Beijing's on the cusp of a bit of a milestone this weekend as the city welcomes in, for the first time ever, far-flung breweries from around the world to participate in the first International Invitational Beer Festival. The stats are thus: 10 craft beer vendors from the US, Europe, Japan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Taiwan, plus 5 from the Mainland, serving up around 75 different varieties of beer. 75. 75 varieties of beer. 75... Apart from the focus on the international arry of beer, this one's set up a little different than beer festivals we've come to know, enjoy, and barf at in this city in the past. Split into three days this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, guests are signing up for drinking sessions, which are free-flow for a time interval (2, 2.5 hour, 3 hours, depending on the session). Your admission comes with a taster's glass, and then you just travel around to the taps of the world, bashing on those 75 as much as you want, like it's beer trick or treat. Click right here for all the info you need and to score some tickets. Okay then. So, ahead of this weekend, SmartBeijing contacted a few of these guest brewers to get a bit more background on what they're bringing with them, as they wing their way across vast oceans and lands to be with us here in Beijing. First up we talked to Devin Kimble, of Hong Kong Beer Co, which started operations on the island back in 1995. Read on for a brief in-road into their beer, as well as few thoughts on the general state of HK drinking and brewing these days...

As far as styles, we are looking to make classics that have stood the test of time.  Great beer styles are popular because people like them and we are trying to make beers that people like and can relate to.

Hong Kong is an international city, formerly ruled by Britain.  We are bringing 5 styles of beer that run the gamut from a light, Golden Ale, our Gambler's Gold, to the Sevens Stout but they are also hew pretty close to their English forbearers albeit with a bit of American twist, particularly in the hops we are using, as a tip of the hat to the current hotbed of craft brewing.  Also, beer is about 95% water and with all of the water we using coming out of the taps in Chai Wan, we are also bringing a bit of Hong Kong, itself, to Beijing.  And not to put too fine a point on it, we are bringing the one and only Hong Kong Beer, an Amber that is very drinkable, and, hopefully, soon to be an iconic beer.

Actually, this will be Simon, the brew master's first visit to Beijing and with only a brief visit to Shenzhen previously, he's a real newbie to the Middle Kingdom.  That said we've been pretty impressed with some of the beers from China that we've had in Hong Kong and in fact in main ways some of the mainland producers are ahead of us if you consider that last year at this time, HKBC was the only craft brewery in the SAR and prior to our taking it over had only been making a single label of beer for many years.  That's changed rapidly and now there are 8 breweries on Victoria Island and most of them are quite small so we actually have some distance to make up to as a city to compete with the likes of Great Leap, Slow Boat, and Jing A who have all established craft beer reputations.

Hong Kong is 20 years behind most cosmopolitan cities in terms of craft beer.  Wine, of course, is a huge strength because there is no tax on it, making Hong Kong the world's largest auction market.  Cocktails have really come into their own in recent times with some bars that rival the best of mixology anywhere in the world.  Beer is still mainly defined by a Blue Girl, light, industrial lager sitting at a dai pai dong, smelling the diesel fumes from the buses going by. But that's rapidly changing and if Hong is over a decade behind the beer culture in Singapore, it's going to catch up quickly.  You can see that in the rapid growth in the number of small breweries, the number of bars with taps dedicated to craft beer from all over the world, and the number of people attending events like Beertopia, which has grown by leaps and bounds from its beginnings just a couple years ago. *** Look for Hong Kong Beer Co. this weekend and the Beijing International Invitational Beer Festival. Click on that link to get your tickets. For more on Hong Kong Beer Co., check out their main page here and their Facebook right here.