This week we stay in HK --continuing from last column's chat--this time with Rohit of Young Master Ales
香港CRAFT市场近两三年来很显著的活跃着，除了众多不同品牌类别进口啤酒冒现，玩自酿或只想喝各式佳酿的啤迷也多了起来，市场转变中，香港本土酿坊涌现也是关注点。
继上期门神酿坊後，“顽啤主张”跟另一家起步早的香港酿坊，少爷啤酒(YOUNG MASTER) 创办人ROHIT聊聊，
The Newspaper Column (Chinese version) is done differently with another format --however the Original Chat version(in English) as shown here would still be in Q&A format:-
*Craft movement in HK
The craft beer scene
in Hong Kong is obviously moving forward in comparison from when you first
started—what do you think of the current market? What’s good and what’s needing
more improvement---generally speaking.
Hong Kong has made
incredible progress in a short amount of time. There is something to be said
about the entrepreneurial spirit of this city. I believe the next stage is for
a lot of newer local breweries to more clearly define their identity and
express a point of view beyond just making good beer.
I also think critical
appreciation of beer has come a long way but has further to go. As you expect,
you first see “beer geeks” interested in certain beers primarily due to its
brand recognition or ratings and over time developing an ability to appreciate
a broad range of styles, understanding brewers’ intent and judging beer
properly in a blind tasting.
Lastly I think storage and handling, particularly
of imported beer has a lot of room for improvement. We do see a lot of beer
from high quality breweries coming in to Hong Kong and is served for high
prices in a less than desirable condition.
Overall though Hong Kong has all the
ingredients in place for a dynamic, world-class beer scene – active home brewing
community, craft focused beer festivals, high quality taprooms, imported craft
beer from all over the world and a number of high quality local breweries.
对香港市场见闻感受/ 期望
“香港的CRAFT 市场可以用突飞猛进来形容，这个城市的创业精神是有目共睹的，下一步相信会有更多香港本土酿坊思考如何突出自身品牌观点，而不只是着眼于酿酒而已。与此同时，市场的整体鉴赏力虽然已有提升，不过还是有很大进步空间。一般来说，“啤迷”起点是从对某个酿坊品牌的欣赏或参考高评分啤酒开始，慢慢扩大到有足够味蕾鉴赏力品饮/欣赏很多不同类别风格啤酒，甚至是达到具备”盲饮”测试能力阶段。”
“另外，市场至今所看到的啤酒储藏/处理方式还是需要提升，特别是一些进口啤酒的不当处理会导致酒质变差，付出一定价格喝到的出名酿坊进口啤酒很可惜的并没有处于应有水平/状态中。”
“整体来说，香港具备了成为一流CRAFT市场条件，这里有活跃的自酿群体，专注CRAFT的啤酒节/活动，来自世上不同角落进口啤酒，还有一些很不错的本地酿坊。”
“希望市场，无论是酒吧，餐厅，酿坊，啤酒节活动，自酿玩家或进口商都更放开手脚的把整体水平再往上提升。”
What would be some of
your wishes/vision for HK craft beer scene moving forward?
I would like to see bolder
expressions of craft beer in every segment – bars / restaurants, local
breweries, beer festivals, homebrewing, imports etc. than we already do. I
believe everybody involved should have a drive to constantly improve and take
things up a notch.
*Home Brewing vs Running a Brewery
Home brewing and brewing
as a business is obviously very different--or is it pretty much the same
despite the big commitment in terms of business needs?
Brewing fundamentals don’t
really change between homebrewing and commercial brewing but the execution of
the same ideas is quite different. Most of our team is comprised of former
award-winning homebrewers and we very much keep that spirit of experimentation
alive on a commercial scale. The learning curve to transition from homebrewing
to commercial brewing is steep and over the years we believe we have learnt a
lot about how to keep experimenting with one-off beers and deliver precise
consistency in our core beers.
关于玩自酿和开酿坊/供应市场的区别
“无论是自酿还是正式酿坊，酿酒基本要点是一致的，分别在怎么执行/把酒酿好。从自酿过渡到能面对市场是个很有难度的学习过程，几年下来，至今所学让我们在试酿季节性/一次过酿品之余，也能酿出水准一致性高的常态啤酒。”
“如果酿酒不再有趣，只是为了应付市场需求的话，我们应该早已关门不干了，思考和实验新酿品是我们的信条，是动力，也是乐趣。”
All those investment and
big machine and at times business pressure aside---what about fun factor? Is it
still very much a fun thing to do brewing commercially now that you have a
market to look out for as compared to anything goes when home brewing?
We would probably shut
shop if it stops being fun and all business. If we were to optimize our
operations purely for business we would make a couple of core beers and not
take any risks with the beers we make. Constant thoughtful experimentation is
very much what defines us and our brewing philosophy, inspires us to work hard
and at the same time makes it fun.
What are some of the
more delicate issue of brewing in Hong Kong? (any local issues or say getting
supply of hops / malt / yeast & more….
The single biggest
challenge with brewing in Hong Kong is an obvious one – space. Real estate
costs are high and more importantly suitable sites where you could setup a
small to mid-scale brewery are scarce. Ingredient supply is not a problem at
all given Hong Kong’s open ports and robust infrastructure. Regulations are
relatively predictable and reasonably easy to navigate despite some bureaucracy
that is natural when dealing with governments.
*Brewing Philosophy & Young Master
The branding and
positioning of your brewery/beers does reflect the HK elements --going forward
--would it be more a case of adapting to local palate/market needs or more
of trying to go forth with beer style/taste profile where consumers might
need more time to adjust to/get familiar with?
We are a Hong Kong brewery
and naturally our brand identity reflects the same. Specifically we are
inspired by mid-century industrial Hong Kong given we are in a factory building
making something, which was common place a few decades ago but has since died down.
In terms of beer styles though, we completely reject the idea of adapting to
the mythical notion of a “local palate”. We make beers we believe in and want
to bring to the local brewing scene. We don’t believe in dumbing down our beers
under any circumstance.
少爷品牌来由/酿酒信条/现在未来
“品牌是受到早期香港工业时代启发，酿坊也是位于工业大厦，在以前这是到处可见的景象，可是这些年以来已经很少见了。”
“我们完全不相信啤酒要符合“本地口味”说法，而是只会酿我们相信的，想让市场喝到的啤酒。“
“在CRAFT 文化成熟的环境中，啤迷会欣赏酿得好的所谓“易喝”啤酒，而新朋友也能接受所谓比较“复杂”/实验性酿品。对我们来说，不同风格类别众多就是CRAFT精髓，也是CRAFT和MACRO（大厂啤酒）最明显区别。少爷至今不同酿品展示了这点，换句话说，我们唯一不考虑的饮客群就只是那些死脑筋不愿意试新口味的人们。”
“跟上海拳击猫有着进行中的合酿，每六个月会酿柑橘浓度不同，使用不同啤酒花的IPA。自家酿品方面，不久前酿坊新添了“葡萄酒木桶”，我们会把现有的酸啤酒再提升到另一个高度，尝试酿造天然发酵果酸啤酒。同时，酿坊也有包括龙舌酒，白兰地和美国波本等其他桶陈啤酒计划进行中，期待着好些独特啤酒面世。”
Getting balance
between what majority drinkers demand (easy drinking-- usually also more
saleable beers) and what Geeks seeking (bolder-more refined -more experimental
beers) can be quite a delicate issue --what's your view on that?
I disagree that craft
brewers need to look at beer drinkers in categories like you describe. While on
the one hand by definition, some beer styles call for a special occasion while
others are designed to enjoy multiple pints in a session. However, in a truly
evolved beer culture, true “beer geeks” should be able to appreciate a very
well made sessionable beer and in a similar vein, presented the right way in
the right context a bold experimental beer can be appealing to a novice. To us,
variety is a defining characteristic of craft beer and makes it distinct from
mass produced beer. For that very reason we always make sure our portfolio
reflects a vibrant variety at all times. In other words the only group of
drinkers we don’t really cater to are the ones who are not open minded and
perhaps set in their ways.
+ Note--on hindsight--that question did kinda suggesting Geeks don't appreciate seemingly more session/lighter beers( such as low abv Table Beer and more)--which is kinda misleading--that's not what i intended to say--but i did put the question out and it sounded like that--so a sort of correction here :)
What might be some
immediate plan for your brewery/ brand of beers--say in the next 12-24
months?--do tell us what you have in mind with all those barrel in place.....
We always keep a pipeline
of unique beers coming and see it almost as a responsibility to introduce new
and unique styles to the local brewing scene in Hong Kong. We recently
purchased a foeder that we are very excited about. We have a sour beer program
in place already but we are taking it up several notches by doing lambic style
wild yeast fermentations in our foeder. Likewise we have had a barrel aging
program since we were three months old and now we have acquired a larger
variety and quantity of barrels – including chardonnay, tequila, brandy and
bourbon barrels. Expect some very unique beer styles coming out of them.
Any recent experiment
brew in mind that you would love to try out?
Too many to list, but in
the near future we are most excited about the beer we will make in our newly
installed foeder.
Any collaboration
brewers/ breweries in mind or already in the pipe line ?
We have an ongoing
collaboration with Boxing Cat Brewery in Shanghai. We make a citrus infused IPA
every 6 months with changing citrus element and hops every time. We are
planning more collaborations in 2017 once we are more settled into our new
brewery. Stay tuned.
*Personally Speaking
Some of your personal
favourites style of beers to drink?
I really don’t have a
favorite style. In the right setting, I can appreciate any well-made beer that
is in great condition.
Tell us some of your
personal favourites cities to drink craft beer? Asia or out of Asia
Outside of Hong Kong,
Tokyo and New York City come to mind, partly because I have spent a lot of time
in both places. Both cities have a nice variety in their bar scene and it helps
that they are incredibly food cities to pair with the brews.
如何让新朋友尝试CRAFT
“对口味有要求的人就懂得欣赏CRAFT BEER。我会试着了解新朋友心情状态来推介合适的啤酒，也鼓励喝几个不同风格类别啤酒组成的“试味拼盘”来找出喜欢的款式。不过，如果是死脑筋不愿意尝试不熟悉口味的，那就不期望他们会欣赏了。”
What would you say to a
newbie or someone never had craft beer before? (on why one should give
craft beer a try)
Anyone who appreciate
flavor should be able to appreciate craft beer. I would try to learn about the
mood they are in and recommend something suitable. I would also encourage them
to sample tasters of several distinct beers to figure out what they like. If
however they are not an open minded person or someone that doesn’t enjoy
flavorful things, I wouldn’t expect them to get interested in craft beer.
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