Kiwis are converting the Chinese to two of our own traditions – pies and craft beer.
Down a bustling side street in Jingan, Shanghai, former Christchurch brewer Fraser Kennedy is concocting craft beer recipes for the newly opened Goose Island Brew Pub, where he works as chief brewer.
Kennedy has been chief brewer since Belgium-owned AB Inv, the world’s largest brewing company, opened its first craft beer bar in Shanghai three months ago. Home to an estimated 24 million, Shanghai has about five craft beer bars, and Kennedy says the frothy brew is starting to take off.
Kennedy, who used to have his own beer label, Ad Lib, in Christchurch, says that Indian Pale Ales (IPAs) have been popular in China since last year, when the China’s president, Xi Jinping, sealed his “golden” friendship with UK Prime Minister David Cameron in an English pub, over a pint of Greene King IPA.