The Economist reports that China is the world’s biggest beer market, and that drinking is growing by 10% per year, although with very thin margins for producers. Which reminded of this story on Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, a new and extremely up-market beer being launched in China (I found the story via Evan Osnos’s New Yorker blog, where he writes more about it here and here). It’s selling for 300 rmb per bottle (US$44 / £28), a little bit more expensive than the 2 rmb bottles of Snow beer we used to drink in Wuhan. But then again, it’s probably meant for classier accompaniments than shaokao.
According to the brewmaster, there’s a market for upscale beer:
There’s the nouveau riche, and in China, perception is everything—look at me, I’m rich. Then also, there is another group that may be part of our market, and that’s state banquet dinners. Normally, you’d drink brandy, and this beer kind of has the look of brandy—it’s a reddish-brown color, but it won’t hurt you as much.
Osnos also wrote a few weeks ago about the effect of Chinese rich consumers on the wine market, seen in particular in the exorbitant prices for Carruades de Lafite, the second (and lower-quality) label from the premium Bordeaux wine estate. Rich Chinese consumers buy the wine in huge quantities because they associate the brand with the vineyard’s prestigious (and even more expensive) first growth wine, and because a widely-recognized expensive foreign wine is useful for guanxi purposes. The article Osnos links to is worth reading for the full story on the phenomenon (written by Andy Xie — 谢国忠 — a prominent Chinese economist). And for anyone with a New Yorker subscription, Osnos’ article on the St. Pierres, who essentially created the imported wine industry in modern China, is also worth reading.