Let’s Drink and Make Craft Beer

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Craft beer is becoming more popular all over the world and that is also true here in Hangzhou. There is a new bar that wants to be part of the craft movement. Let’s introduce to you Ray Brew House. Once in a while, a beer pub opens up with something new to offer. Ray Brew House wants to be known within the beer drinking community in Hangzhou. Ray Brew House is going to serve beer made with rich ingredients and some interesting flavour ideas for their customers and offering those customers ways to make their own craft beer.

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Ray Brew House is brand new in the Hangzhou scene. They have been open for just two weeks now. If you like freshly made beer, then this place will surely satisfy you. They have the best beer brewing equipment from a local Chinese company from Shandong, while their high quality brewing materials are imported from Europe.

Since they just opened their stock is at three beers. Two are on tap and one is bottled. The Black Light Stout (28RMB 330 ML) (58RMB 550 ML) (160 RMB 2L), which was very smooth to drink and full of rich dark roast. The beer is made with aroma, oats, chocolate wheat, and baked barley. The second one is their APA, In Lake Guihua Ale (28RMB 330ML) (58RMB 550 ML) (160 RMB 2L). Made from Hangzhou’s own osmanthus flower, which gives a sweet and fruity flavour. This beer was very refreshing. You can really notice the high quality ingredients. The taste of its sugariness was exceptionally pleasing. The last beer was their bottled Wheat beer (30RMB). The freshness and texture made it quite enjoyable to drink. It had a blast of fresh flavour. Soon, they will have eight beers on tap that are all reasonably priced. The beer menu will include the usual stalwarts: Black Beer, IPA, APA, White beer, and Lager beer. They also feature the brew master beer, this beer will be a beer chosen and made by a brew master or a group of brew masters. Brew masters will offer seasonal choices among other favourites. Finally, the last beer is a your beer!

▲ Black Light Stout

▲ Lake Guihua Ale

▲ Wheat Beer

Customers will get the chance to brew their own beer, which will be available for purchasing at Ray Brew House. The customer brewing program is a neat service. If you have a dream to brew a specific type of beer, simply make an appointment. The minimum amount you can brew is 30L (600RMB). The cost is 20RMB per Litre up to a maximum of 50L. It takes about three weeks to complete the brew. Bottles and labels are available for an additional cost. So better start thinking of a new beer flavour before someone else does.

The owners are a team of three. They were extremely polite and fun to crush back a few beers with. Ray is from Lishui, a three hour drive from Hangzhou. He is a creative genius when it comes to photography and video design. Ask him to see some of his work on his phone! He first fell in love with the idea of opening his own bar when he visited England with his wife years ago. They were in York England, and ended up in a small local pub where they met an interesting 83 year old man who has been going to this same small pub since he was 18 years old. Ray thought it was so touching that this person enjoyed going to the same place for that many years. That was the trigger point for Ray to decide to go open his own brew house. He wants to offer a small cozy place for people to go and exchange interesting stories with new friends. The second owner is Phil, he and Ray attended the same school together, which is where they met. He owns his own IT company. Phil’s English is great. He studied all by himself. Phil loves the idea to have a nice place to bring beer drinkers together. Phil and Ray have been drinking buddies for years, that is why they decided to team up together to open their own brew house. The final member of the team is Sean and he is a brew master from Taiwan. Sean has experience brewing beer in Taiwan, Shanghai, and Beijing. He has experience being a beer judge for beer festivals. He is the mastermind behind the beer they brew in house. Sean is well known among brew masters in China.

Ray Brew house wants to open plenty of locations in Hangzhou in the near future, and hope to build the craft beer drinking community in Hangzhou and across China. The chance to own a pub for people to meet new friends and enjoy high quality beer is just one of their top priorities. One other reason for opening up a beer bar is for customers and beer masters to come together and brew some creative ideas for creating new flavourful beers. They want people to try limited edition beers to enhance their beer drinking experience. The environment in the bar is very peaceful, music is at the right volume level, it’s very well lit, and has that cozy feeling with a touch of warmness. All of the seats are extremely comfortable with soft cushions to let you relax properly. This is a great place to unwind and enjoy a beer with fellow beer buddies.

Located at 234 Middle Zhonghe Road in downtown Hangzhou. Not so far from the night market, the bar is on a side street. If you are coming from line 2 on the subway, it is just a fifteen minutes walk south of North Zhonghe Road metro station. It won’t be hard to miss, they have a huge window displaying their in house brewing equipment. Depending which way you are driving from you may need to make a U-turn. There is a hotel right beside the bar, so if you want to drive there, then get a room at the hotel for a safer option that is available. It is on the east side of Middle Zhonghe Road. Right next to the elevated road. A great place to meet your friends for a refreshing drink.