Business

Microbrewing finds niche in Taiwan market

Quentin Yeh is getting ready to tap into an enormous mainland Chinese market with honey lager, his company’s signature brew. (Staff photos/Chen Mei-ling)

• Publication Date：05/13/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Kwangyin Liu

In a brightly lit warehouse just outside of Taipei City, a bearded man with a slight belly proudly pours tap beer into a frosted glass, filling it to the brim. “I have gained nearly 20 kilograms since this brewery opened a decade ago,” said Quentin Yeh, raising the glass to his brows. “Consider this a new kind of occupational injury.”

In 2002, shortly after the ROC government abolished the monopoly on tobacco and alcohol products—one of the conditions for joining the World Trade Organization—Yeh returned with his father from Vancouver to Taiwan to found Le Ble d’Or, which is French for “Golden Malt,” brewery and restaurant.

Since then, the micro enterprise that initially produced 10 metric tons of beer a month has evolved into a popular chain with seven stores across the island, selling up to two tons of the fizzy drink each day.

Sipping the establishment’s signature honey lager, Yeh showed unparalleled enthusiasm for his business. “Our craft beer, unlike its filtered and pasteurized cousin that comes in cans, preserves the distinctive taste of yeast with a fresh finish,” he said.

According to the 33-year-old brewer-in-chief, filtering and heating can extend the shelf life of beer by up to six months—but the process also destroys the drink’s flavor and freshness. That is why Yeh refuses to process his drinks this way, and as a result all his artisan brews must be consumed within two weeks of production. They also have to be refrigerated at all times.

Once considered merely a thirst quencher, beer in Taiwan is gradually becoming a drink for connoisseurs as well, thanks to the determined efforts of local beer missionaries like Yeh.

Their battle has not been an easy one. With over 80 percent of Taiwan’s beer market dominated by the formerly state-owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp., and another 19 percent carved up by imported brands, local breweries are left only to gather the crumbs. Over the past few years, however, the exposure of Taiwan consumers to western living styles, combined with a growing appetite for gourmet food, has fueled demand for connoisseur drinks. This has given local drink-makers a window of opportunity.

Le Ble d’Or has been doing fairly well, considering it is only a novice in the business. In a market survey last year, roughly 40 percent of those polled said it is their favorite brand of beer. “We were stunned at the results, since we are miniscule at best compared with the leading brand,” Yeh said.

Lawrence Lin of Jolly pours its best selling wheat beer while showing off the restaurant’s range of shiny taps.

With expertise and equipment imported from Canada, Yeh’s brewery not only aims to make the best craft beer possible, it also wants to use as many premium local ingredients as it can. Since the 2007 debut of its honey lager, made with top-quality honey from central Taiwan’s Yunlin County, Le Ble d’Or has opened a whole new dimension to its business. “Female customers love our honey beer,” Yeh said. Upon first tasting the brew, a woman blogger was immediately enchanted, “it is very smooth and refreshing, unlike other beers,” she said, “I can very easily have one glass after another.”

The sweet brew has won more than customer support. At the 2009 Tokyo International Beer Competition, the honey lager won the gold medal for specialty beer, outclassing 200 competing beers from all over the world to become the first beer from Taiwan to receive such an honor.

On the back of its success, the company is preparing to gain entry into a much larger market. In June, it will unveil its first overseas establishment in Suzhou, 100 kilometers west of Shanghai and one of the fastest-growing mainland Chinese cities. “It will be a massive restaurant complete with on-site brewing facilities,” Yeh said. “I am very excited.”

Unlike Le Ble d’Or, which is focused on expansion, Jolly, another local microbrewery, has decided to take it slow in its attempt to create the perfect marriage between artisan beer and gourmet Thai food. “For our company founder, beer and cuisine are equally important,” said Lawrence Lin, the restaurant chain’s district manager.

Eddie Chang, the man behind Jolly, is the only craft beer entrepreneur in Taiwan who is both a trained chef and certified brewer. On a mission to introduce the best brews to Taiwan consumers, Jolly has recreated classics from traditional recipes including Scotch ale, pale ale, pilsner and weizen, or wheat beer, while inventing the wildly popular passion fruit lager on the sidelines.

In comparison to nearby markets like Japan, which relaxed its strict tax laws in 1994 and now has over 200 small-scale breweries, Taiwan’s craft-beer sector is still very much in its infancy. “In Taiwan, it was not until three years ago that artisan beer really took off,” Chang said. Catching the global frenzy over Thai cooking, Jolly has emerged as a favorite spot for Taipei’s expat communities. It is not uncommon to see the joint filled with foreign customers at its monthly beer-drinking competition, he said.

For Jolly, which expects to open its third brewery restaurant in downtown Taipei this year, gourmet food accompanied by craft beer is here to stay, with more locals, especially the young population, willing to spend a good portion of their earnings on a high-quality drinking experience.

North Taiwan Brewery’s plan to go overseas with premium Taiwan brews is getting a headstart with support from tipple-lovers in Singapore. (Courtesy of NTB)

While “straight from the tap” is the name of the game for Jolly and Le Ble d’Or, an entirely different approach has been taken by Wen Li-guo and his North Taiwan Brewery, whose goal is to sell bottled beers to buyers from overseas.

A beer-loving automobile mechanic-turned-entrepreneur, Wen set out on his solitary mission in 2003 by building his brewing facilities from scratch. “Purchasing the kit from abroad would have cost 10 times as much,” he said. Due to limited staff and factory space, the brewery’s production capacity amounts to barely two tons per month; but this will have to increase, as demand has been spiraling upward lately.

Wen’s strategy is to spice up his beer with local fruit flavors—which makes sense, since Taiwan is well known for its wide array of premium fruits. Wen has already made various drinks using cantaloupe, pineapple and lychee, all of which have been very successful. The company’s signature lychee beer, made with superior concentrated juice of the succulent fruit, is not only available in over 100 locations across the island, but has also created a fad in Singapore.

Since last year, a company in the Southeast Asian city-state has been selling NTB’s lychee brew at bars and restaurants. It now purchases half of the brewery’s entire output. Demand keeps rising. “I constantly get calls from buyers in Hong Kong, Japan, mainland China and Malaysia, asking for more,” Wen said, “but for now we simply do not have enough capacity to meet all their needs.”

Following a recent relocation and expansion of his brewery, Wen is hopeful that his brews will one day even be a hit in Belgium, the mecca of beers. “The battle for taste buds is on, and I definitely have confidence in our team.”

Taking beer from a cheap drink to connoisseur’s delight, Taiwan’s microbreweries have traveled a long way to get to where they are today. Tipple lovers, fortunately, no longer have to go far for a fresh drink from the tap. (HZW)

Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw