million beer-guzzlers to the coastal town.   

While not known for its love of ale, the first beer in China was reportedly brewed over 9,000 years ago (with a rice, honey, grape and hawthorn fruit mixture that was kept in pottery jars), in the village of Jiahu in the north. China's love of beer is once again on the rise and is attracting the world's largest beer manufacturers. As Europeans increasing opt for wine over beer (U.K. is set to become Europe's largest wine market by 2008, according to a study commissioned by Vinepo, a wine trade-fair organizer based in Bordeaux, France), brewers like Heineken and Carlsberg are expanding in Russia and Asia in search of new, thirsty markets. Beer consumption will rise an average of 4.2 percent in China through 2009, Merrill Lynch & Co. predicted last year. And China's consumers are nowhere near having quenched their thirst. Euromonitor International's Beer in China report for 2005 states: "Beer continued its healthy growth in 2005, with volume and current value growth rates of around 6 percent respectively. Perceived as being healthier than spirits and lower in terms of unit price than grape wine, beer is increasingly popular among Chinese consumers, resulting in constant demand. The total volume of beer sales exceeded 29 billion liters in 2005, up by over 38 percent from 2000." All these numbers mean that beer quality and quantity is set to get bigger and better in the years to come, which is good news for many hops lovers.   

For now though, it is no surprise that the beer industry in China is way behind in terms of levels of sophistication. "You're talking about what perhaps the US or other industries might have looked like 50 to 80 years ago when you have total fragmentation across the country," said SABMiller CFO Malcolm Wyman, via the China Stock Blog. "If you take the vast amount of beer [in China] and if you take your normal pyramid, probably from two thirds and down is all very much low quality, low-priced beer."

Domestic brands produce an overwhelming about of pale lager, but some other kinds of beer have started to emerge in the last year: Tsingtao makes a dark stout, Zhujiang produces some fruit flavor based beers, top fermented ales and wheat beer and Yanjing also sells fruit flavor based beers and top fermented ales. The craft-beer revolution that took hold of Portland, Oregon, the epicenter of craft brewing in America, in the 1970s though, is still a long way off from appearing in China.

In Qingdao this year, festival promoters promise visitors will have the chance to wet their whistles with more than just China produced lager, and are importing beers from America, England, Japan, Germany and South Korea. "We'll have genuine Munich beer transported directly from the beer factory there to Chinese customs," boasts Liu Yecheng, director of the office responsible for organizing the festival.   

Other festival highlights this year include 10 large beer houses, each covering an area of 1,500 square meters with the addition of other smaller ones inside Beer City. Each "house" has its own theme, so you can knock back a few while listening to quiet jazz or ganbei to sizzling Latin music, depending on your mood.   

A crowd favorite returning this year is the beer drinking competition. While not as world renowned as Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog contest (Japanese Takeru Kobayashi emerged as champ once again this year and set a new world record of 53 and 3/4 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes), the Tsingtao Beer Drinking Contest draws large crowds and repeat competitors. Former winners, Gao Zhong, Zhao Zhino and Ma Qian all returned this year for the warm-up games that started August 12th and hope to go on to the finals. "Gao Zhong is an incredible person," gushes Guo Qingqian, information officer of the festival, of the 54-year-old 13 time competitor. "He is quiet a celebrity in Qingdao now, every year he receives so many prizes from the community that by now almost every household appliance he has in his home is from the beer drinking contest." Gao's crowning achievement was 1.5 liters of beer consumed in 8.5 seconds. Foreigners are also encouraged to enter and there is even a couple beer drinking contest where two people go at a pitcher of beer through a split straw. Bottoms up.

contact the author at:
editor@cityweekend.com.cn

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Festival Basics

The 16th annual Qingdao International Beer Festival runs from August 12th to the 27th and attracts more than 2.9 million visitors for beer chugging fun. Stay in the center of town at the Shangri-La Hotel and relax at the swanky Q Bar with a cocktail or two before heading to the beach. For more information on the festival, check
www.qdbeer.cn.

The Great American Beer Festival
Denver, Colorado, USA
The Brewers Association will hold this Super Bowl of beer festivals from September 28th to the 30th this year in Colorado. In its 25th year, the festival will feature 1,600 of the nation's best beers from over 370 American breweries. Organizers say it will be the biggest selection of American beers ever gathered together in the United States.

Attendance: 29,500
Beer brands: 1,672

The Munich Oktoberfest
Munich, Germany
The Munich Oktoberfest - known by the locals as the "Wiesn" - is the biggest public festival in the world and will be held for the 173rd time this year between September 16th and October 3rd. Each year, more than 200,000 pairs of pork sausages are consumed in the "beer tents" put up by traditional Munich breweries.

Attendance: 6 million
Beer consumed: 5 million liters

Hastings Beer & Music Festival
Hastings, England
Originally part of the Hastings Carnival, which started in 1982 at Alexandra Park, they now feature local beers and bands, brought in to fund goodwill projects in the town. This year the festival celebrated its 25th year - and rather appropriately, 25,000 pints of beer were downed between June 28th and July 1st.

Attendance: 15,000
Beer consumed: 25,000 pints

Qingdao International Beer Festival
Qingdao, China
What began as a local event to celebrate Qingdao's Tsingtao Brewery in 1991, is now the largest such festival in Asia. The 16 day event will be held for its 16th year in a row from August 12th to the 27th. An elaborate grand ceremony, fireworks, rides and of course a Tsingtao drinking competitions are all a part of the fun.

Attendance: 1.2 million
Beer consumed: 25,000 pints