Taiwan Beer Festival

On saturday I went to the Taiwan Beer festival, which was a celebration of Taiwan Beer, a product of the Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation, formerly known as the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau. It had a monopoly on tobacco and alcohol products in Taiwan until the country joined the World Trade Organisation in 2002. It is still the most popular beer on the island, with the Chinese Qingdao in second place followed by a mixed bag of mostly Japanese and American beers. The festival was held at the old Jianguo Brewery in Taipei city, which was built in 1919 during the Japanese occupation. One wall of the factory is made from old beer kegs.

There were market stalls, games, music, and lots of Taiwan beer flowing. I planned to just have a couple of quiet ones and head off. I purhcased a cup of the Taiwan Draft beer, a freshly brewed unpasturised beer which is difficult to find outside Taipei, bought a couple of traditional chinese sausages with a few cloves of garlic thrown in the bag for good measure, and sat down with some locals. Within two minutes I had four new friends who kept filling my cup and toasting me, refusing to allow me to buy any beer. Two guys worked at a girly bar in Taipei, and another fellow was a stock trader, there with his prison guard fiancee.

This went on for some time, but finally we parted and I wandered about some more with a new perspective on things. I even had a go at the maze constructed entirely from beer crates.

All in all it was a great afternoon out.