Harbin Brewery is one of the earliest beer manufacturers and beer brands in China, making it popular throughout the country. It is also one of the most successful domestic beer brands in the country. This company manufactures different Harbin beers, which are sold nationwide except Tibet. This beer is also exported to over 30 countries and regions, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Singapore, Russia, South Korea, and more. It always has a pure and refreshing taste, making it preferable for a lot of people.
The beers offered by Harbin Brewery include ice, wheat king, Weissbier, draft, and other series, and most of them taste cool and icy. Among these, the wheat king series is the most popular because it has a higher alcohol content, which is 10%, compared to other beer their offer. This way, you’ll be able to taste a strong flavor of malt when you drink it.
Harbin Beer is a “bland”, “thin” 4.8% abv pale lager. Brewed since 1900, it uses European and Chinese “Qindao Dahua” hops, two-row malt, and German yeast. Harbin beer was brewed in Harbin City in 1900, making it the earliest beer producer in China. Harbin Beer is very popular in Northeast China. It has a distinctive refreshing European flavor and tastes better when it is cold.
If you’ve tried Harbin beer before and you liked it, have you ever wondered how this beer started? If you’re curious, then you’re in the right place. Today, we are going to share with you the history of Harbin beer.
History
The history of Harbin beer dates back to 1900 when the Harbin Brewery was founded by Jan Wroblewski from Tarczyn in Prussian Poland. The brewery was built in Northeast China. It was then called Manchuria, which he named after himself. The initial idea of putting up the brewery was to give fuel to the thirsty Russians who were building the Trans-Siberian Railway, which construction began in 1898.
In 1908, the brewery was renamed to Gloria for some reason, before it gained the name Harbin Brewery Factory in 1932. Harbin Brewery Factory is a joint venture between the Chinese and Czechoslovakian nationals.
In 1946, the Soviet nationals took control of Harbin Brewery Factory after the Soviet Red Army captured Manchuria. The Soviet nationals then named it Quilin Stock Company Limited. This situation continued until 1950 when Stalin ordered the return of Chinese assets. After this, the ownership was returned to the Chinese Government.
In 1950, when the company was returned to Red China, they continued innovating it. They renamed the company to Harbin Brewery and operated it as a state-owned entity. In 1959, motivated by the famine, Harbin Brewery became the first to brew beer with corn instead of rice. Through the 1960s, the brewery focused on investing in improving its technology.
In 1973, Harbin Brewery installed its first sterilization machine located in Heilongjiang Province, which is northeast of china. Today, the capital and largest city of this province is Harbin.
SABMiller was able to get a 29.6% equity stake in Harbin Brewery in June 2003. In 2004, after a bitter takeover battle with SABMiller, Anheuser-Busch was able to take over the company.
Even though Harbin brewery was the first modern brewery in China it has had a bit of a rocky history. Now, (99.66%) owned by American beer giant Anheuser-Busch, Harbin is making a big push and now controls over 5% of the Chinese market.
Harbin Brewery Group has grown over a century to become China’s fifth-largest brewery, luring more and more customers to try its time-honored and exceptional quality beer.
There are currently 13 breweries producing Harbin beer in China. The national authorities designated Harbin beer, the first beer brand in China, as “China’s famous brand product” in 2002.
Almost all of China’s provinces and regions, with the exception of Tibet, currently sell Harbin beer, and it is also exported to more than 30 other nations and areas, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, and Japan.
The Popularity of Harbin Beer
The annual beer production capacity of Harbin has increased to more than 1 million tons. Harbin beer, after its successful reform and listing on the Hong Kong stock market, it has become a giant in China’s beer industry.
Today, Harbin Brewery is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is a multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, London. It also has a global functional management office in New York City, and as well as regional headquarters in London, Sao Paul, St, Louis, Mexico City, and more. This company was able to help Harbin beer to be exported to European and North American markets. However, when compared to other popular beers in China, such as Zhujiang Beer and Tsingtao Beer, the share of Harbin Beer in these markets is insignificant.
In the North American market, Harbin Beer first became available in ethnic Chinese supermarkets, which is still its primary point of sales until today. Then, it gradually expanded to other Asian supermarkets, including supermarkets like Market World, Freshia, and ethnic Korean supermarkets. Some of the different beers offered by Harbin brewery are Hapi, Golden Hapi, Harbin Heart, and Harbin Premium Lager. One of their beers is a wheat beer.
Harbin has also won over the elusive audience of males aged 18 to 29 through their collaborations and sponsorships with China’s eSports teams. They have sponsored eSports events, teams, and in 2017, they sponsored five Chinese teams, which created the Harbin Beer eSports Legion.
Harbin is indeed a top beer in the heartlands of Dongbei or the Northeastern part of China. In fact, a trip on the North Korean Borderlands might involve at least one or two cans of Harbin beer. We hope the information we shared was able to give you more knowledge about Harbin beer’s history.
While it is not hard to find a variety of beer brands in China today, it is still difficult to find a variety of beers. That is because almost all beer produced in China is a pale lager: the golden-coloured and hop flavoured goodness that originated in the hills of beer-mad Bavaria.
One reason why pale lager is so popular is because of the nature of the Chinese beer market, which is still fairly fragmented and offers producers low profit margins. In such an environment breweries focus on pale lager because it is cheaper and faster to produce than other types of beer. There are also those who say the Chinese palate might not be well suited for darker, bitterer beers because it reminds them of bitter traditional Chinese medicine.
Harbin Beer Festival
It doesn’t take much searching to find one or more beer festivals taking place these days in China’s big cities. Unexpectedly, more beer is drank in China than the traditional baijiu (rice liquor). Some people might find that strange considering that China isn’t often the first nation that springs to mind when they think about beer. However, China is both the world’s largest producer and consumer of beer. 43 billion liters of beer were produced in China alone in 2009, and according to some estimates, by 2015, the Middle Kingdom will be home to one in every four beers consumed worldwide.
The oldest and most established beer culture in China is located in Harbin, the first city in China to make beer. Additionally, it is one of the cities with the greatest global average per capita beer consumption.
The annual world beer festival was initially introduced by Harbin City in 2002. Since that time, the festival has been held in July in the Harbin Ice and Snow World. Numerous leading breweries from Germany, the United States, Denmark, Russia, Japan, China, and other countries participate in the festival and hold numerous business meetings while large numbers of tourists from around the world watch performances and participate in the beer carnival on the streets.
Harbin residents engage in alcohol during the Harbin International Beer Festival, and attractive women from Harbin and Russia provides a stunning scene. Beer brought Harbin—a true “beer city”—spirituality and pride, enhancing the city’s attractiveness and character.
The Harbin International Beer Festival, which is held in the birthplace of Chinese beer, has garnered interest from around the world because to its blend of tradition and modernity, passion and romance.
Old fizz for millennials
Even a century-old beer like Harbin Beer, brewed by China’s oldest brewery still in operation, has found fresh life as one of the country’s top 10 alcoholic beverages and as one of the brands owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest beer manufacturer. Brewers are under pressure to find new customers as China’s beer sales, which are being weighed down by an excess of brands and manufacturing capacity, aren’t showing many indications of improvement.
Chinese millennials are digging deep into their wallets for a taste of the exotic and giving some of the country’s boutique and microbreweries’ designer beers a fresh fizz. Imports and expensive drinks are not the only things that thrill people.
Conclusion
The oldest and most established beer culture in China is located in Harbin, the first city in China to make beer. Additionally, it is one of the cities with the greatest global average per capita beer consumption. The annual world beer festival was initially introduced by Harbin City in 2002.
Harbin Brewery Group has grown over a century to become China’s fifth-largest brewery, luring more and more customers to try its time-honored and exceptional quality beer.
There are currently 13 breweries producing Harbin beer in China. The national authorities designated Harbin beer, the first beer brand in China, as “China’s famous brand product” in 2002.
Almost all of China’s provinces and regions, with the exception of Tibet, currently sell Harbin beer, and it is also exported to more than 30 other nations and areas, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Russia, and Japan.