China’s Oldest Beer Aims for National Dominance

When you live in China, you drink a lot of Tsingtao. Many times it’s not on purpose. The beer is just available pretty much everywhere you go. But, yesterday, I stumbled upon this:

Ignore for a second the intrinsic aesthetic value of the image, what about that date at the bottom? 1900! 109 Years of History?

Yup. Harbin beer, a smooth lager, is China’s oldest brew. It beat out Tsingtao by three years! A quick surview of enoVate’s Chinese staff suggests that this tidbit is common knowledge in the Middle Kingdom. Regardless, this beer is worth learning about.

Harbin Brewery was founded in 1900 by Russians in the northeastern city of Harbin to supply beer to Russians working on the Trans-Manchurian Railway Project. Later, a group of Chinese and Czech’s took it over. During WW2, the brewery again reverted back to Russian hands when Soviets took it over. Eventually, in 1950, the brewery was taken over by the Chinese State.

Earlier this decade, after a prolonged battle with SAB Miller, Anheuser-Busch (now ABinBEV) finally bought the company and now controls it outright.

Despite its long history, Harbin beer isn’t, in fact, a major player on the China domestic scene. It is not in the top 10 of beers in China and so doesn’t control even 1.5 percent of the beer market. Even in Shanghai, it can be hard to find a bottle of Harbin.

But ABinBev is looking to change that. The company hopes to reach 187 different markets in the Mainland this year (most outside of the North, it’s traditional power market) and 200 by 2010, up from 157 markets in 2008. The beer is now available in the US and many other markets and, as new reports flowing out of the company affirm, they are looking to make a national Chinese brand to compete with Tsingtao.

Good luck Harbin beer!