Venture past Tanglang Mountain and surprise yourself with what’s brewing up north. Just blocks from Shenzhen North Station, in an urban village in the mold of Baishizhou, Zhenker features robust, mature Chinese beer and customers refining a taste for it.
The Minzhi neighborhood is rich with commerce and cozy alleys where customers catch the evening breeze. Step inside Zhenker to find a spacious bar, clean and new, decorated attractively with grains and craft beer. Elton, the Chinese owner, just finished a day’s work on the latest brew.
“What’s special about our beer: the taps are right on the fermenting tanks. I think we’re the only one in Shenzhen to tap directly,” Elton explains, gesturing to the nine sturdy brewing tanks behind the bar, each large enough to fit a man inside.
The brews taste fresh, matured from years of home-brewing practice. Elton lowers the IBU to appeal to Chinese tastes; the effect is agreeable in the sampler we were served (RMB28/three 180-milliliter glasses, RMB68/five).
Hefeweizen (RMB30/500 milliliters, RMB60/1 liter, RMB168/3 liters) is most popular, with a clean, almost creamy taste from its multitude of tiny bubbles. But Elton points us Americans to his IPA (RMB40/500 milliliter, RMB80/1 liter, RMB218/3 liters). Even with the reduced IBU, it offers a good hoppy kick. Three other, similarly-priced options complete the menu: brown ale (some tart-apple sweetness), dark lager (notes of coffee) and barley lager (quaffable like the rest).
“Our quality is just as good – or better! – but we keep the price affordable,” Elton boasts, though cheap rent is probably the biggest factor, as the ingredients are mostly imported from Germany, Belgium, Australia and Xinjiang Province.
Want to shake the dice with locals and some well-crafted brews? Head over later in the evening. “In general, the most popular Chinese customers will come after 9pm,” Elton explains. “They’ll come tie it on after a good meal.”
Price: RMB30-40 per 500mL beer
Who’s going: dice-rolling locals, expats of the north
Good for: mellow beers, practicing your conversational Chinese
Nearest metro: Minzhi (Exit B), 8 minutes
See listing for Zhengker.
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