Craft Beer Immigrates from Pennsylvania to Wuhan

Text by Xu Kuang 许旷

Photos by Su Zhuolin 苏卓琳

Craft Beer Immigrates from Pennsylvania to Wuhan

精酿啤酒，从宾夕法尼亚到武汉

Text by Xu Kuang 许旷

Photos by Su Zhuolin 苏卓琳

Compared with traditional beer, craft beer is a new arrival in the beer community of China. Brewed with stronger ingredients and created by the brewer on their own, the craft beer industry is distinguished from the large-scale industrialized breweries. The spectrum of various colors, flavors, and textures makes craft beer pleasing to the palate, which is glorified by the unique artistic brewing style of each brewer. Recent years have witnessed the rise of craft beer in Wuhan.

Integration of the Western and the Eastern

No sooner had we got to Devil’s Brewery than the tantalizing aroma of malt reached our nose. Walking into the brewpub, we found there stood a row of brewing facilities with equipment taller than a person on the left, and hand drawings on the wall. Taylor Armstrong was discussing when to add the hops to the next barrel with his brewmasters Li Min and Yang Boxu. There was a rumbling noise from upstairs —Taylor said they were having the bar redecorated for a second time and anticipated it to be fulfilled as conceived.

“Mayiput the hops now?” asked Taylor.

“In a minute,” replied Li Min, the brewmaster.

When the time was up, the brewmasters poured a bag of hops into the fermentation barrel. The fermentation of wort takes two weeks after the process such as crushing, feeding, saccharification, filtration, boiling, stirring, and inoculation with yeast. 300 liters of craft beer will follow in two or three weeks. Hardly had the hops been added when Dawn, one of the customers, loudly greeted a lady who just entered. Hearing this exclamation, Taylor turned around and encircled her withhis arms; it is Taylor’s girlfriend, Li Mei. She welcomed us in a friendly manner.

Taylor Armstrong, a 30-year-old American, graduated from The University of Memphis in Tennessee, with a degree in Seismology. The first time that Taylor visited China was to conduct a post-earthquake geological study in Yushu after the 2010 quake. He later travelled to Sichuan, Qinghai, and Yunnan to further study the effects of earthquakes. In 2012, Taylor continued to pursue a doctorate at the University of Memphis, during which he came to China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, in 2014.

There he met Li Mei, a lady from Hunan. Taylor then embarked on a more fruitful life, as they started up a brewery together in Wuhan.

After graduating from Wuhan Conservatory of Music with a degree in Drums, Li Mei, a native of Hengyang Hunan, worked reluctantly in a bank, where she quickly grew tired of the nine-to-five routine work. Subsequently, she resigned and partneredwith friends to work in financial consultation. Meanwhile, she took advantage of her professionalism to launch a training course on drums. At present, Li Mei doesn’t get involved in financial consultation any more. Except for that training course, she devotes most of her efforts to Devil’s Brewery.

Incubating Ideas

In June of 2015, Taylor invited Li Mei back to the United States where she had her first access to the craft beer industry. “Althoughilove drinking,iknew nothing about craft beer or Taylor’s brewing capabilities.” said Li Mei. Taylor headed to a favorite brewery with Li Mei. She had never seen such a place. “It is amazing that there exists almost three-storey fermentation barrels with more than thirty pour spots in a row.” What astonished Li Mei more were the malty beers with coffee and chocolate flavors.

“An idea crossed my mind: couldiopen such a kind of brewpub in Wuhan? ” In October of 2015, Li Mei spent three months studying English at the University of California, Los Angeles, on her own, during which she visited a number of bars there and browsed the guidelines on brewing. When Li Mei returned from America, she and Taylor, with the Armstrongs’years of experience in brewing, were ready for the business after purchasing mini brewing devices and referring to the videos shared by American brewmasters.

Craft beer (also homebrewing or microbrewing) has existed in the United States for hundreds of years, which was even included in the manuscript of George Washington, the Founding Father of the United States. The modern Craft Beer Movement in the United Kingdom and the United States began in 1970, and is characterized by a shift in preference from large-scale corporate breweries to small, independentlyowned, traditional, diversified, individualized and infinitely innovative breweries. The number of microbreweries has been increasing by 20% annually in the United States over the past two decades.

Pennsylvania, the home state of Taylor, is one of the most renowned places for craft beer in North America, whose top draws are Golden Monkey and Hopdevil, known to the beer enthusiasts/lovers all across America.

“As far asican remember, my mom made our own wine at home. It was a pleasure for us four siblings to help trample grapes during my childhood.” Around five or six years ago, Taylor found a mini wine kit when picking up a birthday gift for his mother. “It looks very cool and has a volume of about 30 liters.” Taylor bought it as a gift to his mother and he also became immersed in brewing at home. “It tasted great!”

Craft beer remains faithful to traditional brewing methods, which use malt, hops, yeast, and water only—and in principal, is free of artificial preservatives. Additional ingredients are added just to please the palate.

With all sorts of natural ingredients in season available, Taylor is able to create more than thirty different flavors of beer, such as strawberry, orange, chocolate, and lemon. These flavors are concocted to bring out distinctive aromas and textures. It is difficult to have complicated microbrews materialize in a production line.

The spectrum of various colors and textures in each craft beer is quite fantastic and artistic. “I never stop creating new tastes; andiam inspired by high end cuisine to satisfy my customers with updates.” said Taylor.

Dream Realized

It took Taylor and Li Mei almost one year to prepare for the business. They launched Devil’s Brewery on August 27, 2016—the 2nd anniversary of the day they met. They have gained much reputation since the brewery was unveiled six months ago.

“I left Shanghai for Wuhan by tracking the aroma of Devils’Brewery.” Dawn, an Indian, joked.“Well, craft beer is also available in Shanghai, but the recipes at Devils’Brewery are more attractive; the aroma pervades the bar.iwant to hang out here every day for authentic craft beer; it is somehow like walking on air.” Engaged in the R&D of artificial intelligence products in Optics Valley, Wuhan, Dawn haunts the Devils’ Brewery at leisure, eager for a fresh glass of craft beer. One type of craft beer, named Dawn of the Devil, was named after Dawn.

Besides the craft beer, the American snacks there are also widely recognized. Take for example, their Pulled Pork Sandwich, with pork slowly grilled over apple charcoal for more than 10 hours so that the fragrance of the fruit-tree wood is infused into the pork. It tastes tender and juicy with a roasted burnt flavor. The French Fries and the Sandwich’s mate are sliced by hand and fried twice for an intense flavor. Other favorites include BBQ Pork Nachos, Chips & Salsa, and Grilled Pork served with Mexican Chutney go well with beer.

All these snacks have been exclusively developed by Taylor.“I’ve put on quite a bit of weight since Devils’ Brewery was opened. It is hard for me to lose weight with all this good food and beer.” Said Taylor with a smile.

Li Mei prefers to enjoy the Chinese cuisine created by Taylor. “All his family ate the Chinese food cooked by him when we were in America.”Likewise, Taylor finds his stomach happier with Chinese cuisine.

When it comes to the future, Taylor hopes to stay on Campus as a teacher after graduation. Now their first priority is to set up some branches in the second half of the year to promote genuine American craft beer in Wuhan, said Li Mei.

Compared with traditional beer, craft beer tastes more strong and sticky, with higher alcohol and a higher price tag, which makes it difficult for Chinese to generally accept the craft beer. According to Taylor, coffee, when first introduced to China, was not popular with the Chinese, either. “People disliked the bitter coffee then; now various coffee bars have spread across China.”Taylor said the traditional beer is lighter, but in the U.S., the more bitter the craft beer is, the more popular it will be among customers. It will take some time to incorporate craft beer into the community of Wuhan. Only if someone has a try will he or she find its magnetism.

According to Li Mei, it is less proper to assume craft beer must be better than the traditional one. Some are more prone than others to be partial to craft beer.

“I am his brains as he is my hands.”Li Mei said with a smile. It is Taylor that makes her dream come true.

“精酿啤酒”，是相对于一般常见工业啤酒的一种啤酒类型。全部由麦芽酿制，从麦芽的糖化到发酵都由酿酒商自酿而成。与工业化流水线生产的啤酒截然不同，精酿啤酒色泽与质地的变化带来丰富的口感，诱人非常，每个酿酒商都有自己独具艺术感的酿造风格。精酿啤酒是彻头彻尾的舶来品，近几年，在武汉也渐渐流行起来。

中西结合

刚到小恶魔精酿啤酒屋门口，一股麦芽的甜香味儿扑鼻而来。走进酒吧，左边是一排过人高的酿酒设备，墙上有大片手绘涂鸦。屋内，泰勒正在跟酿酒师李闵和杨博旭探讨，下一桶该什么时候加啤酒花。楼上时不时传来轰隆隆的装修声，泰勒说他们正在进行第二次装修，希望与想象中的酒吧效果更一致。

“可以加啤酒花了吗？”泰勒问道。“还有一分钟。”酿酒师李闵说。

时间一到，两名酿酒师将一袋啤酒花倒入发酵缸，经过粉碎、投料、糖化、过滤、煮沸、回旋沉淀、接种酵母后，麦汁经过两周的发酵，两到三周后，就能酿出300升精酿啤酒。

酿酒师刚加完啤酒花，客人Dawn大声跟一个刚进门、身材高挑的女生打招呼，泰勒听到声音，立马转身迎上去搂住女生。这就是泰勒的女朋友李梅，李梅笑意盈盈地向大家问好。

30岁的泰勒是土生土长的美国人，毕业于美国田纳西州Memphis大学地震学专业。2010年玉树地震后，泰勒第一次来到中国，前往玉树做震后地质研究，随后，他来中国的次数增多，去过四川、青海、云南等地，考察古地震。2012年，泰勒在本校读博，2014年，读博期间，他来到中国地质大学（武汉）继续从事地质研究。

在武汉认识了湖南姑娘李梅以后，他的人生变得更加丰富多彩。开精酿啤酒屋对两人来说，是一个偶然。

李梅是湖南衡阳人，毕业于武汉音乐学院架子鼓专业。毕业后误打误撞，进入银行工作，因不喜欢银行朝九晚五按部就班的工作，她便辞职与朋友一起创业，做起金融咨询。同时，她利用本专业，开办了架子鼓培训班。如今，除了架子鼓培训班，李梅的大部分精力都放在小恶魔啤酒屋。

萌生想法

2015年6月，泰勒带李梅回美国。那是李梅第一次接触到精酿啤酒，“虽然我喜欢喝酒，但是我并不知道精酿啤酒，也不知道他还会酿酒。”泰勒带李梅去买酒，她第一次看到像工厂一样的酒吧，“差不多三层楼高的发酵罐，一整排三十几个酒头出啤酒，太大了！”更让李梅吃惊的是，还有咖啡和巧克力味道的啤酒。

“当时有个念头一闪而过，我能不能在武汉开一家这样的酒吧？”2015年10月，李梅一个人去美国加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校学了三个月语言，其间特意去参观了洛杉矶的很多酒吧，并阅读大量酿酒方面的书籍。回国后，她和泰勒一起去采购小型设备，参考美国酿酒达人们分享的视频，加上泰勒的家人们累积多年的酿酒经验，开始了创业之路。

在美国，精酿啤酒已有数百年历史，连国父华盛顿都写过自酿啤酒的手稿。现代精酿啤酒是源于1970年代英国和美国的精酿啤酒运动（The Craft Beer Movement）的产物，是啤酒从超大规模工业化生产，回归小型、独立、传统、多元化、个性化，乃至迸发出无限创新活力的一场运动。过去20年里，美国小型酿酒商数量正以每年约20%的速度增长。泰勒的家乡宾夕法尼亚州正是北美精酿重镇之一，最为啤酒爱好者熟知的Golden Monkey和Hopdevil就出自宾夕法尼亚。

“我小时候，妈妈会自酿葡萄酒，让我们姐弟四人帮忙踩葡萄，这是件快乐的事。”五六年前，泰勒帮妈妈挑选生日礼物时，发现有一种小型酿酒工具。“容量大概30升，很好玩，可以让妈妈在家里试试。”泰勒买回家送给妈妈，他自己也开始在家里研究酿酒，“我觉得味道不错。”

精酿啤酒只使用麦芽、啤酒花、酵母和水，用传统方式进行酿造，原则上不添加任何人工添加剂，加的其他辅料也只为提升口感。

泰勒可以酿造30多种口味的啤酒，季节时令不同，辅料也不同，包括草莓、橙子、巧克力、柠檬等，味道也各具特色。这些都是商业环境下无法进行的复杂手工艺。

每一款精酿啤酒色泽与质地的变化，都带来丰富的口感，且独具艺术感。泰勒告诉记者：“我不断酿造新口味，也会根据大家的需求不断创新，让大家总能尝到新啤酒。”

梦想成真

准备近一年，他们特意选在两人相识2周年纪念日开业。2016年8月27日，小恶魔精酿啤酒正式营业。开业大半年，已经积累不少口碑。

“我闻到了小恶魔酒吧精酿啤酒的香味儿，所以从上海来到了武汉。”印度人Dawn开玩笑说。“当然，上海也有精酿啤酒，但是，这家的精酿太香了，我想天天在这里守着，能在这里喝到正宗的精酿啤酒，太让人满足了。”Dawn现在在光谷一家公司从事AI（人工智能）产品研发，闲暇时光几乎泡在小恶魔酒吧，他总是眼巴巴地等着第一杯精酿，泰勒还以Dawn的名字命名了一款酒Don of the Devil。

除了精酿啤酒，店内的美式小吃也让顾客赞不绝口。BBQ猪肉沙拉汉堡，猪肉用苹果木炭慢慢熏烤10个小时以上，果木香气浸入肉中，鲜嫩多汁，又焦香四溢。汉堡搭配的粗薯条，手工厚切，过两道油炸制，根根焦香浓郁。芝士熏肉玉米片，脆脆玉米片、焦香烤肉再加上秘制墨西哥酸辣酱料，口感十分丰富，特别适合下酒。

这些小吃也都是泰勒独家研制，“开店以来，我长胖了40斤，瘦不下来啦！”泰勒笑着说。

李梅说自己更喜欢吃泰勒做的中国菜，“我们回美国的时候，他们家人都一起吃他做的中国菜。”泰勒自己也觉得中国菜更适合自己的口味。

谈到将来，泰勒希望毕业后能留校任教。李梅说，眼前最重要的就是下半年开分店，他们想在武汉大力推广纯正的美式精酿啤酒。

精酿啤酒口感较工业啤酒更为浓郁厚重，酒精度略高，且动辄几十甚至上百元的价格，可能不被国人普遍接受。泰勒认为，咖啡刚传入中国时，也不符合中国人的传统口味，“他们不喜欢咖啡的苦味，但现在，中国各地遍布着大大小小的咖啡馆。”工业啤酒偏清淡，而精酿啤酒在美国却是越苦越畅销。泰勒表示精酿啤酒在武汉普及还需假以时日，但只要是尝试过的人，都会发现其有趣之处。

李梅认为，不能说精酿啤酒一定就是比工业啤酒更好喝，只是说，一定有人更偏爱精酿啤酒这种纯手工酿造的啤酒。

“我是他的脑，他是我的手。”李梅笑称，是泰勒把她的想法变成了现实。