Harbin Beer

Brewed by Harbin Beer Company (Anheuser-Busch)
Style: Pale Lager
Harbin, China

Serve in Dimpled mug, Lager glass, Shaker

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I hope the "Tradition and Culture of China’s most Northern Province of Hellongjian" isn’t as bland and boring as this beer. No flavor, no real smell, and a nice clean straw color. But lacks of any flavor.

Nothing special, and overpriced. Nice looking body, decent, not exeptional aroma, bland, run of the mill flavor.

Got this one from a friend who works for the local Anheuser Busch distributor. He said I’d love it since I like imported beers. I didn’t.

Clean lager. Very little flavor. Easy to drink, but nothing special. Just a standard larger IMO.

One of the best Chinese beers. Far and away better than Tsingtao, Kingway or Pearl River. Mild taste, lightly sweet, but mostly just very watery. But surprisingly lacks the skunk-ee-ness of other Chinese beers (see: Tsingtao) and also lacks the offensive acrid aftertaste

Very little to notice about this beer besides it’s sparkling clear. Tastes thin and watery with a cereal taste. Found everywhere in the country especially at Hot Pot restaurants.

The best 'looking' beer I've seen from china (still quite a few to go). Harbin unfortunately is also the best tasting beer I've had in China. It's flavor is week and tries to make up for it with a slightly higher carbonation level than other chinese beers I've tasted (kingway, tsing tao) It's a beer that could (should?) have been good seeing it's german heratige. - (german settlers in china started breweries in harbin because of it's good water quality - at the time)). Chinese food almost demands a lager or pilsner (especially souther chinese and some of the more spicy shanghainese) and unfortunately the two major players for this title; Tsing Tao, and Harbin, just fall short of the mark. Hite (korean) is closer.

The nicely wrapped bottle was what made me buy it. Light aroma, medium-dark yellow colour, small disappearing head, not a strong taste with hints of a wheaty flavour. Nothing special but not bad.

Picking an Asian beer is like Russian Roulette for me. If its a bad beer, its REALLY bad. If its good, well, at least you didn’t get shot in the face. Harbin falls into the second category. It has a little of the Heineken/St. Pauli Girl aftertaste, but other than that, its a very average but drinkable session beer. It IS the Asian Budweiser. If it were music, it would be some Chinese equivalent to Hootie and the Blowfish.

I had this beer with A Chinese dinner unlike the food, this beer was non-descript a little watery, it has a nice eye catching bottle and label.