Time to talk about my favorite subject of all times: beer. Here we have a motorized beer transporting tricycle, seen in June 2011 at a late night market in Beijing. The tricycle was loaded with crates of delicious Tsingtao Dayou (青岛 大优) beer. As you can see, the brand and the type of the beer were printed on the back side of the vehicle. Distribution at its best!
Tsingtao Dayou bottles contained 600 milliliters of beer with an alcohol percentage of 3.1%. That may sound like a little, and it was, but this stuff was dangerous, like all Chinese beers. One would drink it like lemonade, a bottle a minute, at a dinner or at a roadside establishment. One didn’t feel a thing until bottle number 10, when the alcohol would suddenly hit hard. A lovely feeling. Especially as, in and around 2011, these bottles were priced between 3 and 5 yuan when sold by street stalls. Lovely price for a lovely beer.
This particular stall’s main business was selling fruit, in those days open until 23oo at night or so. They usually sold fried snacks as well, ice creams in summer, and beer all year around. Sadly, most of the outdoor life in central Beijing has disappeared since around 2016, but one might still find some of this beautiful outdoor beer culture in the far suburbs of town.