Six years ago one could count with a few fingers Hong Kong’s craft beer bars. Six years ago, Hong Kong Beer Co was essentially the territory’s only craft brewery. A lot can change in six years.
It’s fair to call Young Master Brewery’s arrival in 2013 the match that sparked the flame of modern Hong Kong craft beer. Founder Rohit Dugar, leaving behind a successful career in finance, launched his then 10-hectoliter brewery on Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Island at a time when there was little to no local market for craft beer.
“Because we were the only ones when we started, there was this necessity that we are the ones that need to play an educational role,” said Dugar in our 2017 profile of the brewery. “So we need[ed] to do a set of classic styles, but we also need[ed] to do a set of more innovative, different styles because we want[ed] people to realize that beer can be many different things.”
To that end, right off the bat Young Master Brewery released beers like Tai Sui, a rye ale aged in retired whisky barrels with a sourdough knot. The brewery quickly found a receptive audience in this territory of more than 7 million residents; at the same time, craft beer was suddenly, finally, beginning to catch on elsewhere in the region. Timing was everything.
Today there are more than 30 Hong Kong-based craft breweries, around half of which are contract brands; that is, breweries that brew their beers at a host facility. A handful of foreign brewers have moved in, as well, including Japan’s Kiuchi Brewery, Australia’s Little Creatures, and Denmark’s Mikkeller, which recently contracted Gweilo Beer—owner of the city’s biggest craft brewery—to brew beers it distributes regionally. Japan’s COEDO and Taiwan’s Zhang Men Craft Brewery have taprooms in Hong Kong; BrewDog was here for a hot minute, too.
Indeed, a once barren local market is now a crowded one, never mind the deluge of imports also available nowadays. “Hong Kong is a competitive city,” says Luke Yardley, co-founder of Yardley Brothers Beer. “There’s a healthy competition amongst local craft breweries, but it’s led to great beer quality and variety.”
That competition complicates things for the city’s aspiring breweries, but it’s one factor that has helped turn Hong Kong into one of Asia’s most dynamic craft beer capitals. Good beer is becoming more prevalent by the week. Yes, there are excellent taprooms and bottle shops, but craft beer is increasingly found in restaurants, hotels, and coffee shops, too. Some craft breweries have even muscled their way onto shelves at specialty supermarkets like Market Place by Jasons and ThreeSixty; in fact, we recently scooped bottles of Young Master’s award-winning barrel-aged stouts at the latter.
To ensure you drink well in this epic city, we run down our favorite Hong Kong craft beer bars, taprooms, and bottle shops in the latest entry of our “Asia Beer City” series.
Alvy’s
There’s a common thread woven through many of Hong Kong’s finest craft beer bars: Young Master Brewery. Alvy’s is one of several venues in which it has a stake, and like each of its sister establishments this one puts the frothy head on the pint. (If this is the best play-on-words metaphor you read all day, you’re not reading nearly enough.)
This beer- and whisky-focused pizzeria is located in Kennedy Town, a fast-changing—read: gentrifying—neighborhood in the far west end of Hong Kong Island. Alvy’s is one of two great spots to find good beer in these parts. As one should expect, at least four of Young Master’s beers are always on tap, including its award-winning Classic Pale Ale and American oak-infused Rye on Wood, and there are usually a few more sprinkled among the 10 remaining taps, too, which is just fine.
The cozy space itself showcases brick walls, dark wooden flooring and furnishings, expansive front windows, and usually a decent- to strong rock soundtrack; we were pleased to hear Queens of the Stone Age on our last visit, even if the band’s post-Songs for the Deaf discography is more miss than hit.
We don’t normally dedicate much word estate to food—the scads of feathery lifestyle blogs out there have that covered—but exceptional eats are a commonality among the Young Master venues. At Alvy’s, the short, sensational sourdough pizza menu includes such winners as the Bak Gwei, which is topped with gruyere bechamel, char siu, mozzarella, and geung yeong (a scallion- and ginger-based paste), and Fort Greene, a savory topping mix of pesto, shaved asparagus, mushrooms, and bocconcini mozzarella. We’re suckers for curly fries of just about any kind, too. 8 Holland St, Kennedy Town. +852 2312 2996. Open Monday to Friday 4pm – 12am, Saturday & Sunday 11am – 12am. facebook.com/AlvysHK
The Roundhouse – BBQ + Beer
One third of what we might call the “holy trinity” of Soho beer bars within a two-minute stumble of one another, The Roundhouse is a long-time favorite and at this point an institution as one of Hong Kong’s pioneering craft beer bars. Rows of beer bottles and a hodgepodge of generic beer paraphernalia add some color to the otherwise bare concrete space, but up to 24 craft taps, a lively crowd of regulars, and rock-solid American-style barbecue offer plenty reason to linger as long as you’d like.
We’ve had more than a few silly nights here and always look forward to the next one. The Roundhouse’s second venue, in Wan Chai, swaps barbecue for fried chicken, but keeps the 24 taps; it’s well worth a stop, too.
Hot tip: The good beer inventory at The Roundhouse’s neighboring convenience store has for years now gotten consistently better and deeper. It’s no HK Brewcraft or Craftissimo (below), but there are plenty of gems at good prices, including large-format bottles. This is an appropriate time to mention that Hong Kong has no issues with open containers, so if you need a traveler for the walk back to your hotel—yo. 62 Peel St, Soho. +852 2366 4880. Open Tuesday to Friday 3pm – 12am, Saturday & Sunday 12pm – 12am. Closed Monday. facebook.com/RoundhouseKB
Blue Supreme
We’re fairly psyched about this one, and judging by the nightly crowds so is Hong Kong. Around the corner from Man Mo Temple in Sheung Wan, Blue Supreme distinguishes itself with a singular focus on lambics, spontaneously fermented ales, wild ales, and all things funky. This may all sound a bit too high brow to the casual craft-curious drinker—and let’s be honest, “spontaneously fermented” does ring a wee ridiculous—but these beer styles are genuinely approachable and worthy of wider acceptance in Asia.
If you’re new to such beers, Blue Supreme is certainly the place to try ‘em. There are 17 taps here, plus another 50ish bottles, many of which you won’t find anywhere else in Hong Kong. Pair with a visit to Craftissimo, below, which is 150 meters away. 21 Tung St, Sheung Wan. Open Tuesday to Friday 3pm – 11pm, Saturday & Sunday 11:30am – 11pm. Closed Monday. bluesupreme.live
Second Draft
A joint venture between Young Master Brewery and May Chow of Little Bao fame, Second Draft is another venue in which the food deserves as much accolade as the beer. Well, almost.
Opened in 2016 to acclaim that hasn’t dissipated one bit—Hong Kong Tatler readers at the time voted it the city’s Best New Restaurant—Second Draft significantly elevates the idea of pub grub with such toothsome treats as mapo burrata, flower crab pasta, smoked fish dip, and squid-inked croquettes. The modern Hong Kong-style menu is very much cohesive with the atmosphere, a throwback-style bistro with exposed piping, wooden booths, a handsome horseshoe-shaped bar, and mosaic tiling on the tap wall.
About those taps—they’re gloriously kept, with each of the 26 or so craft beers temperature-controlled within one of three ranges, depending on the style. Real ale fans will be thrilled to find two cask ales—a relative rarity in these parts—while the draft list is consistently one of the city’s finest and most varied. Naturally there are usually two handfuls of Young Master tapped, but also a lovely range of locals and imports that could include To Øl, Taihu Brewing, 8 Wired Brewing Co, and Heroes Beer Co.
We appreciate when beer bars attempt to make the beer list as approachable as possible for the general drinking public, so it’s a nice touch that each beer on the printed menu is stamped with a straightforward one-word descriptor like “malty,” “sour,” and “hoppy.” The little things sometimes make a big difference. 98 Tung Lo Wan Rd, Tai Hang. +852 2656 0232. Open Monday to Thursday 4pm – 1am, Friday & Saturday 4pm – 2am, Sunday 12pm – 1am. facebook.com/SecondDraftHK
HK Brewcraft
Surreptiously located on the fourth floor of a non-descript building near the corner of Stanley and Cochrane streets, HK Brewcraft has been our go-to bottle shop for takeaway and delivery for years now. The relatively tiny shop stocks upwards of 250 bottles and cans, including the latest drops from local breweries like Moonzen Brewery, Gweilo Beer, and Carbon Brews, as well as a fine selection of imports. Traveling homebrewers can stock up on a range of ingredients and equipment here, too, and staff hosts weekly homebrewing workshops if you’re keen to learn more about it.
Whether you enjoy a few good beers in the comfort of your hotel room or are just hunting for take-home souvenirs, save yourself the grief of schlepping a huge bag of bottles back to the crib by hitting the online shop ahead of time. HK Brewcraft offers free delivery for orders of at least HKD$600 (around US$75), and we recently had no issues with an advance order being sent to our hotel’s concierge desk on our check-in date. 15 Cochrane St, 4th floor. +852 5925 2739. Open daily 11:45am – 8:30pm. hkbrewcraft.com
The Globe
We recently asked Luke Yardley, co-founder of Yardley Brothers Beer, about the one or two Hong Kong craft beer bars he’d take an out-of-towner to if he only had one night; The Globe, unsurprisingly, is one of them. “This is Hong Kong’s original craft beer bar,” says Yardley. “I love the British vibe, there’s an epic menu of local and international beers, great real ale on hand pump, and wonderful food, too.”
The second of our aforementioned holy trinity of Soho beer bars, The Globe offers 19 taps (around half taken by local craft breweries), a phenomenal bottle list, and a refreshing classic English pub ambience. It’s especially cozy on chilly and rainy nights, particularly if you manage to score one of the cushy booths. 45-53A Graham St, Soho. +852 2543 1941. Open daily 10am – late. theglobe.com.hk
65 Peel
Low-slung pendant lights, neon signage, colorful murals on bare concrete walls, and a thumping hip-hop soundtrack help make this newish entry on Hong Kong’s craft beer scene one of its hottest. The location is ideal—you can see The Roundhouse on its nearby hillside location from the front door, and The Globe is right around the corner—and the locals-only beer list makes this a perfect place to, well, drink what the Hong Kong craft breweries are up to. There are 12 beers on tap, plus several bottles. The place holds its weight fairly well, but expect at least a short wait for a table after 7pm on weekends. 65 Peel St, Soho. +852 2342 2224. Open Monday to Thursday 4pm – 1am, Friday & Saturday 2pm – 2am, Sunday 2pm – 12am.
TAP—The Ale Project
(Editor Note: The original TAP detailed below closed in September 2020 following the landlord’s rent gouge. We leave this description up in tribute to this classic Hong Kong beer bar. The second TAP venue at The Mills remains open.)
“TAP was about bringing this whole idea to a neighborhood like that where nobody else would dare to do it,” said Rohit Dugar, founder of Young Master Brewery, in our 2017 profile. “They go through a crazy amount of beer. People are drinking pitchers of imperial stouts!”
The neighborhood is Mong Kok, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, and the whole idea, as you might guess, is a dedicated craft beer bar in a place bereft of any until TAP landed in 2014. Suffice to say the small leap of faith landed on two feet, and five years later this lively little joint still slays nearby newcomers with a certain joie de vivre not easily replicated; pitchers of barrel-aged imperial stouts may or may not have something to do with it.
The area has gotten notably smarter since TAP first opened, but the place still has something of a “destination bar” feel to it, located as it is on an unsuspecting backstreet just around the corner from what could be rightfully called The Sneakers Shop District. TAP has 18 well-curated taps, around half of which skew local and lean heavy on—wait for it—Young Master. Again this isn’t a bad thing, particularly since ales from the brewery’s mixed fermentation and barrel-aging series tend to show up here.
The food is delicious, though not quite as “upmarket” as that at Second Draft. Go for the mac ‘n’ cheese arancini, spicy toast, and just about anything from the list of eight signature sandwiches. There’s now a second TAP out at The Mills, a swanky mixed-use arts center and former textile mill in Tseun Wan. It’s a bit further afield, but worth checking out on a short field trip from Central (about an hour each way by subway or a 30-minute taxi). 15 Hak Po St, Mong Kok. +852 2468 2010. Open Tuesday to Sunday 12pm – 12:30 or 1:30am, Monday 4pm – 12:30am. facebook.com/thealeproject
The Beer Shack
This no-frills, weekends-only watering hole is exactly as advertised: a small beer shack. However, it’s notable as the humble launch pad for what would become Yardley Brothers Beer, today one of Hong Kong’s more visible craft breweries and one of our personal favorites. It was here at The Beer Shack that co-founding brothers Luke and Duncan Yardley (Duncan now lives in Paris) began brewing small batches of Lamma Island IPA and Hong Kong Bastard imperial IPA, two beers which have since become staples in the brewery’s core range. The latter, in fact, earned “Best in Show” honors at the one-and-done Hong Kong Beer Championships in 2016.
As for the shack, it’s located just off the main beach on Lamma Island, which can be reached from Central via a 30-minute ferry ride. There are a few fresh Yardley Bros beers on tap, a few bottles, and not a whole helluva lot else. In other words, it’s perfect. Beach path. Open Saturday, Sunday and public holidays 1pm – 6pm. Location map here.
Craftissimo
We kind of loved Craftissimo’s completely random original location in the old-school Peninsula Centre shopping mall in Kowloon, but it was miniscule and more than a little difficult to find, so the semi-recent move to Sheung Wan makes all kinds of sense.
Along with HK Brewcraft, Craftissimo ranks as one of our preferred Hong Kong craft beer bottle shops. The selection is comparable at both shops and you can’t go wrong either way, but Craftissimo does score for its bigger variety of chilled beers, a few taps, and small indoor and outdoor seating areas. There’s free delivery for online orders of at least $550 (~US$70), and like HK Brewcraft we’re sure these folks would be positively chuffed to send your booze to the hotel. 22-24 Tai Ping Shan St, Sheung Wan. +852 6274 3130. Open Sunday to Thursday 1pm – 10pm, Friday & Saturday 1pm – 11pm. craftissimo.hk
Little Creatures Brewing Hong Kong
Owned by Australasian food & beverage titan Lion—which has in recent times bagged several other craft breweries, including the UK’s Fourpure Brewing and Magic Rock Brewing—Little Creatures is based in Fremantle, Western Australia. Its sprawling signature venue there has far more character than this satellite brewpub in Kennedy Town, but this is a nice enough space and the beer is plenty good enough.
To be clear, Little Creature’s core range is still imported from Australia, but several exclusive small-batch beers are brewed onsite here, such as the recent Forgotten Toast, a 5.8% amber brewed with leftover sourdough from the kitchen, and Lunar White Ale, a 5% Belgian-style wheat. Little Creatures now also has brewpubs in Singapore and London, along with a “brewing lab” in Shanghai; whether that’s exciting or troubling depends on your point of view. 5A New Praya, Kennedy Town. +852 2833 5611. Open daily 8am – 11pm. littlecreatures.hk
Kowloon Taproom
Like Craftissismo, here’s another example of a Hong Kong craft beer bar that has greatly benefitted from a change of venue. In Kowloon Taproom’s case, it moved right across the street from its old digs. The new space isn’t significantly bigger than the old one, though it feels that way due in part to its high ceiling and large door-less façade offering views of the busy side street on which it is located. As for the beer, it’s 16 taps plus a few bottles, all drawn from such local breweries not previously cited as Citibrew HK, Seven Brews, and Black Kite. 17-19 Ashley Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui. +852 2861 0355. Open weekdays 2pm – 2am, weekends 1pm – 2am. kowloon-taproom.com
Tipsy Tap
About a 15-minute walk from Kowloon Taproom and around the corner from Zhang Men Craft Brewery (below), Tipsy Tap is the somewhat rare Hong Kong craft beer bar that seems to prioritize name-brand foreign craft breweries over the locals. A recent check of the tap menu, for instance, showed just two Hong Kong beers among the 20 taps—this isn’t necessarily a bad thing given the prevalence of local beers available elsewhere, just something of which to be aware.
When we say “name-brand imports,” we refer to breweries like Stone, Belching Beaver, Evil Twin, Mikkeller—you know, ones that will probably ring a bell. About 50 bottles and cans supplement the taps. 5 Austin Ave, Tsim Sha Tsui. +852 6882 9840. Open Sunday to Thursday 5pm – 1am, Friday & Saturday until 3am.
Once You Go Craft
We’ve not yet had a chance to pop into this bolthole ourselves, but it brings eight taps of good beer to a part of West Kowloon that sorely needed it, and it’s the second venue to earn a strong endorsement from Luke “Yardley Bros” Yardley. “Once You Go Craft has new-school local style and is unpretentious,” Yardley says. “It’s small and always full, so inevitably drinkers spill out onto the street, drinking great local and international craft beer—so Hong Kong!” 24 Pok Man St, Tai Kok Tsui. Open Monday to Saturday 4pm – 12am, Sunday 12pm – 6:30pm. facebook.com/onceyougocraft
Zhang Men Craft Brewery
Now up to 10 taprooms (and counting) across Taiwan, two in mainland China, and two in Hong Kong, this Taipei-based craft brewery has proven to be one of Asia’s more ambitious. We’ve listed the contact info for Zhang Men’s first Hong Kong venue, in Tsim Sha Tsui, but its second outlet in Sai Ying Pun is worth a look, too. The space isn’t particularly notable, but it’s comfortable and obviously the best place to try ZM’s latest brews. 64-66A Kimberley St, Tsim Sha Tsui. +852 2656 1515. Open daily 3pm – 2am, weekends until 3am. zhangmen.co/index_en.html
The Madhouse Taproom
Head to the Madhouse if you fancy something particularly fancy. A stone’s throw from TAP—The Ale Project, this 20-tapper prides itself on spotlighting what we might call “exotic” craft breweries not generally seen elsewhere in town. Think De Moersleutel (Amsterdam), and Oslo, Norway-based Cervisiam Brewery, Amundsen Bryggeri, and Eik & Tid. Each of these breweries will likely have a few bottles available, too. 16 Yim Po Fang St, Mong Kok. +852 2466 3166. Open daily 3pm – 1am, weekends until 2am. themadhouse.com.hk
Also check out: 99 Bottles, The Beer Bay, Big Sur, The Bottle Shop, Cheers The Taproom, COEDO Taproom, Craft Brew & Co, Hong Kong Island Taphouse, The Oak Crafted, THAIWAN, and WOFT.
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“Asia Beer City” is Beer Travelist’s running series spotlighting notable beer bars, brewpubs, and bottle shops in cities across Asia and Asia-Pacific. Each series entry is not necessarily comprehensive, but rather a curated list of those venues we feel travelers (and locals) should prioritize. Thus far the series also includes Bangkok, Byron Bay, and Guangzhou.
This story was written to the sounds of Deltron 3030. All photos copyright Beer Travelist unless noted.
