Tsingtao in Macau
Macau's most popular beer is a very good one
Tsingtao is without doubt, the most famous Chinese beer in the world. Go to almost any Chinese restaurant in the US, Canada, or the UK and you are most likely to be offered a Tsingtao beer to go with your food.
Like a lot of beers around the world, Tsingtao comes into its own when you drink it in the country where it has been brewed. I don't really understand why that would be, but we sure did enjoy drinking Tsingtao in Macau!
My First Tsingtao in Macau
The first time I had a Tsingtao in Macau was at a Portuguese cafe bar. The owner spent some time telling us about a Portuguese beer he loved, called Superbock. Well, we'd both tried Superbok in Portugal and so instead of taking his advice, we decided to go with a 'local' brew.
We were both surprised at how good it tasted. Rather than the clean, light taste you would get with a US domestic, it was full-flavoured with a pretty decent hit of hops - a very nice German-style lager
We were delighted to find that this was the beer that would be offered to us in both Hong Kong and Macau.
We had discussed that the Tsingtao had an almost German-style taste, but it was only much later on that we discovered it was actually created by Germans.
Invented by Germans
Tsingtao originates from a seaside town called Qingdao - located in the southeast part of Shandong Province.
For thirty three years, up to 1949, the city of Qingdao was a German colony, with European architecture and a teste for good beer. Later on, the beer changed name to Tsingtao and became a huge hit all across China, as the nation's taste for beer got bigger and bigger.
Apparently, Tsingtao is produced in 55 different factories across China.
Having tasted the differences between quite a few beers that are brewed in multiple locations, I would be interest to know if some of the Tsingtaos taste better than others.
Tsingtao - this was one of my favorite beers during my trip to Hong Kong and Macau. It has a good, full flavor, with a nice kick of hops - a german style lager brewed for the Chinese market
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