Bars have IPA (usa) and SOL (mexico) and others i like ...But i have not seen them for sale in a store? I know about Metro,Pauls,a couple of small import stores around the futune center...carrefor and walmart have imports..But not the beers i am missing!! Does anyone know a beer import store??
Taobao has them, but I am not sure if it's genuine.
I wouldn't buy alcohol marked as imported in Walmart or Carrefour. There have been reports that some are fake. I have experienced it personally
Agree, the last "German" imported beers I bought from Walmart were most certainly not the same as you find in Germany! But they were labelled in cans that looked exactly the same... its clear after the first taste however and the nauseous feeling afterwards that they are less that genuine. I never finished the first can and luckily only bought 2. Someone, somewhere, is making a hell of a lot of money creating terrible beer and hocking it off for imported beer prices.
For branded stores, such as Walmart, Carrefour, etc - if you find obvious fake merchandise - report it to their CORPORATE headquarters. The fake branded crap is used to lure unsuspecting domestic buyers, not the minuscule expat communities. It's quite possible the store's buyer is using discretionary purchasing power to pick up fake brands and pocket the difference (typical kickback scheme).
Blobs, whats happening more and more is that cashed- up Chinese companies are going to contract- brewers with big potential orders as long as what they get is German and cheap. This "German" beer is only sold in China, as nowhere else in the world will sell or drink this crap.
Something similar is happening with "NZ" Infant formula. At last count there were 58 infant formula brands made in NZ......55 of them were only sold in China as they fail to meet NZ's own food standards.
This is the way of the future, a world with "Chinese characteristics"
Oh right, so it is actually made in Germany, but it is in no way beer that Germans would ever drink. I get it.
Ha haa, this is why there is so much HK to China trade in milk powder also. There is obviously a disconnect between what companies are wanting to provide vs what customers actually want.
Couldn't I make a hell of a lot of money therefore importing NZ milk powder directly to China and selling it as REAL NZ milk powder? It would just be a matter of actually convincing people I guess.
"Couldn't I make a hell of a lot of money therefore importing NZ milk powder directly to China and selling it as REAL NZ milk powder? It would just be a matter of actually convincing people I guess."
Yes and no. The biggest genuine brand here is Karicare, but because of poor supply and distribution management the brand is being sold by every man and his dog, so distributor margins have shrunk to low single figure %
And importing/ distributing/ marketing infant formula across China needs deep pockets. There is a Kiwi guy with an IT background in Chengdu who has set something up and looks to be doing pretty well.
Shanghai now has a few beer shops which offer a huge range of imported beer, and also do home delivery, but I guess KM is a few years away from this.
One of the recent additions to the German beer supply in Metro is Licher Beer. I know this beer, as I lived in a village outside Lich one summer. It is from a very small town brewery, and not very good.
I would expect Chinese to fake big brand names, but not beers unknown outside of their local area in the home market.
Most small town breweries in Germany only sell in their locality. They are not producing export 'quality' beers. The opportunity to be part of a niche market in China (potentially huge) is very attractive to these small breweries.
What you are getting may indeed be genuine German beer, but not premium beer.
That is what all the fuss was about regarding Apple. One set of service for 'chinese mainlander' and a better set of service for the rest.
yeah I know about all the fakes. What about a place to get real beer??
Maybe i will stick with the beerlao...chinese beer is not an option!! hahah
