Tsingtao

Brewed by Tsingtao Brewery
Style: Premium Lager
Qinqdao, China

Yellow, overly carbonated beer that pretty much tastes like water in every single way. It even smells like water, plus a little metallic. That is right, water has a smell!

Bottled. Why green bottles I’ll never know. Beer smelled and tasted skunky. Once you get past that tasted like any other lager.

Actually better than I had hoped for. Poured pale yellow color with white fizzy head, typical beer/wheat aroma. Some kind of rice/corn flavor that balances well with the maltiness. Paired perfectly with a spicy dish of kung pao chicken

Watery Chinese lager. Pale yellow pour with a filmy white head, intense carbonation and no lacing. Lightly grassy aroma, crisp and decent. Horrid, empty mouth feel, finishes like stale crackers. Flavor is empty and bland, dull and boring. No redeeming qualities to think of, I sure hope this contains less lead than the toys that are being made over there.

This is a fairly decent, American style pilsener. I prefer this to most domestic beers, and as far as lagers go, this is not too bad.

Bitter burnt hop aroma. Clear yellow colour with poor head and lacing. Bitter malt flavour. Fizzy palate.

Tsingtao is a well made, golden lager basically styled after a German helles or pale lager. There is good reason for that. When the Chinese and other Asian countries decided to start breweries, they hired Germans as consultants and brew masters to teach them. With their knowledge and brewing skills, came German beer styles. In fact, there is a very rare dunkel or dark lager version of Tsingtao, that these days has proven to be almost mythical. Michael Jackson, the Beer Hunter, swears he has had it in America, in a NYC beer bar years ago. I’ve never seen it, but sure would love to try it some day. You won’t have a problem finding the Tsingtao I am reviewing here today. I dare you to find a Chinese restaurant that does not have it. Tsingtao pours to a beautiful, bright, pale golden color with a tight white head that fades, and a good bit of carbonation. The nose on this beer is very balanced with some crisp pilsner malt aromas paired with subtle herbal and grassy hop aromas. The palate is crisp and clean with just the right amount of grainy pale malt flavors, and just a hint of malt sweetness. The body is very round and smooth on this beer, making it very drinkable. Tsingtao finishes with more crisp malt flavor up front, then ends with a slightly herbal hop bitterness. There is a very nice balance of malt and hop character in this beer, and it is a very food friendly dish. This is the kind of beer you could match with anything from Kung-Pow chicken, sweet and sour pork, to shrimp low mein. It really is a great Chinese beer, and a good beer to have when you go out for Chinese, or to pick up a six pack for Chinese take out.

355ml green bottle. Poured gold, white head dissipates quickly, leaves slight ring in glass. Sweetish malts, some hops in finish. Light and dryish.