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Q: How to tell if beer is fake?
I had an awful hangover off Tsingtao the other night like nothing before. I only had a few bottles and am sure it was counterfiet. Does anyone know of any sure-fire way to tell if beer/alcohol in general is fake when you see it?
11 years 13 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
I dont know a sure-fire way because their are a lot of convincing fakes out there, but I did find some beer was fake once.
It was at a bbq restaurant ive been to many times, and I opened a Tsingdao and it just didnt taste right. I looked closer at the label and it didnt look right. The color on the label was too bright, and the neck of the bottle had the Tsingdao NBA label... didnt match the other label. I told my friend and he agreed the taste was off.
I wont go back to that restaurant... its shaokao, and if they are cheating on the beer, Im sure they are buying the shittiest of meats.
Hugh.G.Rection:
It's possible the restaurant sold you it in good faith, i.e. they were ripped of by their supplier. If you didn't take it up with them they had no chance to find out and so someone else will get that fake beer.
The bad hangover from a small amount would be indication that you've had fake beer.
The general advice I have heard is to only drink canned beer as they are more difficult to fake.
Well a 500ml bottle of beer in OZ is going to cost you a packet - maybe 50 - 60RMB (although you can't buy that size there). At that price if it tastes bad you will be reluctant to throw it away. In China that same size bottle will cost you 3 - 4RMB and if it tastes bad you toss it away. If it's fake, tastes ok, then drink it, process it and piss it out. Tomorrow is another day, another restaurant / bar, another beer!
MissA:
Daqing, it's not quite that expensive. At my local bottle-o, a six pack of James Squires or Coopers is $20, which to my calculations is about 20 quai each. Granted, they're smaller than 500ml.
If you go for a pint in one of the pubs near my home you might pay $7.50ish, about 45 quai. Alcohol is less expensive than I remembered it - beer's not too bad, good wine is dead cheap at bottle shops (although hideously marked up in pubs), it's only spirits that are ridiculously expensive.
DaqingDevil:
You can buy James Squire in China? For $20? Jeezuz....where? Tell me! Now! That Pale Ale is my fave beer in OZ. Costs me $54 a carton there.
MissA:
No, no, sorry... wasn't clear enough, I've just came home to Oz. All I meant was that alcohol in Oz is not as expensive as you were remembering.
Good choice on the Squires, but I never found them in China. I found some Coopers, but it was very expensive - much more expensive than it is in Oz itself.
Sorry 
I used to get fake Tsingtao a lot up in Dalian. Most of the time I was able to spot it with just a taste.
The fake beer I had (and could tell it was fake) always had a weird coffee ground kind of aftertaste. Real Tsingtao didn't have that taste.
And Hugh is right, many of the bars simply don't know that they are selling fakes, they get them from suppliers that get them from questionable sources.
Just taste it. My son plays a game with me. He buys all different kinds of beers, then pours me a glass and asked me me what make it is. 90% of the time I can tell him the right answer. Chines beers, while being quite good do not have a very distinctive taste and I would have trouble differentiating between most of them. But I like the nice big bottles they provide, not these chincy 12 OZ bottles. But fake beer would not have a chance. Franck3
now we can make our own out of bread
