Tsingtao Brewery

Tsingtao Brewery was founded by the Anglo-German Brewery Co. Ltd., an English-German joint stock company based in Hong Kong which owned it until 1916. The brewery sold beers to mainly Europeans in China.[7] The brewery was founded on August 15, 1903, as the Germania-Brauerei Tsingtao Co., Ltd (Germania Brewery) with a paid-in capital of 400,000 Mexican silver dollars divided into 4,000 shares priced at $100 each.[8]

Founding members of the Supervisory Board[8]

• John Prentice, of SC Farnham, Boyd & Co., Ltd., Shanghai
• Alexander McLeod, of Gibb, Livingston & Co., Shanghai
• C. W. Wrightson, of Fearon, Daniel & Co., Shanghai
• Max Slevogt, of Slevogt & Co., Shanghai
• J. Jürgen Block, of H. Sietas & Co., Qufu

Brewery Directors[8]

• Heinrich Seifart (1904–November 25, 1907)
• Ernst Siemssen (November 1907 – 1914)

Brewmasters[8]

• R. Schuster (1904–05)
• Martin Wehle (1906–14)

The first beer was served on December 22, 1904.[8]

Following the Siege of Tsingtao during World War I, Tsingtao came under Japanese military control. On August 16, 1916, an extraordinary general meeting was held in Shanghai. Liquidators were appointed and it was decided the company would be sold to the Dai-Nippon Brewery (大日本麦酒, which in 1949 was split into Asahi Breweries and what later became Sapporo Brewery). The Japanese military administration in Tsingtao approved the liquidation on September 9, 1916. German equity was approximately 70 percent. The German share of the sales price attributable to shareholders was in the hands of the liquidators by April 2, 1921.[8][9]

Nationalization

Brewery in Qingdao.

After Japan's surrender to the Allies and its retreat from China at the end of World War II, the Tsingtao Brewery was turned into a Chinese brewery under ownership of the Tsui family and supervision of the Nationalist government in Nanjing. However, this period of ownership only lasted until 1949 when, after a civil war, the People's Republic of China was founded. Shortly after, due to Communist policies, all private shares of the Tsingtao Brewery that had previously belonged to the Tsui family were confiscated and the company became a state-owned enterprise.

A bottle of Tsingtao beer

Tsingtao Beer, a well-hopped standard pale lager of 4.7% abv, is the flagship brew, accounting for most of the brewery's production. An unpasteurized version is sold as Tsingtao Draft Beer. Tsingtao Beer was long advertized as being "brewed with mineral water from the Laoshan Spring", which contributed to its characteristic flavor, but that now applies only to beer produced in Qingdao, and not to that produced in the company's other breweries.

The brewery also produces a number of other beers, mostly for the local market. Those sometimes found outside China include Tsingtao Dark Beer (5.2% abv), and more rarely Tsingtao Spirulina Green Beer, also sold as Tsingtao Green Beer, a 4.5% abv green pilsner colored by spirulina and claimed to promote good health. The alcohol content of export versions may vary slightly from those for the domestic market.

The beer market in China was very underdeveloped in the 1980s and the brewery was forced to concentrate on overseas markets. The Chinese economic reforms in the early 1980s facilitated exportation. However, while concentrating on international markets, the brewery also attempted to sell its beer on the domestic market and competed with other domestic brands as well as foreign brands.

The main export company for the brewery was the "Good Harvest of Five Grains Corporation" based in Hong Kong. The Good Harvest of Five Grains Corporation also tried to market the beer in Hong Kong itself and later built a wholesale network consisting of up to 300 companies.

Tsingtao Beer was introduced to the United States in 1972, and soon became the top-selling Chinese beer in the U.S. market; it has maintained this leadership within the United States ever since, despite increasing competition from other well known Chinese beer brands, Zhujiang and Yanjing. As of July 2018, distribution in the UK and Ireland is handled by C&C Group PLC. The Tsingtao brand is sold in 62 countries and regions around the world,[13] and accounts for more than 50% of China's beer exports. According to the company's financial figures from 2010, Tsingtao saw a 6.6% year-on-year revenue increase from sales to Hong Kong and other overseas markets.[14]

A double-decker bus with Tsingtao beer advertisement in Hong Kong.

Before the 1949 takeover by the new PRC government, the brewery had used imported raw material and water from the Laoshan mountain. With the outbreak of the Korean War and the resulting embargo of the People's Republic by the West, the brewery was forced to use domestic products, and the government encouraged peasants in Shandong to harvest the necessary raw materials (mainly hops and barley) themselves. The government used various incentives, like free seeds, to achieve this goal.

The brewery had previously used nationalistic marketing strategies, and after the switchover to production using only domestic material this nationalist marketing effort was increased. However, the brewery still maintained its international roots.

• Beer and breweries in China
• Harbin Beer
• List of Chinese companies

Media related to Tsingtao Brewery at Wikimedia Commons

• Tsingtao Beer web site for US
• Tsingdao Brewery official website (in Chinese)
• Tsingtao Beer UK Archived May 16, 2014, at the Wayback Machine