On all my trips to China the last few years, I’ve hardly ever seen Tsingtao served on tap in restaurants and bars. And when I made my first ever trip to Qingdao last week, I was really looking forward to checking out the “Beer Street” in the city and visit the Tsingtao brewhouse.

Unfortunately, on my 1-night trip to the city, the government had mandated that all public entertainment be shut down on the day as a form of respect to the victims of the Qinghai earthquake on 14 April. This included all bars, gaming centres and even television airwaves were locked down including channels like HBO were shut for the day.

Entertainment Tonight: TV Channel lockdown!

But when I did get to the airport the next day, my flight was delayed. And what’s a boy supposed to do in an airport all alone? Found a cafe that had a poster advertising draft beer even though I didn’t see any of the regular beer taps at the drinks counter. Apparently, fresh draft beer is served from a container in the kitchen and the waitress wouldn’t let me go take a look.

Fresh Draft Tsingtao

I’ve tried so many varieties of Tsingtao and to be honest, I don’t find significant differences between all their varieties and this didn’t seem any different either. Very airy head, light and slightly sweet after taste. But what I did find for the first time ever was Tsingtao stout, which I’ve never seen in other parts of China.

Colour was really dark and pouring it from the bottle didn’t produce much head. This certainly won’t rank high on one of the best stouts ever but you may like it for it’s strong roasted coffee taste. Not sure if I’d order it again unless I get delayed at the Qingdao airport again.