Shanghai Watering Holes for Craft Beer Lovers
Shanghai, the magical city we love to compete with, is never lacking in surprises while visiting; it’s impossible to avoid the sea of trendy craft beer, with all the micro-breweries and taprooms, let alone brewer-friendly events like the annual Shanghai Beer Week, Shanghai Craft Beer Festival, Kerry Craft Beer Festival, and Shanghai International Beer Festival. If you happen to travel down to see our Southern brethren, here are several watering holes we recommend you dive into. To get a good overview, you can even make it a pub crawl, since most of these venues are within walking distance of each other.
Boxing Cat Brewery
This leading microbrewery already has three outlets. Thanks to seasoned brewmaster Michael Jordan, their suds have won a lot of awards, not to mention that Boxing Cat was the first mainland Chinese craft brewery to win a medal at the 2016 World Beer Cup. Beers on offer include Right Hook Helles, Contender Extra Pale Ale, Sweet Sciences Summer Ale, TKO IPA, Upper Cut India Pale Lager, and Sugar Momma on tap, and American comfort food to pair with them. They also have a sister bar with a different concept, named Liquid Laundry, that has 15 microbrews on tap, located at Huaihai Zhonglu.
Unit 26A, 519 Fuxing Road Central, Huangpu District, Shanghai (021 6426 0360)
82 Fuxing Road West, Xuhui District, Shanghai (021 6431 2091)
The Place HQ, 100 Zun Yi Road (021 6237 1128)
Daga Brewpub
Located next to Boxing Cat’s Fuxing location, Daga Brewpub’s two floors have more than 42 beers on tap. Unlike Boxing Cat which sells its own beers, Daga’ focus lies in Chinese microbrews, such as beers from Nbeer, Wuhan No. 18, Chengdu Harvest, Master Gao, and Mr. Li, as well as some brews from Belgium and Denmark.
100 Fuxing Road West, Xuhui District, Shanghai (021 3469 5338)
37 Tai’an Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai (021 3469 5337)
Dr. Beer
This Chinese-owned brewpub boasts a big open venue with huge brewing facilities, offering six beers on tap: wheat, pilsner, pale ale, IPA, dark lager, and cranberry ale. They also offer a pilsner beer mixed with ginger ale, strawberry puree, and lemon. Most of the beers would be considered relatively light for heavy beer drinkers.
83 Fumin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai (021 5468 1077)
749 Guyang Road, Changning District, Shanghai (021 5118 2930)
World of Beer
Next to Dr. Beer, this bar has 46 local and imported beers on tap, and hundreds of bottles in the massive fridges that line the bar, filled with your favorite brands like Goose Island, Brewdog, North Coast, Foxes, Brooklyn, Leffe, and Chimay. We love the Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout on tap.
85 Fumin Road, Xuhui District, Shanghai (021 6205 8885)
Tap House
With three locations, Tap House offers over 20 imported beers on tap, including eight from Mikkeller, three from Rogue, several from North Coast, two from Timmermans, and two from Moosehead.
Zhang Plaza, 99 Taixing Road, Jing’an District, Shanghai (021 5292 6990)
74 Yongkang Lu, Xuhui District, Shagnhai (021 5448 8337)
36 Hongmei Entertainment Street, Lane 3338 Hongmei Road, Hongqiao, Shanghai (021 5470 5800)
The Brew
This brewpub is located on the first floor of the Kerry Hotel Pudong and has six beers on tap, all brewed on site, including White Ant Wheat, Skinny Green Low Cab Lager, IPA, Pils, Mash, Dugite Vanilla Stout, and Razorback Cider, which you can enjoy paired with their western-style food in The Brew’s al fresco dining area.
1/F, Kerry Hotel, 1388 Huamu Road, Pudong District, Shanghai (021 6169 8888)
If you are still not ready to go home and call it a night, we can also recommend you head to Jackie’s Beer Nest, Shanghai Beer Factory, Reberg Brewpub, Dean’s Bottle Shop, Kaiba, Drunk Uncle, the Beer Shelf, and The Hop Project to quench your remaining thirst.
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure
Photos: Boxing Cat, Tracy Wang
