Getting into the spirits

Hong Kong

Local brews and urban spirits can be found in unusual places. Rebecca Lo leads the search.

Hong Kong residents and visitors all enjoy a good jug of beer or a fine bottle of wine, but most of these beverages come stamped with an import label. Few people know that there are a couple of determined entrepreneurs who are quietly changing that situation.

Lysanne Tusar is originally from British Columbia in Canada and grew up in a family that respected wine.

In 2008, she founded The 8th Estate Winery, a boutique establishment with cellar door and production facilities in an Ap Lei Chau warehouse.

She gets bragging rights as Hong Kong's only urban winery, and brings in grapes from Australia's Barossa Valley and elsewhere for her red, white and dessert vintages.

Tusar believes that consuming wine close to the site where it is produced yields the best tasting experience.

Master winemaker Eddie McDougall was brought on board in 2009 for his expertise and presides over events such as The 8th Estate's recent launch of its 2008 vintage Italian wines, featuring a performance by the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir.

For those who cannot make the trip out to Ap Lei Chau, pick up a bottle or two of 8th Estate wines from the Design Gallery in the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center.

Pierre Cadoret was brought up in the Channel Islands and is an airline pilot by profession.

He adores great microbrews, and noticed that Hong Kong was sorely lacking in "real" or cask ales. So he decided to do something about it, and started to brew his own in a small shop on Lantau Island.

Typhoon Brewery specializes in unfiltered, unpasteurized ale produced in small batches using all natural ingredients. Cadoret can often be found multitasking at his Mui Wo brewery, handcrafting each batch carefully.

Since Typhoon's brews such as T8 are all natural, they must be coddled for optimum taste.

The Globe in Soho is one of the few places that serve T8 on tap. Ask for this traditional English bitter the next time you are in Central - you won't be going back to bottled beer any time soon.

(China Daily 11/14/2010 page15)