Beijing Braces for a Belgian Beer Invasion

Beer fans will surely have noticed the recent rise of a new brew on the Beijing scene - Vedett White, with its distinctive retro sky blue branding and quirky, photo-emblazoned label. It’s one of the Duvel family of beers, the giant Belgian brewery with a host of brews under its umbrella. Duvel are long-established in Shanghai, but it’s only in the last five months they’ve been fiercely peddling their high-end brews in our fair city, and it’s largely thanks to the efforts of Duvel brand ambassador Nick Papa.

“Vedett is a Belgian white, all organic,” Nick explains. “It’s got coriander, orange peel in it. I think of it as a Hoegaarden that someone paid attention to when it was young.”

I’ve already clocked it in several places including Alba, Saveurs de Coree, El Nido – in fact, mainly around the Gulou area. Could it be Duvel are targeting the young hipster demographic with Vedett?

“It’s a good light beer (4.7% ABV), fun in the summer. The colour matches what’s going on in this part of the city – the music, the lifestyle; it’s a younger area. People relate to it a little more when they drink it, especially in Gulou. It’s got that – I hate this word – ‘indy’ feel.”

But Duvel’s draft isn’t just limited to Gulou, as Nick points out. “I’m most happy that Kro’s Nest is taking on the Vedett White as well as Maredsous. And Bang! Bang! Pizza is also a customer, as well as Korean restaurant Iki next door. That area of Shuangjing is really taking off. It’s crazy.”

Nick delivers all the beers himself on the back of a three-wheeled cart. “It’s an added plus for what we’re doing,” he says. “Customers get to deal with me directly all the time, not some faceless delivery dude.”

As well as Vedett White there’s Vedett Extra Blonde, a lager version, and some 10 more bottles. At a recent tasting, I was most wowed by La Chouffe, an 8 per cent brown ale with a picture of a gnome on the front of a bottle. One of the best Belgians I’ve had in a long time. Nick tells me they have it at Beer Mania and El Nido.

Others include Maredsous brown and blonde, and also the 10 per cent version. The standard Duvel Golden Ale, a blonde beer, some cherry beers (for the ladies, maybe).

As Nick sees it, Duvel’s aggressive expansion is all part of the evolving beer scene in Beijing, which means greater variety and better prices for customers.

“The future for beer drinkers in Beijing is excellent. There’s going be a lot more beer coming into the city, the market is slowly evolving, people are developing a taste for these beers, and the sorts of bars that are opening really appreciate what we and other guys are trying to do.”

But more choice means more competition, of course. “Beer is war,” says Nick. “I can’t keep up with the amount of new sellers coming into the city as well as the smaller breweries doing it for themselves. The landscape is changing for the better, and it all trickles down to the customers in the end."