A Beer Tour of Shanghai
posted 27 Nov 2019
I had the opportunity to go on a business trip to Shanghai for 2 weeks. It was a blast! The people I went with had been many times, so they were able to show me the ropes and take me out to some pretty great restaurants. It surprised me to learn that there is an up and coming beer scene here that is very reminiscent of Portland. Portland brewers have been moving to Shanghai to set up shop, and the influence shows. Here is the list of restaurant we went to, and the food/drink I had at each place.
Friday - Blue Frog
This was day zero in Shanghai - jet lagged and tired.
- Food: Burger - In China you order medium well and you end up with something redder than you could legally be served in the states. I’ll be ordering well done from now on.
- Beer: Goose IPA - This was nothing like any IPA I have had before, and not in a good way. This was much closer to a sour. Add that to the nausea I was feeling from lack of sleep, and this beer went almost entirely unfinished.
Saturday - Tiantai
Day one, still quite tired and a bit nauseous. Ended up at a Thai restaurant about a mile walk from the hotel.
- Food: Red Curry w/ Beef - Quite good! I went with the beef because the chicken tends to come bone-in, and I didn’t feel like dodging them.
- Beer: Dunkle Weisse - Not a huge beer selection at this place. Looking back, I probably should have gone with a Tsingtao considering how I felt at the time, but went with the dark beer instead. It was good, I just wasn’t in the mood for dark.
Sunday - Disneyland
This was my birthday and we had the day off work, so I treated myself to a trip to the Shanghai Disneyland. It was a great day of wandering this smaller park. Park food wasn’t notable, and no beer was had.
- Food:
- Lunch: Noodles and Beef à la Jack Sparrow.
- Dinner: Burger + Fries à la The Avengers.
Monday - Din Tai Fung
Din Tai Fung has many locations, and just recently expanded to downtown Portland. I have not been to that location, so I can’t compare how the American versions hold up to the “authentic” ones, but this place was damn good.
- Food: Dumplings (duh) - 3x flavors of dumplings (crab, pork, chicken) + a starter of cooked spinach. These came out very hot, and I nearly burned myself on the first one. Thank god one of the people I was with warned me at the last minute about the “soup” - the near-boiling oil that was shed from the meat during the steaming process.
- Beer: Tsingtao - My first Tsingtao (the staple beer of China). I had heard a lot about them from everyone who had ever been to China. It was actually much better than I was expecting, and I much prefer it to something like a PBR, but that may be a product of the environment as much as the beer.
Tuesday - Pistolara’s
Taco Tuesday! A Mexican restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. This is a place of lore at Tektronix, and I have heard many stories about the margaritas…
- Food: Chicken Fajita Burrito - As with almost every Taco Tuesday I attend, I forwent the tacos and went with a burrito. I just love burritos too much to pass them up. As burritos go, this one was fine, not great. Impeccably wrapped though, maybe the tightest wrapped burrito I’ve ever had.
- Beer: No beer! Strawberry Frozen Margarita - I didn’t order this. One of the guys turned to me and asked if I would kill a pitcher with him. This was extremely tequila-forward for a frozen marg, and both of us were feeling pretty happy by the bottom of the pitcher.
Wednesday - Boxing Cat
The first micro brewing place we attended, and one of the oldest in Shanghai reaching back to 2008. The glasses here are great; narrower ridged bottom leading to a bulbous top. They reminded me of boxing gloves. Not sure if that was by design, or if I’m reading into the theme of the place.
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Food: Grittle Mac & Cheese - Very good, very creamy al dente noodles.
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Beer: Breast Wishes Milk Stout on nitro and Sucker Punch Pale Ale, along with a shared taster flight.
The milk stout was creamy like a Guinness, but with a different flavor profile that I actually liked a lot better.
Sucker punch pale ale was richer than I was expecting, almost like a red. Had a great after taste that stayed with you for a while.
Taster consisted of:
- Sucker Punch Pale Ale - Really great pale ale with lasting aftertaste.
- TKO IPA - A bit more fruity than your average IPA, but not crazy.
- Money Shot Cream Ale - I want to love cream ales because they sound good, but I just don’t. I find them to bland, and this one was no exception.
- King Louie Imperial Stout - Very complex stout. Fantastic as a taster, but I passed on the full glass because there was so much going on.
- Spiced Pumpkin Ale - Very pumpkin. One in our group loved this one. Good as a novelty/seasonal drink, but only for a bit of fun.
- One more I can’t rember, but I think it was a pilsner
Thursday - The Brew at Kerry Hotel
Coming off of Boxing Cat, we were a bit disappointed by these beers.
- Food: Spicy Seafood Linguini - No complaints, but I was expecting something a bit spicier.
- Beer: The House Amber - Nothing super noteworthy about this beer. We had
a taster flight that consisted of:
- Dry cider - Extreamly dry. Almost tasted like a dry white wine.
- Pilsner
- Another pilsner - Both pilsners were too light for my tastes.
- cloudy hef-style - Pretty good, but again, a little light. Super white in color.
- Fruity IPA - A bit too fruity for me, but the others at my table liked it.
- House Amber - A nothing special amber.
- House Dark - A nothing special porter.
Friday - The Flying Fox
This was an Irish pub right across the street from our hotel. We met here for a drink as we were waiting for our group to gather up.
- Food: None
- Beer: Guinness - Sometimes I forget how good a Guinness can be.
Friday - Shanghai Brewery: Donghu
I lost track of where this was, as I was jammed in the back of a taxi to get there. This was a ‘modern’ club/bar, with a DJ and a small dance floor. DJ favored ’90s/’00s mixes that were really fun.
- Food: Spicy Burger - I learned from the Blue Frog and ordered my meat well done. The burger came rare (which is actually what I prefer in the States). At least I didn’t have to worry about poisoning this time.
- Beer: Unfiltered IPA - Really good, not overly hoppy IPA. I’m a sucker for cloudy beers, so I was all over this one. Happy hour was 2 for 1, so we all doubled up on drinks.
Saturday - Big Bamboo
Super casual dinner with just two of us. We were pretty tired, so it was a low key evening.
- Food: Lasagnia - Fine. Would not get again.
- Beer: Beast in the East Pale Ale - I also had a taster of the “No Pout Stout” - extremely rich, almost chalky texture. Again, a stout that is a great taster but I would not want a pint of.
Sunday - Chinese x4
Over the weekend, we were out on a company trip. The meal locations were picked for us, and they were all Chinese loctaions. Most drinks were Sprite/Pepsi. Dinners had Tsingtou and “White Wine”, which is a high proof rice-based alchohol. Tastes reminiciant of whiskey, but certainly wasn’t whiskey.
- Food: Chinese
- Beer: Tsingto + White Wine
Sunday - Karaoke Bar
Sunday night we ended up at a karaoke bar for some late night drinking. The whiskey was a whiskey/tea mix that was actually very good.
- Beer: White Paulener + Whiskey & Tea
Monday - Pistolara’s
We all were feeling something comfortable on Mondy, so we headed out for Mexican food.
- Food: Burrito
- Beer: No beer, Mango then Strawberry marg
Tuesday - Paulener
Tuesday we did a tour of the fake market, then headed down to the waterfront to the Paulener - a German pub. Atmosphere was great. Long tables, Christmas decorations up super early, music, ect. We ended up all getting steins of lager which was quite good.
- Food: Venison stew - Very good! One of my favorite meals that I had on the trip.
- Beer: Paulener Lager
Wednesday - Hutaoli
Our last day in Shanghai. We went out for a goodbye dinner, capping the trip with a solid asortment of Chinese food.
- Food: Various Chinese food
- Beer: Corona - Not a huge beer selection here, it was either Corona or Budweiser.