Adventures at the 6th Guozhou Shanghai International Beer Festival | 第六届国洲外滩老码头国际啤酒节
Written & Photos by (作者, 图片来源): Vincent R. Vinci 魏文深
Following our excursion to Shanghai during National Holiday to explore the city’s culinary and beer scene, we were left wanting for more adventures further afield from Ningbo. To go back to Shanghai it’d take a free ticket contest for a gargantuan event to get us to go, and that’s just what happened on the Wednesday before October 17th.
Checking through WeChat, I stumbled across a contest for free tickets to a beer festival in the megacity. Not just any beer festival, but one featuring over 200 beers from around the world. I followed the instructions to enter and sent in my request right away. A day later, we got a response “Congrats, you’re a winner.” After a bout of excitement, we sent the necessary info and dedicated the next few days to planning.
Before we knew it, we were waiting under the glass and concrete shade of the Ningbo Railway Station, where we met our companions and hopped on the train to Shanghai Hongqiao. The country sped past from the windows of the speeding bullet, greenery and paddies and humble houses and villages. This author napped most of the way, dreams of hops dancing through my head. When he opened his eyes we had arrived at our destination.
Due to the size of Shanghai’s expat community, it’s without a doubt that their festivals relating to food and beverage are top notch. We had no idea what was in store for us at the festival, as we found ourselves walking along the quiet lanes near People’s Square and the Huangpu River. Quiet save for the cars and people moving past us, we found our way down an alley and to the unassuming hostel. Dropping our bags, we caught a cab and made our way to party’s location on the Bund. 
As the taxi whizzed along the crowded Bund, past proud monoliths of architecture furbished into fine restaurants, hotels and bars, a low thumping hum emerged from the distance. Nearing closer, we recognized the song, blaring from a briefly glimpsed enclave of white tents, security officers and fences as we drove by. We quickly told the driver to stop, knowing we had reached our destination. We quickly exited the cab and traveled to the sound, growing more deafening with each step. Around a building and through a maze of fences. No lines, no wait. We got a ticket and were offered our one free brew before entering the mayhem of people, booths, tents and joviality: the 6th Guozhou Shanghai International Beer Festival.
It was quite a spectacle to behold, one long swath of Wharf 1846 had been dedicated to the festival. At one end was the stage, with DJs dressed in playful animal costumes cranking out epic tunes, at the other was a massive Craft Beer booth representing around 50 or so odd bottled and draft beers from places like Brooklyn Brewery, Mikkeller and more. In between were tents upon tents of microbreweries and big-name breweries from all over the world, from Moa in New Zealand to Corona to Shanghai’s own Reberg and Shanghai Brewery.
The last rays of daylight drifted away and the light from the giants of Pudong reflected off the darkened river. The sight was something to take in as we perused and swam through the crowds – consisting of the most expats and foreign exchange students we had ever encountered in mainland China – as we contemplated the most important question of the night: where to begin? As one of our compatriots was from New Zealand, we decided to start at Moa Brewery’s tent to try their lager. Though not particularly unique, it was better than the free beer they offered at the entrance, so we picked up a cup and moved along.
Making our way to the Craft Beer booth, we were amazed at the selection. One menu featured 17 beers from Mikkellers and more, with Magners Cider hiding around the bottom of the list. The other menu was 18 more bottled beers from Brooklyn Brewery and a few more US breweries. The selection of IPAs on tap was endless, and while debating a Milk Stout, I decided to instead try out Mikkellers Deception Session IPA. Besides being nice and bitter nothing stood out about it, but our trip back would bear better fruit.
Of all the booths, the most unique and expansive were those of the German and Belgian breweries. Stopping off at the Alpirsbacher booth, we ran into a bearded guy in monk’s garb giving out samples. Inside the tent was more than a sight. Beers with fresh ham and cheese sandwiches seemed like a winning combination, but with a price tag of 90 RMB (only $15, but still pricy compared to the other offers we found), we passed on it after finding a booth featuring an amalgamation of Belgian breweries and great food – fries, Belgian waffles and the like – including various lambics from Lindemans and the ever-delicious brews of Delirium. We arrived just in time for a contest. The Chimay chalices came out to see who could pour a Belgian ale properly – it should have a head two fingers thick – with the winner taking home the chalice and a t-shirt.
During the heat of the battle, we picked up a cup of Lindemans peach lambic and sipped away as liquid was poured on a crowded stage. While drinking, we ran into two expats from the author’s hometown, Phoenix, Arizona – a record for China. After a bit of laughs and reminiscing about the heat in the Valley of the Sun, we left the booth and made our way back to the Craft Beer tent. It was here we found our favorite brew of the evening: the Mikkeller Wheat is the New Hop Wild Yeast IPA. Very drinkable with a slight bitterness offset by citrus, malt and grassy notes. It was an interesting take on the IPA.
After dancing to the DJ’s tunes a bit it was back through the throngs to search for nourishment in the form of food. Shawarma was up for grabs in the front, plus a cup of This is Lager from the Brewdog tent. By then the engine was running full blast, munching on shawarma while dancing to the tunes was a definite way to wind down the evening. Even though it would go “til Late” our evening ended after the meal, heading to our hostel on the other side of the city to sleep and dream of endless beer.
在国庆节去上海探索美食和啤酒之后，我一直想再去一趟。这个机会很快就来了，在10月17日一个周四，我获得了一张免费的去上海观看比赛的票.
通过微信，我发现了一个获得Megacity啤酒节活动门票的机会。这不是一个普通的啤酒节，它有来自世界各地超过200种啤酒。我跟随指示，正确地发送了我的请求。一天之后，我获得了“祝贺你赢得了门票！”的消息。兴奋过后，我们开始查找必要的信息，对之后几天的行程做好规划。
很快，我就在宁波火车站候车了，我跟小伙伴接上了头，一起乘向开往虹桥的火车。窗外美丽的景色，飞驰的列车，鳞次栉比的房子还有村庄。可惜一路上我基本都在睡觉，做梦。睡醒之后已经快到了。
因为上海的老外很多，本地人的口味也很开放，所以我们的期待很高，这次啤酒节的规模和质量简直闪瞎眼。当我们在人民广场还有黄浦江边漫步时，还不知道等待我们的会是什么。穿过熙熙攘攘的人群，我们来到了青年旅社，放下行囊后，我们打了的去了外滩。
出租车飞驰在拥挤的外滩，路边都是有年代感的建筑，餐厅，酒吧，酒店。开近了之后，我看到了保安，护栏还有各种白色帐篷，音乐的声音。我马上告诉司机师傅停车，我们已经到了。跳下车后，随着音乐声，越来越近。在一栋高楼旁边，各种护栏，因为我们有门票所以不用等就入场了，还有免费啤酒。这里就是，第六届国洲外滩老码头国际啤酒节。
现场就是沃弗1846,这里真的很热闹。一边是舞台，有穿着动物套装的DJ，另一边是巨大的啤酒架子，有超过50个啤酒品牌，比如布鲁克林自酿，Mikkeller还有很多其他的。中间是各种帐篷，里面是私人酿造和品牌酿造，囊括从新西兰到上海本地来自世界各地的酒厂 。
天色渐暗，我们还在派对的人潮中穿行，基本上都是老外，工作的，留学生，我从未在上海以外的中国见过这场景。那么问题来了，从哪里开始喝呢？我同行的一个伙伴来自新西兰，所以我们就先尝试Moa酿造的啤酒，虽然不是很独特，但还是比入口处的免费啤酒好喝，所以我们拿了一杯继续往前走。
来到手工酿造帐篷，我们对有那么多的选择感到惊叹不已。一张菜单上有超过17种不同的啤酒，另一张则有来自布鲁克林酿造的超过18种啤酒，还有一些美国的其他啤酒。各种选择看的我们眼花缭乱，最终选择的那一款啤酒略苦。
所有摊位里，最独一无二的就是来自德国和比利时的酿酒商。在Alpirsbacher摊位前停下，一个大胡子穿着和尚的衣服，他给了我们一些样品尝尝。帐篷里面琳琅满目，啤酒，新鲜火腿和芝士三明治，要价90元，其实只要15美元，但和其他东西比起来算贵了。我们没买，继续往前走，看到了一个比利时的摊位，既有啤酒也有美食，薯条，华夫饼，和各种当地特色小吃。我们到的时候，刚好比赛开始，谁能正确的倒一杯比利时啤酒，赢的人可以得到纪念品杯子和一件T恤。
在比赛的过程中， 我们拿了几杯桃子味的啤酒开始喝。在喝的时候，偶遇了两个来自小编家乡亚利桑那州菲尼克斯的美国人，这倒是第一次在中国碰到。在一起怀念了一下家乡的阳光之后，我们离开了这个摊位，回到了Craft啤酒摊位。就在这里，我们找到了新的最爱，New Hop Wild小麦啤酒，非常好喝，微苦，但是有果味，非常有趣的味道。
在随着DJ的音乐声跳了一会之后，我们还是准备去吃点东西，Shawarma的摊位有好多东西可以吃，我们一边吃一边跳舞，一个美好的夜晚就这样过去了，我们早早地回了青年旅社去睡觉，梦里有喝不完的啤酒。