OK I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, but is there a good beer store in Taipei? In the Michigan where I am from, I can go to alot of party stores that carry a great assortment of local micro brewed beer, American macro-piss beer, UK and European imports.
Some of my favorites in Michigan are Bell’s Brewery–some of the finest micro I have tasted. And Royal Oak Brewery, this brewery close to my apartment had the best IPA I have ever had.
Of course the recipes used at these are mostly old German, Irish, or English. SO far in Taipei I can only find:
Heineken (yuck), Budwieser, Miller Low Life (the champaign of beers…), Busch, Guiness (too expensive), Taiwan beer (its ok if it is ICE cold), Gold Medal Taiwan Beer (reminds me of a sweet Heineken), and the Japanese line of beers which I really don’t think are very good. I have only found 1 light beer Coor’s Light. I like it for a light beer, but I always preferred Miller Lite to all others. Actually I like to have a stockpile of light beer for regular drinking in the US. You know so I don’t pack on pounds.
Anyone know a good place to get imports like these for relatively cheap? Actually Coors light isn’t7 that expensive. I wish I could find Busch light too. I know it is a piss beer but it is cheap as hell in the US. I figure it would be cheaper than Coors light.
Lately I have been buying Korea Essential beer. Not much information is available about this beer and is probably on par with Old Milwaukee Light, or Milwaukee’s Best light in the US as it is the cheapest possible beer. It tastes like they made it with toilet water and then boiled a couple dirty socks in it, but I drink it ICE cold (slushy) so my taste buds have little to work with.
Fuxing Rd, roughly midway between Zhongxiao Fuxing and Nanjing East MRT stations.
The grocery is in the basement. Lots of quality stuff down there, but you pay through the nose.
Jason’s in 101 has a lesser selection.
There’s also a guy who delivers. Get in touch with Tigerman and he could fill you in.
Do you want good or cheap beer? In Taiwan there is no good cheap beer … there is so-so cheap beer, or bad cheap beer … everything you mentioned is so-so beer … and cheap … Heineken is even less than so-so … therefor, make up your mind and know what you want
Essential is as far as I know a ‘private label’ beer, brewed for a local company to be cheap, not good …
[quote=“Gifthorse”] Actually I like to have a stockpile of light beer for regular drinking in the US. You know so I don’t pack on pounds.
[/quote]
I always thought light beer meant low-alcohol not low-cal/carb. Or is that an Australian only thing? In Aust (where I was a bartender during 5 years of university) light beer is 2.2-2.5% alcohol as opposed to normal beer which was 4.5-5%.
Lots of pubs & cafes around seem to have decent selections of Belgian, German & English beers, but the “foreigner” bars like Brass Monkey, Carnegie’s & the Tavern charge way too much for them ($7-10). I’ve seen Anchor Steam in a few places, but no other U.S. microbrews.
Buying for home use: check out the Jason’s in the 101 food court area, or whatever the other fancy supermarket is in B2 @ the Sogo attached to Zhongxiao Fuxing MRT station. They had a good selection that’s about 1/2 the cost at a bar, but that still means at least $3.50 a bottle. Maybe Costco has some?
If you like MGD or most other U.S. beers, shitty Taiwan beer oughta be fine. Maybe try Kirin.
BTW, for the other poster: “Lite” Beer in the U.S. refers to calorie content, not alcohol content, (which BTW is still restricted to 3.2% in many locations due to outmoded religious/prohibition laws … shameful). It also refers to color, flavor, drinkability, and perhaps the drinker’s loafers
Thanks for the info about US lite beer. I’m not a beer drinker but if I were, I’d be pretty pissed off if I were American and restricted to drinking cats piss (what we Aussies usually refer to low-alcohol beer as).
[quote=“sjhuz01”]Lots of pubs & cafes around seem to have decent selections of Belgian, German & English beers, but the “foreigner” bars like Brass Monkey, Carnegie’s & the Tavern charge way too much for them ($7-10). I’ve seen Anchor Steam in a few places, but no other U.S. microbrews.
…
[/quote]
So, you would like to go and hang out at a pub/cafe/bar and get the good beers for cost price? Bad business model … I guess the place that does that will be closed fast … rents in Taipei are sky high …
The best American Micro-brew that I have drunk in Taiwan is the Anchor Brewing beer from San Francisco California. Here is the main website where you can see the different products they make and see the history and process of their brewing.
In Taiwan, you can get it here. Give them a call or drop them an email and they will send you an order form.
Jim Boyle
Bao Brothers Trading
3FL, 25-3 Nanking East Road, Section 5
Taipei, Taiwan 11156
(02) 2877-1182
0961-150-012 bao.brothers@gmail.com
They currently stock Anchor Steam, Liberty Ale, and Anchor Porter and are NT$1900 per case of 24 bottles. All three are fabulous and are priced cheaply.
[quote=“Dr. McCoy”][quote=“GoWest”]I know where to get good beer. Maybe, I am a tad biased though.
Check out gowestenterprise.com[/quote]
I forgot about you guys. Too bad that Bellhaven only comes in kegs.[/quote]
It does? That’s a real drag. I was on the point of emailing Gowest about some of the far better Belhaven brews, such as St. Andrews, IPA or 80-shilling, but not if its only available in kegs.
I really enjoy that Anchor beer, too. I’ve tried the porter and the steam but I don’t think I’ve had any of the liberty ale.
If you’re interested in going to a drinking establishment that has micro-brew, I would suggest Jolly Brewery-Restaurant. Actually, it’s not really a brew-pub because the brewery isn’t really on their premises. This is due to Taipei City laws which stipulate that companies aren’t allowed to distill alcoholic beverages within Taipei City limits. Except, of course Taiwan Beer because they were grandfathered in when the new law took effect. So, Jolly actually has a brewery in Taipei County where they brew their beers. The false advertising of having a brewery-restaurant is irrelevant anyway because the beers they have are absolutely fabulous. Along with their many different beers they serve a very delicious variety of Thai food in a wonderfully non-smoking environment. The prices are very reasonable. Check it out. They have two restaurants.
Wellcome is beginning to increase its selection of beers.
RT Mart, as mentioned before, has lots of good imports. Even some tall cans of good German brew.
For the wallet-busting beer, go to the basement of Taipei 101 supermarket. Lots of imports there that you won’t see elsewhere.
