Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Reberg Beer - Locally Brewed in Shanghai

Reberg Light and Dark beer, brewed in ShanghaiIf Harry Potter was really drinking butterbeer, the favored drink in the wizarding world of magic, he would be drinking Reberg light. One whiff of the Reberg light beer and the aroma of butter immediately warms your nose. Whoa, butterbeer come to life in the Muggle world. It also has notes of sweet bread (not the meaty kind), hazelnut, caramel, and a hint of butterscotch, though not at all too sweet or sugary. The beer is full in your mouth, but not too filling for your stomach. Reberg is a German-style beer brewed an hour outside the center of Shanghai, China, and comes in a light and dark variety. The beer is kept in a special metal cannister with seal as it has so much carbonation it would blow the top off a regular beer bottle. It does not have a long shelf-life as it is good for only seven days, but is best drank the first three days before it starts to sour a little. Therefore, Reberg would be difficult to find this beer at your local store since stocking it would be difficult. This is quite unfortunate, but it is available at Madison for 38RMB a bottle for both the light and dark variety (both pictured with the use of a friend's camera phone). Since it is brewed locally, it is considerably cheaper than imported craft beers, but not as cheap as Tsing-Tao or Suntory.

J.K. Rowling claimed in a Bon Appetit interview (2002) that she "imagined it to taste like a bit less-sickly butterscotch." Most recipes found online use cream soda, butterscotch, and butter, which seems really rich and too sugary or closer to sickenly sweet. The books also indicate that butterbeer has the power to get house-elves drunk or dependent on and can lower inhibitions of humans, just as the alcohol content in beer is able to.

Reberg. www.rebergbeer.com

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