A Winter Brew, Chengdu Style

Chinese dates and goji berries float in a mug of DoDo's boiled beer

Everyone (well, everyone who is Chinese) knows that drinking cold liquids is detrimental to your health. So what's a beer lover to do in the depths of a damp Chengdu winter (other than sip his or her favorite beverage at room temperature, that is -- which by the way is pretty standard)?

The answer is obvious: take your brew and boil it.

We noticed 'boiled beer' on the menu of DoDo's Cafe our first night in Chengdu, but hadn't an occasion (or the desire, if I'm to be truthful) to try it until a few evenings ago. We were chilled to the bone after being out and about for most of a sunless day (which is also pretty standard here in Chengdu) and, with a little help from a friend's SMS reminding us of DoDo's coordinates, headed straight for the cozy little bolthole and ordered up a couple of hot mugs o' beer.

The verdict: absolutely delicious.

{I should note that I am no beer connoisseur -- in fact I truly enjoy it only when I'm extremely thirsty and the beer being offered is extremely cold. Otherwise, I find that beer takes up too much room in my stomach that food would more satisfactorily occupy.}

There are -- so I hear -- many versions of boiled beer afoot in this city. DoDo's recipe -- for two drinkers -- is simple: pour a large bottle of Qingdao into a pan, add 4 Chinese dates, 8-10 goji berries, two canned lychees sliced into three pieces each, and two medium-thick cross slices of lemon. Bring to a boil and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes. Divide solids between two glasses, and add steaming beer.

(Ironically, we often drank beer with lemon back in the mid-eighties as well, squeezing the fruit's juice into a particularly rank and skunky brew called LiuYe  -- 'Green Leaves' -- to make it palatable.)

With boiling the beer takes on an almost winey flavor, and the dates, goji berries, and lychee infuse it with just a little sweetness that's nicely balanced by the bitterness of the lemon rind. It's a concoction that I just may try at home.

Imagine the possibilities if you're within reach of a darker, more substantial, hoppier brew -- star anise or Sichuan peppercorn, anyone?

 

A game of cards (of course -- it's Chengdu!) at DoDo's Cafe

DoDo's Cafe, 40 Jinlingheng Lu (near Renmin Nan Lu), Wuhou District. Boiled beer about CNY12 per much (less than U$2). Another DoDos' is located at Tongren Lu, Xiaotong Gang No. 12, Qingyang District.

Comments

[Trish]

Wow. Hot beer with lychees. That just sounds so wrong.

[the lacquer spoon]

Boiled beer! Amazing and totally new to me. I love to drink hot sake in winter, but beer is always chilled even on freezing days in Japan ;)

[Hazel]

We make mulled wine in England - what the Germans call Glühwein - which is a similar process. Less commonly, we make it with English (i.e. alcoholic) cider which must create something pretty similar. I've never heard of anyone mulling beer though, but mulled wine and cider and apple juice are ace so beer ought to be... Though not if you buy it anywhere, because it'll be made with the cheapest booze available and unbearably sweet. Home-made, like always, is so much better. If you want to be a Tudor gentleman about it, you can come in from hunting and put your feet up and your poker in the fire. Pour a tankard of ale/wine/cider and add some citrus and some spices and some honey and plunge the red hot fire-tool into it. Add a tot of the spirit of your choice (usually brandy but possibly navy rum) to replace all the alcohol you just burned off, and sit and enjoy while your servants roast the deer you just killed...

[Robyn]

Trish - Ha! I give you 5 days here (right now, when it's averaging 3-5C and there is no central heat to be found -- note that the folks at DoDo's are wearing their winter coats inside). You'd be BEGGING for boiled beer!

laquer spoon - you might give it a try. Then again, Japanese beer is so nice that I might not want to mess with it (Qingdao isn't exactly a world-class beer).

Hazel -- interesting! Actually boiling is the best way to deal with Qingdao IMO -- not the tastiest of brews. But your hot poker story has got me thinking that the boiled beer could go one better with a splash of meizi jiu (plum wine) at the end, to replace that alcohol. We just might pack a bottle to DoDo's and give it a try. Thanks!

[Mila]

I've got two cans of Qingdao that friends brought over last week and I've been wondering what to do with them. Planned to braise some beef ribs in them, but now that I've read your post, I'm going to mull them with some spices (you think a couple of star anise would go well in them, Robyn?) and fruit. Winter here in Quanzhou has been relatively mild but some nights have been unpleasantly chilly.
That reminds me that I've got a bottle and a half of Great Wall red wine in the kitchen too, this might just be my mulling week.

[Robyn]

Hi Mila - I'd use something darker and heartier for those beef ribs -- like that Great Wall red (is it really as undrinkable as I've heard?) or a bottle of Guinness, if you can get it -- and mull the Qingdao. I'd go for star anise, but if you've only got two cans of beer don't use too much or you'll overpower it ... maybe only a few points. Perhaps a tiny bit of cassia bark as well (if you're mulling the red wine perhaps chuck the cassia and star anise in there)? But really the concoction described above is also very tasty. in all its simplicity.
Happy mulling!

[Albert]

A few years ago, a lab mate brought back a bottle of Great Wall Red when he went back to visit family. I am definitely no wine snob, but it really was undrinkable, I hope the quality has improved since then.

[Account Deleted]

Delicious...i got an idea. Do u think i'm evilly crazy to try this Hot beer recipe with rambutans instead? Hmm..experimenting tonight!;)

[Robyn]

Albert - I didn't have the courage to try it out.

Teamopas - oh yes, I think that would be delicious! Pls report back if you go ahead with your experiment.