Beer in Taiwan

Beer in Taiwan

Taiwan Beer is one of the best known brands of beer in Taiwan
Traditional Chinese 台灣啤酒
Simplified Chinese 台湾啤酒

Beer in Taiwan was dominated by monopoly products until 2002, when free trade became law in Taiwan. The main domestic brand remains Taiwan Beer, brewed by the publicly owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation that succeeded the government's monopoly bureau in 2002. Taiwan Beer is primarily sold domestically, though the brewery does make some beer for export to Taiwanese living abroad. In recent years Taiwan Beer has stepped up export to People's Republic of China. Other products such as Zhujiang Beer and China Pabst Blue Ribbon are also popular.

After the liberalization of Taiwanese beer market comes the emergence of craft breweries. Some of the well-developed brands include Le Blé d'Or (金色三麥), Jolly Brewery+Restaurant and North Taiwan Brewing (北台灣麥酒).

History

Production and consumption of beer in mainland China has occurred for around nine thousand years, with recent archaeological findings showing that Chinese villagers were brewing beer-type alcoholic drinks as far back as 7000 BC on small and individual scales. Made with rice, honey, and grape and hawthorn fruits, this early beer seems to have been produced similarly to that of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.[1] Ancient Chinese beer was important in ancestral worship, funeral and other rituals of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and the beer was called as Lao Li (醪醴 in oracle bone script). However, after the Han Dynasty, Chinese beer faded from prominence in favor of huangjiu, which remained the case for the next two millennia. Modern beer brewing was not introduced into China until the end of 19th century, when Russians established a brewery in Harbin, with another three following (also in Harbin), set up by Germans, Czechoslovaks and Russians respectively.

The first beer monopoly was held from 1922 to 1946 under Japanese rule by Takasago Beer. Takasago Beer was brewed in light and dark varieties and competed at times against Japanese import beers. Its successor in 1946, Taiwan Beer, remained a monopoly product after the island was returned to the Republic of China. Taiwan entered its modern period of multiparty democracy in the 1990s and shed its government monopolies as it joined the World Trade Organization in 2002.

Economy

Domestic beer production in Taiwan was more than 400 million litres annually in 2008, with significant volume being used for local consumption. Local beer production accounts for over 80% of total beer consumption in Taiwan. A small proportion of the domestically produced beer is exported.[2]

The 'Beer Wars'

Trade disputes with the People's Republic of China led to what is known locally as the "Beer Wars".

Taiwan (officially the "Republic of China" represented under the name Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu) and China (represented by the People's Republic of China) were admitted into the World Trade Organization (WTO) simultaneously in 2002. Beer could now be imported and exported across the Taiwan Strait for the first time.

Foreign labels accounted for just 18 percent of the NT$45 billion (US$1.3 billion) beer market in the ROC in 2004; Taiwan Beer accounted for all of the remaining 82 percent. Two years later the PRC refused to allow Taiwan Beer to be imported. Officials cited a law banning the use of county or regional names in commercial products. In the ROC this argument was hardly persuasive, given the number of products in China already sporting such names, including PRC's Tsingtao Beer, named for a city in Shandong province. The move was interpreted by many Taiwanese as an attempt to thwart the free trade PRC had pledged by denying Taiwan proper recognition of its trademarks. A boycott of beers from China was soon under way on the island.[3] The controversy, widely reported in the international press, led to increased recognition of the Taiwan Beer brand.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Beers of Taiwan.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "9,000-Year-Old Beer Re-Created From Chinese Recipe". National Geographic Society.
  2. ↑ "Beer in Taiwan". www.euromonitor.com. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  3. ↑ Wu, Debby (July 10, 2004). "Boycott of Chinese beers promoted". The Taipei Times. p. 3.

Bibliography

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