The beer necessities

Drei Kronen 1308's Braumeister Hans Gerner takes Time Out's Ross Goulding on a pub crawl to find the most interesting beers in town

First stop: Drei Kronen

Hans Gerner is The Drei Kronen’s Braumeister (brew master) and has brought generations of knowledge to the bar’s signature brews, brewed on the premises in huge copper vats.

Gerner explains: ‘My father was a brew master, so was his father and so on for 700 years. In my family, brewing beer is an art form that has been studied over the centuries.’ Gerner explains that in his home province of Bavaria there are 800 breweries, around 780 of which are small businesses owned by the Braumeisters themselves.

This brewing history is evident in the excellent Drei Kronen beers, which come in three styles and are brewed with no artificial additives: lager, wheat and dark beers (48RMB/0.3l; 58RMB/0.5l; 108RMB/1l).

Second stop: Beer Mania

‘They have a very impressive selection’ Gerner tells us of this small Belgian-run bar. He orders a bottle of 6.5 percent Pater Lieven Blonde (45RMB), saying ‘It’s a real pleasant surprise to find this brand here in Beijing.

Strong beers like this one always have a very smooth texture. You make beer stronger by boiling it longer; the longer you boil it the less water is in it and the beer becomes creamier.’ Belgian beers tend to be stronger than German ones, he says, except during Lent, when Catholic monks brew a special strong beer called Schtark.

Gerner says: ‘We have a Bavarian saying that eight pints of Schtark is equal to one schnitzel; the beer is so thick and heavy it’s like a meal.’

Third stop: The Saddle Cantina

‘This is a fascinating, tiny brewery,’ says Gerner as he wanders amongst the brewing vats with the local brew master. ‘I’m very impressed with this. It all works manually, whereas in our brewery, and in most modern breweries, the boiling and mixing is all done by computer.

This guy here does it all himself, which is really extraordinary.’ Even better, the 35RMB beers get a big thumbs-up. ‘This is incredible, really good, a pleasant surprise. It’s unfiltered and so retains a lot of the taste. You can really tell a lot of artistry has gone into its production.’

Fourth stop: Okhotsk

The Okhotsk micro-brewery near Olympic Green has the widest variety of home brewed ales in Beijing. ‘They’ve got a really professional setup,’ says Gerner, though he points out that the copper vats could do with a clean (‘the copper needs to be cleaned at least once a week,’ he says).

They have a wheat beer, pilsner, ale and mild stout (28RMB/0.3l; 38RMB/0.5l; 72RMB/1l). Gerner calls the wheat beer ‘the best of the bunch’, saying that some of the others lack the necessary flavor and body.

Drei Kronen 1308 Block 5, China View Tower, Gongti Dong Lu, Chaoyang district (6503 5555). Open 1.30pm-1am Sun-Thurs; 1.30pm-2am Fri-Sat. 朝阳区工体东路中国红街5号楼

Beer Mania 103 Taiyue Suites, 16 Sanlitun Nan Lu, Chaoyang district (6585 0786). Open 2pm-2am daily.朝阳区三里屯南路16号泰悦豪庭酒店103号

The Saddle Cantina Nali Patio East, 81 Sanlitun Bei Lu, Chaoyang district (6400 4330). Open 6pm-2am weekdays; 11.30am-4am weekends. 朝阳区三里屯北路81号那里花园内

Okhotsk Phoenix City, 7 Shangye Jie, 5 Shuguang Xili, Chaoyang district (5866 8552). Open 1.30pm-late daily.朝阳区曙光西里5号商业街7号凤凰城