Monday, July 31, 2006

"Beer says, 'what'?", ... "What?"

So last week I was at a business lunch over on Yangmadao Island (ok, kinda redundant since Yang = rearing, ma= horse, dao = island, so I just said "rearing horse island Island". Actually they mean "Horse rearing Island" because the emporor used to raise his horses there. Ok, back to the post) and I noticed that the restaurant had a stout beer on its shelves, somewhat resembling Guiness.

Well, I know as a business lunch, there would be plenty of "Ganbei-ing" and I thought a changed to the normal Yantai lager would be a nice change, so I took advantage of predicable Chinese hospitality and said, "oh, I didn't know Yantai beer made a stout!", knowing full well I had just ensured they would order if for me. If you show any type of interested in something, it will be given to you immediately and without question, often so often that you soon become sick at the mention of those stir-fried silkworm pupae you were so fond of before.

As I sat and ate my lunch, I quietly studied the bottle of my Yantai stout beer and curiously found that it is called "Hams" beer. "Strange", I thought, "I hope there are no pork by-products in this beer." (Hey, this is China... and I've had a beer at Porters Pub in the good old US of A that tasted like beef jerky (go mug club, go!).

Anyway, turns out I was wrong. I studied the label more and came across the fine print, in fantastic Chinglish no less. No, I am not making this up. When I am at work tomorrow and have access to a scanner, I will post a pic of the label.

"Hams Beer"
"Hormone About Man in Society of Business"

I guess their target market is business-minded men? Well, either that or something dirty involving gigolos...

And it wasn't half bad, either!