Couple of places of note from a quick trip there this summer:
1. The Globe in SoHo:
http://www.theglobe.com.hk/
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/9360
One hand-pull when I was there -- a bitter from the local Typhoon Brewery. Quite nice.
About 10-15 taps, mostly British or Belgian.
Extensive bottle menu, again lots of British brands, a few from Japan (Hitachino, Baird).
Friendly crowd of mostly British and Aussie expats.
2. Hong Kong Brew House in Lan Kwai Fong:
http://www.elgrande.com.hk/outlets/Hong ... LKF/page1/
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/16001
Part of a group of tied houses for the Hong Kong Brewery.
(there are half a dozen, including the East End Brewery mentioned in the Bartowel On The Road article
http://www.bartowel.com/reports/hongkong.phtml)
Both of their house beers (Hong Kong Beer, Aldrich Bay Pale Ale) are inoffensive beers that I'd classify as "gateway craft". Cheap litre steins of these during happy hour, which worked well since it was 35 and humid the day I visited.
Bottle menu is heavy on British and Belgian brands.
They also have Brooklyn Lager for cheap during happy hour.
A little boisterous as befits the area, friendly staff.
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Hong Kong
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Napalm Frog
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 10:01 am
- Location: Toronto
Gonna be here in two months for 2 weeks. Know that most of the best breweries are expat, and there is one or two solid bottle shops. But any other advice for a first timer to the region?
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El Pinguino
- Seasoned Drinker
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The Roundhouse can be a very good spot for beer depending what is on tap.
Local breweries like Gweilo, Black Kite and Moonzen are worth seeking out. Haven't been for a while so can't comment more than that.
Local breweries like Gweilo, Black Kite and Moonzen are worth seeking out. Haven't been for a while so can't comment more than that.
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Napalm Frog
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 10:01 am
- Location: Toronto
Just came back from HK, with a quest to drink as much local beer as possible. I was on HK Island, which unfortunately is 2.5h one way from the best bottle shop in HK by bus, so I tried to figure out how to do this with as little travelling as possible. Locally, the beer in convenience stores is awful. Mostly variants of Euro macros (primarily Carlsberg) brewed in SE Asia. However, there is a small homebrew store on the 4th floor of a building in the Central district underneath the outdoor escalator called HW Brewcraft. They have a pretty stellar selection of brews from Hong Kong, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the US, and to a smaller extent Europe. I focussed primarily on the HK brews, and threw a few Japanese and US ones as I cleared those out.
I tried brews from the following HK breweries:
Nine Dragons: Wasn't a fan of their saison, but the hoppier beers were decent. Overall average.
Black Kite: Good brews, but nothing that really stood out. Overall average.
Lion Rock: Enjoyable, but nothing that really stood out. Slightly above average brews.
Moonzen: On of HK's newest breweries, most of their brews have a Chinese flair, making their brews a must try. 'Yama', their porter with sichuan pepper corns, was spicy and extremely balanced with a very solid porter.
Kowloon Bay: Below average to average at best, all safe drinks with nothing standing out. On par with Mill St here.
Hong Kong Beer Co: Oldest indie beer co still existing in HK. Variety of styles ranging from average to above average, but not too experimental.
Young Master Ales: Best brews in HK. They usually do not distribute (tap only), but managed to nab some specials. The standout was 'Tai Sui', a whiskey barrel Rye Sourdough Ale with three variants. I tried the Chinese red date, which had an amazing balance between sweet, tart, and funk. Very original
Gweilo: Contract brewery that only has 2 brews, IPA and PA, both solid.
As for beer at venues, craft beer seems mostly readily accessible at trendier bars, especially in the SoHo district (near Central, HK island). The local beer presence in these bars is pretty low though, with a greater preference to Euro brews, so I found a bar up in Kowloon operated or owned (I forget) by the person leading the local craft brew association. They have 15 beers on tap, half of which are local, half imports. This is where I had some of the best brews from the breweries listed above. They also have a killer cold brew coffee on nitro. Didn't sample the food aside from the spicy bar nuts.
Last, as for price in the city, as with everything in HK for the last decade, prices are skyrocketing. Depending on the bottle, they vary from $6-$9 CAD a piece for a 12 oz bottle, and nicer craft beer at bars can easily starts at $10 CAD for a 12 oz. To portray the scale of import costs, see a bomber of Deschutes' Black Butte, the priciest bottle I saw for just shy of $50 CAD (which are what, $20 USD at the highest end?). However, the cheap stuff is cheap, with 12 oz cans of the euro macros at $1 CAD at 7/11 (which are peppered in higher numbers than Timmies here).
I tried brews from the following HK breweries:
Nine Dragons: Wasn't a fan of their saison, but the hoppier beers were decent. Overall average.
Black Kite: Good brews, but nothing that really stood out. Overall average.
Lion Rock: Enjoyable, but nothing that really stood out. Slightly above average brews.
Moonzen: On of HK's newest breweries, most of their brews have a Chinese flair, making their brews a must try. 'Yama', their porter with sichuan pepper corns, was spicy and extremely balanced with a very solid porter.
Kowloon Bay: Below average to average at best, all safe drinks with nothing standing out. On par with Mill St here.
Hong Kong Beer Co: Oldest indie beer co still existing in HK. Variety of styles ranging from average to above average, but not too experimental.
Young Master Ales: Best brews in HK. They usually do not distribute (tap only), but managed to nab some specials. The standout was 'Tai Sui', a whiskey barrel Rye Sourdough Ale with three variants. I tried the Chinese red date, which had an amazing balance between sweet, tart, and funk. Very original
Gweilo: Contract brewery that only has 2 brews, IPA and PA, both solid.
As for beer at venues, craft beer seems mostly readily accessible at trendier bars, especially in the SoHo district (near Central, HK island). The local beer presence in these bars is pretty low though, with a greater preference to Euro brews, so I found a bar up in Kowloon operated or owned (I forget) by the person leading the local craft brew association. They have 15 beers on tap, half of which are local, half imports. This is where I had some of the best brews from the breweries listed above. They also have a killer cold brew coffee on nitro. Didn't sample the food aside from the spicy bar nuts.
Last, as for price in the city, as with everything in HK for the last decade, prices are skyrocketing. Depending on the bottle, they vary from $6-$9 CAD a piece for a 12 oz bottle, and nicer craft beer at bars can easily starts at $10 CAD for a 12 oz. To portray the scale of import costs, see a bomber of Deschutes' Black Butte, the priciest bottle I saw for just shy of $50 CAD (which are what, $20 USD at the highest end?). However, the cheap stuff is cheap, with 12 oz cans of the euro macros at $1 CAD at 7/11 (which are peppered in higher numbers than Timmies here).