手工精釀啤酒在香港社會興起

Standing beside a stainless-steel fermentation tank, Rohit Dugar explained the concept behind his latest beer, Young Master Classic.

羅希特·杜加爾(Rohit Dugar)站在不鏽鋼發酵罐旁介紹他最新推出的啤酒少爺經典(Young Master Classic)背後的理念。

'It's a hoppy pale ale, but not too bitter,' he said, pouring a small amount into a glass. It smelled of citrus zest and passion fruit.

他往杯子倒了少量酒，說道：“這是有啤酒花苦味的淡色麥啤，但又不會太苦。”聞起來有柑橘和和百香果的味道。

'That's from the Australian Galaxy hops we use in the dry-hopping,' Mr. Dugar explained.

在香港品嚐手工精釀啤酒杜加爾解釋說：“那種味道來自我們在‘冷泡啤酒花’工藝過程中（即在啤酒發酵完成後添加啤酒花浸泡）使用的澳大利亞Galaxy啤酒花。”

It was a scene familiar to any fan of small-batch, artisanal craft beer: the gleaming brewing equipment, the bready smell, the bulging sacks of malted barley. The setting, however, was remarkable: the sun-filled but cramped fourth floor of a factory building overlooking Hong Kong's East Lamma Channel, container ships passing just a few hundred meters in the distance.

喜歡小規模手工精釀啤酒的人應該很熟悉這種場景：閃閃發光的釀酒設備，酵母發酵的氣味，大袋大袋的大麥麥芽。環境卻是很不錯：在一座工廠建築的四層，陽光燦爛但略顯擁擠，可俯瞰香港東博寮海峽(East Lamma Channel)，集裝箱運貨船就在遠處幾百米的地方駛過。

Mr. Dugar hopes his brewery, Young Master Ales, will revolutionize the drinking scene in a city where beer has long meant indistinguishable industrial lagers. And he isn't alone. This month, Young Master will be joined by three more Hong Kong breweries making their debut at Beertopia, a craft-beer festival now in its third year.

杜加爾希望自己的少爺麥啤 (Young Master Ales)釀酒廠能徹底改變香港的啤酒格局。在這個城市，啤酒向來意味着毫無辨識度的產業化拉格啤酒(lagers)。他並不是孤軍奮戰。這個月，少爺麥啤將和香港另外三家釀酒廠共同在Beertopia手工啤酒節首次亮相。該啤酒節已經舉行過兩屆。

'After the first Beertopia [in 2012], craft beer just exploded,' said Chris Wong, who runs HK Brewcraft, a home-brew shop in Central. 'Hong Kong people love trying something new. This is known as a food heaven, so that bodes well for beer.'

Chris Wong在香港中環經營着一家名爲HK Brewcraft的自釀啤酒店。他說：“2012年首屆Beertopia啤酒節舉行後，手工啤酒一下子火了。香港人喜歡嘗試新東西。這裏是有名的美食天堂，所以對啤酒來說是個好兆頭。”

In the U.S., craft-beer sales have boomed even as the overall beer market stagnates. The Brewers Association now counts 2,483 craft breweries, defined as independently owned operations that produce less than six million barrels of beer a year. (By comparison, AB-InBev, the world's largest beer company, produces a total of 339 million barrels of beer a year.) Hong Kong's craft-beer market is still marginal, but Mr. Wong sees a recent surge of interest in home-brewing as a leading indicator.

在美國，雖然整個啤酒市場陷入蕭條，但手工啤酒的銷售卻呈現旺盛勢頭。美國啤酒釀造商協會(Brewers Association)統計目前共有2,483家手工啤酒廠，手工啤酒廠是指獨立經營、每年產量低於600萬桶的釀酒廠。（全球最大啤酒公司百威英博(AB-InBev)每年生產3.39億桶啤酒。）香港的精釀啤酒市場依然處於邊緣地帶，但Wong發現最近人們對自釀啤酒的興趣大增，表明自釀啤酒還是很有希望的。

'Home-brewing is the backbone of the brewing scene in any city,' he said.

他說：“在任何一個城市，自釀啤酒都是釀酒業的中堅力量。”

Mr. Dugar won last year's inaugural Hong Kong Homebrew Competition with his Hong Kong Black Ale, a roasty but light-bodied brew with hints of coffee and chocolate.

去年，杜加爾憑藉自己的香港黑麥啤(Hong Kong Black Ale)獲得了香港首屆自釀啤酒大賽(Hong Kong Homebrew Competition)的冠軍。這款啤酒味道濃郁但酒體輕盈，有一絲咖啡和巧克力的味道。

'I got more serious about home-brewing after I came to Hong Kong because, until a few years ago, if you wanted good beer, you had to make it yourself,' he said.

他說：“我來香港以後對自釀啤酒有了更嚴肅的認識，因爲在幾年前，如果你想喝好啤酒，就得自己動手。”

Born in New Delhi, 34-year-old Mr. Dugar studied business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire-where he also had his first taste of craft beer.

Darren Hayward/The Wall Street Journal少爺麥啤釀酒廠老闆羅希特•杜加爾(Rohit Dugar)。34歲的杜加爾在新德里出生，在新罕布什爾州的達特茅斯學院(Dartmouth College)學過商科。他也是在那裏第一次喝到手工精釀啤酒。

'The first one I actually remember is Old Brown Dog,' a hoppy brown ale by New Hampshire's Smuttynose Brewing Company. His interest blossomed after he moved to New York, where he worked as an investment banker, and it followed him to Hong Kong when he took a job with Goldman Sachs in 2011.

他說：“我記憶中第一次喝的是Old Brown Dog。”這是一種有啤酒花苦味的棕色麥啤，由新罕布什爾州的Smuttynose釀酒廠生產。他搬到紐約後對手工精釀啤酒的興趣大增，那時他從事投資銀行工作。這種興趣一直伴隨他在2011年接受高盛(Goldman Sachs)的工作來到香港。

His plan for Young Master was hatched not long after, when the sudden popularity of imported craft beer made Mr. Dugar decide there is a market in Hong Kong for local brews. 'I want to use the best ingredients, never compromise-no filters, no pasteurization, no stabilizers, natural carbonation,' he said.

由於進口手工精釀啤酒突然流行起來，杜加爾認爲本地自釀啤酒在香港是有市場的，不久後便萌生了開設少爺麥啤釀酒廠的想法。他說：“我想用最好的原料，決不妥協——不用過濾器，不用加熱殺菌法，不用穩定劑，只需要自然的碳酸化作用。”

Working with Ulrich Altbauer, a German-born brewmaster, Mr. Dugar dipped into his savings and rented three factory units in the seaside industrial district of Ap Lei Chau. After obtaining a food-factory license-a novel experience, since the government's Food and Environmental Hygiene Department had never licensed such a small brewery before-he had brewing equipment custom-made to fit the low ceilings and tight quarters of Hong Kong's concrete industrial blocks.

和德國釀酒大師烏爾裏希·阿爾特鮑爾(Ulrich Altbauer)一起，杜加爾拿出自己的積蓄在鴨?洲(Ap Lei Chau)濱海工業區租了三間廠房。他還爲釀酒廠領到了食品加工廠許可證，這件事挺新鮮的，因爲香港食物環境衛生署(Food and Environmental Hygiene Department)以前從來沒有給這麼小的釀酒廠發過許可證。由於香港的混凝土工業區樓層很低，空間狹小，所以他專門定製了釀酒設備。

The next step was to make the beer, an evolving process as Mr. Dugar refines his recipes, which include the potent 1842 Imperial IPA; the Rye Old Fashioned, a rye beer matured with wood chips tossed in the fermenter, which gives it an oaky taste; and the Cha Cha Soba Ale, a light, dry beer made with unmalted Chinese buckwheat and matcha green-tea powder, meant to evoke the crispness of Japanese soba noodles. Mr. Dugar is brewing a high-proof version of the rye beer that will be aged for several months in barrels previously used to age rye whiskey, which Dugar hopes will lend it some of the spirit's sweet, spicy character.

下一步就是釀製啤酒。這是一個不斷演進的過程，因爲杜加爾總是在改進配方。其中包括了酒力強勁的1842 Imperial IPA；黑麥古典(Rye Old Fashioned)，這是一種在發酵過程中加入了木屑釀製而成的黑麥啤酒，因此給它添加了些許橡木味道；Cha Cha Soba Ale則是一種淡乾啤，由不發芽的蕎麥以及日本抹茶綠茶粉製成，用這些原料是爲了激發日本蕎麥麪的那種爽口感。杜加爾正在釀造酒精含量較高的黑麥啤酒，要在之前用於陳化黑麥威士忌的酒桶裏進行數月的陳化。杜加爾希望能把威士忌的甜味和辣味傳遞給啤酒。

Two kilometers to the east, another brewing venture is taking shape in Wong Chuk Hang, a strip of rusty old factories. New Empire Brewery will unveil its first beers-two pale ales, a stout and a series of one-off fruit beers-at Beertopia this month. Founded by 23-year-old Dan Rybinski, a former chef in the British Navy who 'came to Hong Kong for a bit of holiday and never went back,' and local partner Troy Woo, New Empire aims to produce a line of ales somewhere between the hop-driven American approach and the malt-forward British sensibility.

Darren Hayward/The Wall Street Journal越來越多的酒吧開始供應手工精釀啤酒，Roundhouse就是其中之一。東邊兩公里處的黃竹坑(Wong Chuk Hang)又有一家釀酒廠正在興建。這一帶也有很多老舊工廠。這家名叫New Empire Brewery的釀酒坊將會在本月的Beertopia啤酒節上推出首批啤酒——兩款淡色麥啤，一款烈性啤酒和一系列一次性的果啤。酒廠的老闆是23歲的丹·裏賓斯基(Dan Rybinski)，還有當地合夥人Troy Woo。裏賓斯基曾在英國海軍(British Navy)擔任主廚，“來到香港只是爲了度假，後來再沒回去過”。New Empire Brewery希望生產一系列介於以啤酒花爲主的美式啤酒和以麥芽爲主的英式啤酒之間的麥啤。

'There's a lot of people who jumped on the craft-beer bandwagon and go extreme, with these very hoppy or high-alcohol beers. Maybe because I'm British, I don't like that-I like balance,' said Mr. Rybinski, who has been home-brewing with his father since he was a teenager.

裏賓斯基從小就和父親一起做自釀啤酒。他說：“有很多人進入精釀啤酒行業後會走極端，要麼啤酒花味道很重，要麼酒精度很高。可能因爲我是英國人，所以我不喜歡那樣——我喜歡平衡。”

Another brewing venture, Nine Dragons Brewery, is being launched by German expat Simon Siemsgluess, who has brewed previously at Bavarian wheat-beer giant Paulaner's operations in Germany and mainland China. Though he is still hunting for a suitable brewing space, Siemsgluess has already started producing a pale ale and pilsner in Hamburg for export to Hong Kong.

從德國來的西蒙·西姆斯格萊斯(Simon Siemsgluess)也開設了一家名叫九龍啤酒(Nine Dragons Brewery)的釀酒坊。他曾經在巴伐利亞小麥啤酒巨頭柏龍啤酒(Paulaner)在德國和中國內地的分公司負責釀酒。雖然仍然在尋找合適的釀酒場所，但他已經開始在德國漢堡生產一款淡色麥啤和比爾森啤酒，用於出口香港。

'The sooner I can start up in Hong Kong the better,' he said. 'After all, why would a city like Hong Kong not be able to sustain a number of microbreweries and brewpubs, seeing that Singapore, Beijing and Shanghai can?'

他說；“在香港越早開始越好。畢竟，既然新加坡、北京和上海都可以養活好多小啤酒廠和自制啤酒吧，那麼香港這樣的城市爲什麼不行呢？”

Compared with New Empire, Nine Dragons and Young Master, the Hong Kong Beer Co. is big business, though its projected yearly output of 5,000 barrels-about 587,000 liters-is tiny by international craft-beer standards. (Young Master's annual capacity is 1,500 barrels; New Empire's is 266 barrels.) Originally founded in 1995, the brewery was eventually shut down, and the brand and equipment were recently purchased by the founders of Singapore's successful Brewerkz brewpub, who tapped veteran American brewmaster Simon Pesch to head up their Hong Kong operation.

與New Empire Brewery、九龍啤酒和少爺麥啤相比，香港啤酒有限公司(Hong Kong Beer Co.)做的是大生意，不過每年計劃產量也只有5,000桶，約58.7萬升，按國際手工啤酒標準來看工廠規模很小。（少年麥啤的年產能爲1,500桶，New Empire Brewery是266桶。）香港啤酒有限公司始建於1995年，後來倒閉了，其品牌和設備最近被新加坡成功的Brewerkz自釀啤酒吧創始人收購，他們聘請美國經驗豐富的釀酒大師西蒙·佩施(Simon Pesch)負責在香港的業務。

'We want to make a big impression right off the bat,' said Mr. Pesch, former head brewer at Pyramid Breweries, one of the largest producers of craft beer in the U.S. He arrived in Hong Kong in January with plans to produce a line of five American-style brews-a golden ale, pale ale, India Pale Ale, amber lager and oatmeal stout-that emphasize hop aroma over bitterness.

佩施曾在美國最大手工啤酒生產商之一的Pyramid Breweries擔任首席釀酒師。他說：“我們希望一上來就給人留下深刻的印象。”他1月份來到香港，計劃生產由五種美式啤酒組成的系列產品——黃金麥啤、淡色麥啤、印度淡色麥啤、琥珀拉格啤酒以及燕麥黑啤。美式啤酒強調啤酒花香味多過苦味。

'The big challenge is breaking the dominance of the macrobreweries in Hong Kong and carving out a niche for ourselves-so many of the taplines in this city are controlled by the major players,' said Jeff Boda, co-founder of Hop Leaf, which imports and distributes craft beer in Hong Kong. Though more Hong Kong restaurants and bars are offering craft beer on tap, Mr. Boda says many are restricted by exclusivity agreements with mass-market brewers, which often pay for the installation and maintenance of draft systems.

香港手工啤酒進口和經銷公司Hop Leaf聯合創始人傑夫·博達(Jeff Boda)說：“我們面臨的一大挑戰是打破大酒廠在香港的主導地位，爲我們自己挖掘出一個細分市場——香港由大廠控制的啤酒管道太多了。”雖然越來越多的香港餐廳和酒吧提供桶裝手工啤酒，但博達說很多餐廳都受到與大衆市場釀酒廠專屬協議的限制。啤酒機的安裝和維護通常都是由這些大公司出錢。

'The market is out there, it's just getting the product to them,' he said.

他說：“市場是現成的，只要把產品推出去就行了。”

Local brews can be sure of a spot at Tipping Point, a brewpub opened last month by American-born chef Que Vinh Dang that will dedicate 10 of its taps to craft beer. Three others will be connected directly to the bar's own brewing tanks, squeezed into a small back room on the ground floor of the pub's Wyndham Street space.

本地釀酒廠在Tipping Point啤酒吧肯定有一席之地。這家啤酒吧上個月剛開業，位於雲鹹街(Wyndham Street)，老闆是出生於美國的大廚Que Vinh Dang。店裏會有10個龍頭提供手工精釀啤酒，另外三個龍頭則直接連在了店裏自己的釀製容器中，這些容器放置在後面的一個小房間裏。

'There are so many possibilities in terms of flavor profiles,' said Mr. Dang, an avid home-brewer whose previous creations have included a coffee and caramel porter, a honey rye IPA and a sticky-rice lemongrass beer with Citra hops that 'came out smelling like litchi.'

Dang是自制啤酒愛好者，之前有過很多創作，包括咖啡焦糖波特啤酒、蜂蜜黑麥IPA以及加入了Citra啤酒花的糯米檸檬草啤酒，這種酒“聞上去有點荔枝的味道”。

If the reaction to Mr. Dugar's beer is an indication, experimental brews could be an easy sell. 'I drink a lot of wine and I don't normally like beer-but I like this a lot,' said Kathy Wong, an education worker who visited Young Master's brewery after her friend Ashley Ho read about it online. Sitting in the brewery's tasting room, she took a sip of the Hong Kong Black. 'This one is my favorite. It's not very strong on the first taste, but the aftertaste is very complex.'

如果人們對杜加爾所釀啤酒的反應能說明問題，那麼實驗啤酒應該會很好賣。朋友Ashley Ho 在網上看到有關少爺麥啤的消息後，Kathy Wong去參觀了釀酒廠。從事教育工作的Kathy Wong說：“葡萄酒我喝得很多，一般不喝啤酒，但我很喜歡這種啤酒。”她坐在酒廠的品酒室裏，嚐了一口香港黑啤。她說：“這款酒是我的最愛。初嘗不是很烈，但回味很豐富。”

Ms. Ho was partial to the 1842 Imperial IPA-so partial, in fact, that she bought a two-liter growler to take home with her. Later, the pair paid a visit to the Globe, a Central pub, to try different kinds of craft beer.

Ashley Ho喜歡1842 Imperial IPA，喜歡到買了一罐兩升的啤酒帶走。後來，兩個人去了位於中環的Globe酒吧嘗試不同種類的手工啤酒。

'And we just bought tickets to Beertopia,' said Ms. Wong. 'I think these beers are very special. I've never tasted anything like this before.'

Kathy Wong說：“我們剛買了參加Beertopia啤酒節的票。我覺得這些啤酒很特別。我以前從來沒喝過這樣的啤酒。”

'There definitely is an appetite for craft beer and if it's locally made, people are willing to pay a bit of a premium,' said Stuart Bailey, general manager of Diversified Events, which runs the Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong trade show and the annual Hong Kong International Beer Awards. 'I'm feeling a bit smug at the moment because I predicted this five years ago and nobody quite believed me.'

Diversified Events展會活動公司總經理斯圖爾特·貝利說：“肯定有很多人喜歡喝手工啤酒，如果是本地釀製，人們應該會願意多出點錢。” Diversified Events負責香港餐飲展(Restaurant & Bar Hong Kong)和一年一度香港國際啤酒獎(Hong Kong International Beer Awards)的籌辦。貝利說：“我現在有點沾沾自喜，因爲五年前我就預測到了，但沒人相信我。”

The first Beertopia event, created by Jonathan So to introduce craft beer to Hong Kong, drew more than 1,000 people to the historic Western Market in 2012. The next year, Mr. So moved the festival outdoors, to the West Kowloon waterfront.

首屆Beertopia 啤酒節由Jonathan So發起於2012年。目的是將手工啤酒引入香港，當時吸引了1,000多人前往歷史悠久的西港城(Western Market)商場。第二年，So將啤酒節安排在戶外，搬到了西九龍海濱。

'We spread it across a whole day, with room for 6,000 people, and we still sold out of tickets,' he said.

他說：“我們把一天安排得滿滿的，場地能容納6,000人，但票還是賣光了。”

This year's edition will span three days, March 13 to 15, and offer more than 400 beers from around the world, including unusual offerings like tea-flavored beer from Beijing's Great Leap Brewery, a Belgian quadrupel aged in red-wine barrels by Denmark's Mikkeller and a beer made with mikan, a citrus fruit, by Japan's Baird Brewing.

今年的啤酒節持續三天時間，從3月13日到15日，提供來自世界各地的400多種啤酒，包括很多比較特別的啤酒，比如北京大躍啤酒(Great Leap Brewery)的茶味啤酒，丹麥Mikkeller的在紅酒桶裏陳化的比利時四料啤酒，還有日本Baird Brewing的一種由名叫mikan的柑橘類水果釀造的啤酒。

Beyond the festival, craft beer is available at more and more bars, including the Roundhouse, which boasts 24 taps, and the Globe, which has installed a new 18-tap system to complement its extensive selection of bottles. Other standbys include Stone's, a Tai Hang bar with a rotating selection of draft beers, the Beer Bay, which specializes in bottled British ales, and Dickens Bar, which has recently expanded its selection of craft beer on tap and in bottles. There's a growing array of retail shops, including the Bottle Shop, Craftissimo and Sips, that specialize in bottled craft beer. HK Brewcraft offers both bottles and takeaway draft beer. Importers Hop Leaf and Americraft both maintain extensive online shops, with home delivery.

Darren Hayward/The Wall Street Journal越來越多的酒吧開始安裝專供手工精釀啤酒的出酒龍頭系統。除了這個啤酒節，越來越多的酒吧也在提供手工啤酒，包括Roundhouse和Globe。Roundhouse擁有24個出酒龍頭，Globe除了提供各種瓶裝啤酒，還新安裝了一套擁有18個龍頭的啤酒系統。其他還有位於大坑區(Tai Hang)的Stone's酒吧、Beer Bay和Dickens Bar。Stone's輪換提供各類生啤，Beer Bay專營瓶裝英式麥酒，Dickens Bar近期擴大了龍頭和瓶裝精釀啤酒的種類。專營瓶裝手工啤酒的零售店也越來越多，包括Bottle Shop、 Craftissimo和Sips。HK Brewcraft既提供瓶裝啤酒，也有可帶走的生啤。進口商Hop Leaf 和Americraft都開設了大量網店，可送貨到家。