Draught at Kaiwei Beer House, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Near black, small head. Full roasty coffee flavour, but a bit tart around the edges. Mid sweet with mediuk body and soft mouthfeel. Nice concentrated flavours of mud cake and tar. Fairly low bitterness. Except for the tartness this has huge potential. It took me forever to get the waitress to understand that I wanted the Black Beer. It’s difficult to imagine a more friendly and attentive staff, but the level of English spoken is somewhat limited...

Draught at Kaiwei Beer House, Shenzhen, Guangdong. Cloudy golden, small creamy head. Dry and grassy, soft and light bodied . Buttery and lightly salty, fairly low on hops, but with fresh soft malt and light spicy bitterness. Nicely drinkable.

on tap-pours a creamy white head that reduces. Cloudy deep straw color. Aroma is grassy. Taste is malty, creamy, a bit of spice. They’ve put some effort in compared to most of the plain beers in this region even though this would be middle of the road beer by other standards. Had this at the new Hankou, Wuhan China location. They moved about 1 km south of their old location about 3 months ago.

on tap-pours a tan, thick, creamy head that retains well. Black color. Aroma is malty. Taste is coffee, malty, OK carbonation. Not my taste but well done.

from a growler that was pulled from the freezer-pours a creamy light tan head. Cloudy straw/orange color. Aroma and taste have an interesting characteristic. Taste is also, malty, crisp, good carbonation. The limited English that the wait staff spoke included calling this by one name only: Red Beer.

2010, Cafe Brussel, Wuhan. Dark brown with a finger of foam. Rich aroma is full of chocolate, toffee and dark fruit. These characteristics carry through the palate with the accent on the toffee and those subtle fruits. Though it gets a little thin at the end, this is a nuanced, complex dark lager. 8-4-7-4-15 = 3.8

2010, Shenzhen. Dark brown, hazy. Nutty aroma with light chocolate notes. Soft body. Beer showing maybe a little funk. Still soft in the finish, with chocolatey notes and light fruitiness. 6-4-6-3-12 = 3.1

2004 rating, flagship pub in Hankou. Chestnut brown, with thick head. Nutty, chocolatey aroma. Compex palate, though a little astringent. Tobacco, chocolate, coffee and nuts. 5-4-7-3-14 = 3.3

Very cloudy, muddy colour. Slightly toasty, wheaty, nutty aroma and palate with faint hint of banana, bubblegum and smoke. Distinct notes of nutmeg.

2010, Cafe Brussels, Wuhan. Hazy straw. Fresh grains and more extracty notes...smells like a decent kit beer. Relatively clean for a kit beer, with a strawlike character. 6-2-5-2-11 = 2.6

2010, Shenzhen. Cloudy pale beige-yellow. Very doughy aroma with light fruity notes. Slightly doughy character, with a soft body. Only a very light hop character. 6-3-6-3-13 = 3.1

2004, Hankou. Cloudy light tan colour. Bready, slightly dusty aroma. Very sweet bready notes form the backbone with dusty, sweaty, yeast notes layered over top. Finish is yeasty, and somewhat astringent. 6-4-7-4-14 = 3.5