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Q: Why are so many of the imported beers from Europe?
...and not from the US? I'm talking "good" beers. Not PBR, Budwiser etc. The only American microbrew-esque beer I''ve every really seen here is Rogue's Dead Guy Ale, based out of Portland. Almost everything else is Belgian, British, Irish, German....
What's the deal, is it an issue of distribution? Why are the Europeans so widely distributed?
Actually, it is a trade ban on "grain related products" from the US. Basically the same sort of political protectionism that keeps foreign foods out of the Chinese market as well.
:
That's crazy! I wonder how Rogue gets away with it.
Don't get me wrong, it's a good beer, but there are sooooooo many others.
mattsm84:
Yea, but most all of those have very small distribution networks. Aside from the big ones, like Goose Island, Ying Ling, Rogue, and Steam Anchor Bay its hard to get them outside of their particular region.
Because European beer is the best. Simple!
:
typical European response 
j/k
I didn't mean to trash talk the euro-brews. They are quite tasty. I've forgotten many a nights due to effects of Rodenbach, Westmalle and the like. I was just trying to point out that not many of the equally delicious brews from my "back home" are available here.
Back home it's the same - German, Polish, Czech, Turkish, Italian, they're in most supermarkets in the UK. American beer only consists of Coors and Bud. In fact, I didn't know what "micro-brewing" was until I came here and met Americans. I'm no connoisseur, but I presume it's a similar thing we have with all locally brewed ales, ciders and stouts.
mattsm84:
Yea, it really is the same thing. Most of them are small, of higher quality than the big brands, and only available locally or regionally. Oh, and people who make them tend to gravitate towards ales and stouts because they're artisans, and the idea of sticking to just four ingredients, as per the Bavarian style, strikes them as a way to produce something that is a little more cookie cutter than they might like.
If you like your beer go to Belgium, then Germany and once you've sobered up take a diversion to the Czech Republic for the real Bud. Then go to USA and find out why we call the American Bud 'making love in a canoe'.
Because American beer is like making love in a canoe
mattsm84:
No matter where the girl tells you she's from, she's really either Belgian and named Imbev or British and named SABMiller?
As for why the Euro brands are so well represented, the reason is that most "imported" beer here in China actually owned by a single company called Inbev that operates out of Belgium. Corona, Stella, Becks, Hoegaarden, Leffe, Modella, and Budwiser or in other words the "foreign" beers most easily available to you at your local Carrefort are all owned by this company. Even calling them imports is something of a misnomer as they are all brewed, bottled and distributed within China. They are every bit as domestic as Harbin, which is made with the same stuff, by the same people, at the same Inbev owned brewery.
DaqingDevil:
Shit! How do I get away from Harbin beer? Headache in a bottle that stuff!
mattsm84:
You stop buying it. Really, Harbin is just inbev's "Chinese Style Beer" line, but functionally its just another pale lager. It isn't that much different than Peroni, which is SABMiller's "Italian Style Beer", but is also a pale lager. Like I said, there isn't really anything especially Chinese or Italian about them outside of the marketing.
Shit, this is a good example of the way people from america think. The best beers are from Germany and the surrounding countries. A lot of quality and history behind. Why the hell someone should import american beer when they can import a better one.
mattsm84:
You know, one thing that globalization means is that there is no more "German" beer in the way that there was 100, 50, or even 30 years ago. German beer, Mexican beer, American beer, its all owned by the same people, its all made with the same ingredients, and its all made in the same place. At this point you're really just talking about the the name, and the art design on the bottle. That it acts as some sort of stand in for national pride is just the silliest thing.
grimya:
Hey, I'm from Spain c'mon!
But I love beer and since I travelled to Germany my opinion about beers is clear ;)!
Anyway you made a really interesting comment.
Scandinavian:
matt, Germany has a lot of independent breweries making some of the best beer in the world, sadly most of these you will only find locally
http://www.german-breweries.com/all_breweries.htm (not saying a few of these could not be owned by the big players)
A lot of these are clustered around Munich, one of the best places in the world for beer tourism, Belgium being the best.
mattsm84:
That may be true, but those aren't the ones that the OP is talking about.
Nationalistic, Regionalistic bickering aside, what I wouldn't give for a Left Hand Milk Stout....right....g-d.....now
Because that is where most of the beer in the world is produced .Franck#
Harbin beer I thought was quite good but if a little kraesen was preasent it could give you a head ache. Personally I like the Belgian beer that comes from the monestries that is open fermented. The yeast is from spiders, wonderful beer. Franck3
the cheap freight train traffic rates overland from europe keep the beer cost competitive despite eu labor costs. beer is quite heavy for air freight and sea freight cost jump like a slinky based on the world oil market.
coors is a decent beer in america but would be very expensive to import , so they make it in shanghai now, sometimes i see it in markets in jinan.
