Specialty brewers tap into Chinese cities

"However, I am sure if Chinese brewers did more craft beer, people would eventually take to it and drink it. Right now though, it is only available in a few places like Great Leap in Beijing or Boxing Cat in Shanghai."

In Shanghai, Bund Brewery and Boxing Cat Brewery set the standard for microbrews and brewpubs, with Bund being around since 1994.

"We have been making traditional German-style beer since then," says Shen Yi, marketing manager for Bund Brewery. "We do good business but our customer base is mostly expats and Chinese business people."

Setzer says Great Leap gets quite a bit of local media coverage, but ultimately it's not the publicity that brings back the customers.

"If the beer isn't good, if the beer doesn't have consistency week to week and if isn't interesting, people aren't going to talk about it that much," Setzer says. "If we can put that extra effort into making a quality product, we can continue to fill up our courtyard before we're technically open."

Setzer says he would love to increase the amount of beer he produces, but he has already reached his limit due to the size of his production area. He is now looking at additional premises where he can increase his beer production.

Friesen says there are only a few microbreweries in China that have moved beyond being just a local brewpub offering beverages that rival in taste and quality to those of specialty beers.

"The difference between brewpubs and microbreweries is that brewpubs make beer that they sell to customers that come to their restaurant, their hotel or whatever," Setzer says.

Microbreweries make beer not only for their associated pubs or restaurants, but for sale to other pubs.

And right now, Setzer hopes that in the future, his small brewery can expand - selling his specialty beers to more other outlets.