Beerhouse at the Foot of Heiyou Mountain Part II

Daniel

When talking about the start-up idea, Daniel still believed it was an adventurous move. 「Before I did this, I had never made beer and seldom drank it. I preferred wine when I was in Germany. Wine is not expensive in Europe. A bottle of good wine only costs 20 to 25 yuan. But I』ve fallen in love with beer since I came to China.」

Daniel is fond of photography and foreign languages. The first picture is the first glass of beer made by him.

In the restaurant, customers like to talk to him, children in particular. He enjoys talking to different people. He is very tall, so he often crouches down to talk to the sitting customers. 「Life in this city is leisured and cozy. I』m a superstar in Karamay now. I』ve been on TV, and a lot of people know me,」 Daniel said. Many locals ranging from cab drivers to construction workers have heard of him on radio or TV. He has known more people in Karamay within a half year than he had in Germany in 30 years.

「I』m in charge of the business in the restaurant, and Wang is responsible for logistics, such as purchase and marketing, though he also minds business in the house because he can communicate well. He likes to give orders, while I like to befriend people. Back in university, we lived in the same building with another seventeen Chinese and two Germans,」 Daniel said.

If the water is not hot enough, the dishes cannot be cleaned. Daniel cares about things as trivial as this. He spends most of his time beside fermentation tanks, measuring the sugar content of the beer inside with test tubes and other equipment.

Daniel thinks the life in the restaurant is more interesting than that in the chemical laboratory in Germany.

Daniel was examining closely a new beer glass. Everybody in the restaurant admires his German-style meticulousness.

Daniel and Wang Shilei were buying materials and equipment online. If the business remains brisk, they are going to expand the restaurant.

Daniel says that though there aren』t many foreigners in Karamay, quite a few people can speak a little bit English.

Daniel is very popular in the restaurant and enjoys talking to different people.

Daniel wanted to introduce the Stuttgart Beer Festival to Karamay. And the German organizers immediately agreed, and said they wanted to promote cultural exchanges between China that has been steeped in its spirit culture and Germany that has a strong beer culture.

「I majored in chemistry. What I do in the restaurant is making beer. I am the brewing instructor in the kitchen. Making beer is sort of related to my major, such as hops brewing. Shortly after the restaurant was open, I got many new ideas, such as making ice cream. But these ideas are yet to be translated into reality.」

「I had worked in a German company for eight years. They gave me good money. My job was about numbers. My work in the chemical lab was monotonous. What I had to do was checking the products, checking if the chemical process was going smoothly, and if there was anything wrong with pH. It is more interesting here. Everyday my work is different.」

「I don』t like the first course on the menu: pork leg. It』s a bit too greasy. But it』s popular with diners here. We can sell at least 20 pork legs every day. People in Karamay are rich, and they like to eat outside. They like traveling, too. Business here is brisk. To ensure timely supply, making beer here only takes three weeks compared with two to three months in Germany. Our beer sells very well.」

「I like dapanji (Big Plate Chicken), noodles with soy sauce, kebabs and wheat gluten. Karamay is a small city built on an oil field, which is very different from other cities. Life here is easy and slow-paced. There are only 25 foreigners here, including Americans, Australians and Ukrainians. Only a handful of people here can speak English fluently. But many can make themselves understood with simple English as many young people in Karamay have studied in or traveled to other countries.」

「I don』t feel lonely in the restaurant. When I』m in my apartment, I would play the guitar, read or chat with my friends online. When I was in Germany, I used to jog three times a week. And I went fishing. I had a personal homepage, but I don』t here. I』m not sure how long I』m going to stay here. Maybe I will find a girl and settle down here. I』m single now, but I don』t like matchmaking. I hope to meet my better half unexpectedly. I can teach her German. Girls here are conservative and most of them have a modeled life. Many hope to get married before 25, and then buy a big apartment and start a family. But in Europe, girls don』t have a fixed life trajectory.」

「I』m 32 now. But actually, I don』t have a free moment to spare here.」

Summer in Karamay is hot and dry. Streams of customers walk into the restaurant as it cools down after the sun sets. The homemade beer of the restaurant is very popular and often sells out.

Wang Shilei』s everyday routine now is making purchase, teaching class and working at the restaurant, busy yet full.

In St. Petersburg, which lies at the coast of the Baltic Sea, local people have a strong love for German homemade beer. The beerhouse named after the great proletariat leader Karl Marx is decorated in the Bavarian style. The counter exudes the aroma of beer. Fresh beer foaming out of the bottle, sausages and pork legs are stars there. Under birch trees, business and casual parties are going lively with many empty bottles sitting on the table.

A young man was playing the accordion, and elderly people around were singing and dancing along with him. He got his reward during the break: a glass of fresh German beer. A litter of beer costs 380 rubles or about 38 yuan.

People of Karamay

In the past, the streets of Karamay would be empty when locals were at work. But now, streets are lined with shops. For the third-generation oil field workers, however, a secure job, a car and an apartment are still considered as the prerequisites of a decent life.

Wang Shilei』s father-in-law was assigned to an oil and gas storage terminal after graduating from university in 1982. He was a section chief and was bought out in 2000. He understands technology and marketing well. Sitting under a sun shade outside the restaurant, he said that the super of the creative industry park had sneakily cut off the power supply of the Whisker』s Bar next door because it was behind its rent. However, it didn』t pay in time because the buildings in the park leak when it rains. The other day he spotted the super, but the super ran off immediately.

「Most people here are unsophisticated.」 When Wang told his father-in-law his idea of opening this restaurant, he was greeted with support. And his father-in-law even talked Wang』s parents into agreeing with this idea. To show her support, Wang』s wife began to learn accounting.

Daniel wrote a letter to the vice mayor of Stuttgart who is in charge of tourism and cultural issues, telling him his idea of introducing the Beer Festival to Karamay. He got a positive reply very soon. And the German side even offered to provide waiters for the festival. Stuttgart also jointly held the Beer Festival with local authorities in Singapore. The purpose of the German organizers is 「to promote cultural exchanges between China that has been steeped in its spirit culture and Germany that has a strong beer culture.」 The numbers behind the Festival better speak for its importance: The 2013 Stuttgart Beer Festival attracted seven million visitors around the world who consumed six million liters of beer, 114 bulls, 58 calves and five hundred thousand roasted chickens, generating one billion euros of revenue for Munich within just two weeks.

Wang』s father-in-law once went to Germany, where his friend had a company and wanted to have him in the company for technology work. But he eventually turned down the offer and came back. Soon he was bought out and started his own technology company. He said Germans only had two kinds of food with beer: pork legs and potatoes, both wrapped in tin foil and tasting good. German girls can each finish three liters of beer together with one pork leg and one potato at one time. The Essen Restaurant also serves these two dishes. He sometimes would take some food to-go and enjoy it with his friends somewhere else because he does not want to cause troubles for his son-in-law who is already very busy.

When Wang told his father-in-law his idea of opening this restaurant, he was greeted with support. And his father-in-law even talked Wang』s parents into agreeing with this idea. Wang』s father-in-law was assigned to an oil and gas storage terminal after graduating from university in 1982. He was a section chief and was bought out in 2000. Then he had his own technology company.

A litter of beer is sold at 38 yuan in the Essen Restaurant. Since the beer is often in short supply, the next key step is to put the beer into mass production. The restaurant has not been listed on Meituan, a consumer review service application, and the beer cannot be booked. Some customers take their beer home in plastic bags or thermos. Draft beer will lose its flavor during long-distance transport. Exposed in the air for more than three hours, the viable yeasts will change the flavor of the beer. This is also a difference between draft beer and bottled beer: Pasteurized beer is easy to store and transport as there are no viable yeasts, but tastes very different from draft beer.

Reproduction expansion is not only about venue and equipment but also the improvement of automatic monitoring system. How to reduce Daniel』s work intensity is the next topic as he spends a lot of time cleaning the jar residues. The restaurant has attracted more and more investors and along the street, there have been more beerhouses that use similar brewing equipment. According to Wang, 「In the short term, there will be competition, but in the long run, it is good for us because the street will be turned into a well-known beer street.」 Since winter began, they have seldom worked into midnight except on the Christmas Eve. Despite this, there have been new dishes on the menu, such as Polish Duck Leg, Spanish Chicken, Mexican Beef Taco, and Italian Bolognaise Spaghetti. And from this December, they have also joined Meituan, providing discounted set meals.

When the Chinese President Xi Jinping was enjoying beer in a country bar during his visit to the UK, Daniel successfully made his own brown beer; when Premier Li Keqiang was treating German Chancellor Merkel with dark beer in Anhui Province, the first glass of dark beer was served in the Essen Restaurant. Officials of the National People』s Congress and the United Front Work Department never stop visiting the restaurant. 「President Xi says it is important to unite returned oversea students, so I guess the officials are here to unite us,」 said Wang. Before long, the union of oversea students in Karamay was established in the restaurant.

The moment the big glass of beer is served, the aroma begins to permeate, lightening diners』 mood. This sweet aroma is not new to people from Xinjiang. Along the expressways in north Xinjiang, there are many large hops farms, and Wusu Beer is served in all restaurants, big or small. 「There is no honey in it. It is different from kvass, a low-alcohol drink popular in Russia. There are only hops, barley, wheat and yeasts.」 Usually, Daniel does not immediately tell his customers what the beer contains, because he is patient and confident enough to wait for their own comments before, while and after drinking. Though violence related to beer is hardly seen now, there is still a long way to go before forming a real beer culture. 「I think my customers drink too fast, faster than I make beer. Instead, they should slow down and really taste it,」 said Daniel.

His eyes were twinkling with laughter. 「I had a rigid timetable in Germany. A shower, for example, should take five minutes. After I got off work, I taught myself other stuff for six hours every day. But now I don』t even have a timetable, because I don』t know what will happen five minutes later. People think Germans are serious,」 Daniel laughed. 「That』s basically true.」

An English corner initiated by Daniel has been formed in the restaurant. They get together at 5:00 p.m. every Saturday. Daniel understands five languages, and speaks three, including English, German and Latin. He learned French for three years and Russian for four years about 15 years ago.

There are a lot of yeasts in draft beer. To ensure quality and prevent other bacteria from breeding, many hops will be put in to make the beer easier to store. Hops can make beer clearer, extend its use-by date, and give it the typical bitter taste and sweet smell.

Heat the sprouted barley, filter it, add hops and then heat again, then you can get condensed beer liquid. Cool the liquid, add water and yeasts, put them into the fermentation jar, and wait for five to eight days, then you will get fresh beer. Daniel has to painstakingly clean the residues after every batch is brewed.

「I don』t go around too much in Karamay, only frequenting the Century Park. In Germany, I used to hang out a lot with my friends to explore new things in the city. After my work gets easier, I want to see more of this city. Isn』t it a good idea?」

Daniel and Wang went to the site of the first oil well in Karamay. Wang marveled at the stainless steel sculpture 「Big Oil Bubble.」 Sixty years ago, the city was a vast Gobi Desert. Nothing on the ground could hold the strong wind. In 1955, Wang』s grandfather was seconded by the Baoji Oil Machinery Factory to Xinjiang and could only live in a mud dwelling. Now the first oil well is surrounded by high-rise buildings. In Heiyou Mountain, which was formed by asphalt that had leaked out of the ground, a bunch of primary school students, led by their teacher, were visiting the site. A lot of small bubbles rose to the surface of the oil pond when these excited children stomped around the pond. Wang said when he was in school, he would be asked to write an essay every time they visited the site. But now, in his mind, the oil pond looks more like a jar of draft dark beer with thick flavor and beautiful foam.

This is the 「West Lake」 of Karamay. On May 6, 2015, Wang Shilei』s grandmother passed away at the age of 80. In 1995, Wang』s grandfather was seconded by the Baoji Oil Machinery Factory to Xinjiang as one of the earliest oil workers there.