Fearing the worst in the Qinhuangdao Holiday Inn’s minibar, BotF smuggled a couple of oddments from the expat supermarket in his luggage to enjoy on the balcony of his deluxe Sea View apartment.
Utica Club is a throwback pilsener brewed by the Saranac Brewery. It is apparently the first beer to be legally brewed after prohibition. I bet you I am the first bloke to drink it in Qinhuangdao. The Holiday Inn’s bar fridge wasn’t the hardest working so the beer wasn’t that cold. Nothing too distinctive about it, and I’d really want to try it again under different conditions.
I’ll never try Beck’s Green Lemon again. It was purely about the bottle top and that it cost $1.80 – but gees – talk about foul. BotF’s correspondent, Mick, is very partial to Beck’s but they should really stick to their flagship Pils. Their website indicates that they’ve also created Ice, Chilled Orange and Level 7 versions of Beck’s. Hopefully no Beck’s Pils was hurt in the process.
The unrelated shot is of a wedding shoot taking place on Qinhuangdao beach. No surf but parasailing and jet skis can be hired and then there are fun fair rides for the kids.
Upon my return to the Holiday Inn, I noticed that they weren’t too shabby in the beer department with a selection of weird German 5 litre kegs, but the opportunity didn’t present itself on the family weekend.
back of the ferry 