Craft Beer Hype in China

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This is not your typical craft beer brewery, where you need to go through a labyrinth of little streets to find it. On the contrary, the gastropub bar, Beersmith, sits right in the heart of Beijing’s Central Business District, customized to serve the burgeoning middle class of China, a relatively new group of hip consumers who are looking for a different kind of experience.

The craft beer movement started to sail east in 2013, and it was first introduced by expat craft brewers in China. Since then, it has gained momentum and grown rapidly, with a handful of respectable local breweries making headway, including Master Gao, Great Leap, Jing-A, Slow Boat, Panda, Shangri-La and Boxing Cat.

Global players like AB InBev are also catching on to the wave by bringing Goose Island into the Chinese market. Although this niche market takes up only 4% of China's beer industry, its profit margin is as high as 18%.

Craft brewers are optimistic about the promising potentials of this domestic market and they are taking creative measures to introduce this "new" beverage to the Chinese consumers.

While it’s looking like a golden opportunity for craft beer brands, I’m curious to find out about the Chinese consumers’ beer palate.

What do people really relish? Is it the array of flavors? Is it the artisanal factor? Or is it simply to look faddy?

In this interview, I spoke to the general manager of Beijing's trendiest craft beer brewery to find out the answers.