Tag Archive beer

ByGD

Home Brew

China is hardly a hotbed of craft brewing. Tsingtao is possibly its only famous brand. Named for Qingdao, the German-influenced city where it is brewed (the difference in spelling is a result of changing pinyin systems in the 20th century) Tsingtao is a nice pilsner of the type favored in Asian countries.

When you visit the city of Qingdao and order a beer, it’s a given that you will be given a Tsingtao. The question they ask you is “Do you want the local one or the kind we export?”

“What’s the difference?”

“The local one is 5 yuan extra.”

“I’ll take the local.”

Maybe it’s just my imagination, but I think the home-style brew tasted a little fresher.

ByGD

Qingdao’s Tsingtao

qingdao Brewery

The city of Qingdao is home to the only Chinese beer to achieve any popularity in the United States – Tsingtao. The beer is named for the city. In the U.S., even Chinese people often call the beer Sing Tao. But in its hometown, both are pronounced Ching Dao. The difference is a result of the  system used to convert Chinese words into Roman letters.

Wade-Giles vs. Pinyin

When the German-occupied city of Qingdao began to export its lager brewed from mountain spring water, the system in use was Wade-Giles. It was invented by a couple of Englishmen – scholars of Chinese, but not native speakers. So the beer was first romanized as Tsingtao and built up a respectable brand under that spelling. Then, in 1955, a former banker named Zhou Yougang was assigned to a Chinese government committee to improve the romanization of the Mandarin language. He developed the modern system of Hanyu pinyin that is still used today. Under that system, the city is spelled Qingdao.

Branding vs. Linguistics

Most people agree that the new system is a better and more uniform way to represent the pronunciation of Chinese language. But as with all change, it has created some confusion. The brewers decided that it was better for consumers to be confused about the origin of their beer than its quality. So they spared beer drinkers the stress of wondering whatever happened to Tsingtao and whether that new Qingdao beer is any good. It was probably the right choice.

ByGD

A Weekend in Bend

Deschuttes Brewery Pub

Deschutes Brewery Pub

When I arrived in Bend, Oregon, I expected to run into characters from Tawna Fenske’s romantic comedies around every corner. I peered into the open kitchen at the Deschutes Brewery looking for the chef from Eat, Play, Lust. When I passed the bobcat enclosure in the lobby of the High Desert Museum I started looking for the planetarium that put the frisky in Frisky Business. I looked for Marine for Hire‘s Sam chopping wood alongside the houses nestled among the trees along the road to Mt. Bachelor. After discovering Crux Fermentation Project nestled between a train track and a freeway, I expected to see Believe it or Not‘s strip mall with a psychic leaning against a male stripper joint – oh wait, that one was set in Portland. And they are all fictional stories. The little town of Bend, however, is very real, and it is not what I expected. Read More