East Asia's craft beer revolution: the ultimate guide to Japan, South Korea and China

There’s something brewing in the Orient, something that will make beer drinkers positively hoppy with glee. It’s a craft beer revolution, and one long overdue in a corner of the world known largely for samey, light lagers. 

From Seoul to Hong Kong, here is our ultimate guide to beer sampling and suds-sipping your way through East Asia.

Japan

Leading the charge of East Asian craft beer, Japan has been brewing great suds for some time now. Even its major label lagers have served as the gold standard for Asian brews - who doesn’t love a delicious, dry Sapporo over a platter of sushi? So it’s no surprise that Japan has been a forerunner on the Asian craft beer scene since the mid-90s, when laws prohibiting small-scale breweries were abolished and craft brewing began in earnest.

The king of all craft beer bars is Tokyo’s Popeye, which stocks mostly Japanese craft brews on its 70 (70!) taps. Admittedly, just getting through these will probably take up most of your time in Japan, but should you wish to venture further afield, you can’t go wrong in Osaka. Is it any surprise that Japan’s (arguably) most food-obsessed city would also at some point become a suds destination as well? The place to start here is Beer Belly (minoh-beer.jp), a home bar of the Osaka-based Minoh brewery with around 15 taps, most pouring house brews. Craft Beer Bar Marciero (facebook.com/craftbeerbar.marciero) down the road is about as micro as a bar can get, but still manages to cram in eight revolving taps of local and regional beers. In Kyoto, Beer Komachi (facebook.com/beerkomachi) serves up local brews down a hidden pedestrian alleyway, while Bungalow (bungalow.jp) literally rolls up its garage doors, transforming into an open-air street bar.

China

Oh China. Its 3% lagers have always gone well with its sweltering summers and deliciously oily dishes, but really, a beer nerd cannot live on brews whose most notable elements are the formaldehyde labelling. That the craft beer revolution in China has been so successful in such a short time shouldn’t be a surprise - like most other things in this quickly developing nation. Still, there is something intoxicatingly incongruous about supping a 7% Scotch dark ale in a converted hutong alleyway that makes China’s craft beer scene among the more compelling in East Asia.

Unsurprisingly, many of the best small breweries have expat brewmasters and are based in Beijing, the leader of the pack being Great Leap Brewing, with breweries like Slow Boat Brewery (slowboatbrewery.com) and Tipsy Face on their heels. A bit further afield are the Beer Nest (thebeernest.com) in Chengdu and Master Gao (twitter.com/MasterGaoCraft) from Nanjing. If you can only hit up one place, head to Beijing’s NBeer Pub (First Floor, Huguo Xintiandi, 85 Huhuosi Dajie, Xicheng; +86 10 8328 8823), which we admittedly love because of its bar made out of Lonely Planet books, but mostly for the sizable Chinese craft beer selection that’s among the most diverse in China.

South Korea

It is surprising that Korea ranks as highly as it does, given the country’s crazy beer laws. Breweries here are required to meet a basic brewing limit, which essentially means that small-batch brewers are banned from selling beers they brew themselves. Microbreweries basically can’t exist. As a workaround, small new breweries have contracted one of the large-scale breweries to brew their beer, and then they sell it in their own taprooms around Seoul. A testament to the dedication of Seoul’s brewers and beer lovers, and a solution that works well for the meantime, though it means you’ll never happen into an actual microbrewery here. Still, the quality of the beer is outstanding, especially given the circumstances. Plus, Seoul’s extremely diverse expatriate population as well as the expendable income levels of locals mean that the beer being brewed here is both exciting and unique.

Itaewon has become Seoul’s destination beer neighbourhood. Craftworks Taphouse is a good place to start, offering seven regular brews, including the delicious Jirisan ‘Moon Bear’ IPA. Down the road, Magpie Brewing Co. (magpiebrewing.com) has a delightful little open-air taproom with house brews, including a well-formed pale ale and, most interestingly, a summer lavender beer that far exceeded expectations. Seoul Homebrew (seoulhomebrew.com) has a handy up-to-date map of the city’s craft beer bars.