I haven’t seen much Tsingtao on this trip. Yes, the supermarkets have it (not all), but many of the restaurants have stayed loyal to Wusu in Xinjiang and Huanghe in Gansu (what little I’ve seen of it).
My first entry in Gansu Province was by train in Jiayuguan City. This city is primarily known for being where the Great Wall ends in the west. There’s a spectacular piece of Great Wall called the Overhanging Great Wall, because it looks a dragon hanging off a slope. There’s also the Jiayuguan Fort, which is the last fort of the Wall and the First (or Last) Beacon which is the structure of the Great Wall. It is a lump rammed earth that overlooks a deep gorge.
There’s a pedestrian street called Datang Road which has plenty of restaurants on it, many of which will sell Huanghe Beer. Huanghe is the Lion Nathan or CUB of Gansu and is headquartered in the capital Lanzhou. Most fridges contain the red and white 3.3% lager or the green 2.5% lager.
I had some feedback on the Instagram reel about Fulujia and the beer in bags. One person pointed out that that is how it’s been done in Qingdao for years. I was going to speculate whether Tsingtao or Fulujia were first with the beer dispensary concept – but could be neither. All I know is that since stumbling across Fulujia in Hami, I’ve seen them twice more in Jiayuguan and Dunhuang. And the Dunhuang branch had a small amount of indoor seating.
At the Tsingtao dispensary, I went for a 50lmof the English IPA, which at 6.2% ABV is big for a Chinese beer. It is a beautiful drop with that more rounded and malt tinged finish of the English IPA style. More than double the price of the Fulujia IPA, which is 12.5 RMB vs 30 RMB. At Tsingtao, I had the strange experience of drinking under the watchful eye of Frank Gallagher – the infamous character from the US version of Shameless.
Jiayuguan is definitely worth the visit. Get in the night before – have a feed and a few beers in Dafang Road – get an early start and you can be on a train to your next venue by 4pm.
