Tsingtao

Tsingtao is China's most recognizable beer and the flagship of the country's oldest major brewery still in operation. Brewed in the coastal city of Qingdao since 1903, this crisp pale lager began as a German colonial venture and grew into a national icon — for many drinkers around the world, it is the first Chinese beer they ever taste, whether at a Shandong seafood stall or a restaurant on another continent.

The brewery was founded on 15 August 1903 as the Germania-Brauerei by the Anglo-German Brewery Co., a Hong Kong-registered joint venture, in what was then the German-leased territory around Jiaozhou (Kiautschou) Bay. German master brewers ran production from the start, and the first beer reached drinkers in 1904. After passing through Japanese ownership following World War I and later becoming a Chinese state enterprise, Tsingtao made history again in 1993 as the first mainland Chinese company to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In Qingdao the brand and the city are inseparable. The Tsingtao Beer Museum opened on 15 August 2003 — the company's centenary — at the old brewery site, and the Qingdao International Beer Festival, held every August since 1991, is one of Asia's biggest beer events; locals still carry fresh draft beer home in plastic bags. Global capital has circled the brand too: Asahi held a roughly 20 percent stake from 2009 until 2017, when it sold to the Chinese conglomerate Fosun.

Crisp and light-bodied, with soft grainy malt, a faint rice-derived sweetness, and gentle, slightly floral hops; the finish is brisk and clean, built for the dinner table rather than the spotlight.