I love seeing mid-grade or cheap American brands go upscale when entering the Chinese market. Prior to this I have mostly seen it in the hotel market (Holiday Inn, Howard Johnson). Best of luck to PBR--at 300 RMB it really is a bargain compared to premium baijiu.

I find it very interesting that many American brands are able to sell in the Chinese upmarket relative to their native market, such as Pizza Hut, old Navy, now the 1844, among others. Is it due to lack of investigative journalism on the true identity of the brands, powerful marketing strategy, lack of confidence in the Chinese consumers, or the now increasing need for luxury goods to show off status?

"There's no place I'd rather be than right here, with my red neck, white socks and Blue Ribbon beer..."

"China's beer market has an annual sales volume of 40 million tons. So why is the price of beer always around 5 or 10 yuan?"

Ummmm, because that's a fair price for beer? And 300 rmb a bottle is totally ridiculous when compared to the price of even the most refined craft beers, and moreover, the average income in China.

This guy is completely muddled: the question he should be asking himself is "why should it be 300 yuan?". The justification could be the oak casks, but...

If anyone wants to try oak casked beer, I recommend Innis & Gunn: produced on a relatively small scale in Scotland using genuine oak casks, it comes in a number of varieties and has been recommended by Gordon Ramsey. Cost: equivalent of about 20 RMB per bottle.

This is just blatant profiteering - but a very interesting post for what it reveals about the superficial nature of a culture of supposed high-end consumption. Luckily it seems 1844 didn't catch on...

@C. Lou: Yes.

不求最好，但求最贵！

It's also interesting to see the popularization of brands like H&M and Uniqlo as choices for the hip middle-class, some of whom are white-collar workers. And obviously, these brands win out over local 'white-collar' brands and traditional outfits like the ones you would find at 百货大楼 in Beijing or the Friendship store. It's particularly striking when, if you live in the West, these stores are not the most sophisticated -- often targeted at high school girls and boys, no less.

Who would spend 300RMB for a PBR?? And does it come with the usual hangover? I will never spend more than 50 cents on a can PBR.

不求最好，但求最贵！ (Hey you stole Leica's line!)

who know, may be it does taste better than regular PBR. I guess it's same way BMW and Mercedes are just regular cars in Germany, but luxury car everywhere else, Toyota Celsior get a premium treatment in overseas.

It's a popular marketing strategy, especially when your marketing segment is heavily saturated. Though a better approach will be buy a failing but still respected brand in Europe, then try to sell it in these market. It's would have been more credible. And it is commonly done in the wine industry.

I remember buying aluminum cans of PBR in Fuzhou back in 2004. No way to know if was legitimate or not, but it tasted as crisp and refreshing as the real thing.

I came here from the New Yorker: PBR (and Coors Light, the yin zidan) was one of the first US beers in China. I certainly had one in 1992. I'd guess that of all the import beers, they are the most Chinese with regards to marketing, staff, etc. Evan Osmos in the New Yorker seems to be under the impression that this is some kind of new thing, and unique to PBR -- but they're just following the general trend here, which is to make your beer in levels. Snow, Harbin, Yanjing, Qingdao, all have a cheap street version, a restaurant version, and a super-expensive restaurant version -- I think it comes from Qingdao selling domestic and export versions, and people at nice dinners wanting whatever 'the best' was.

That may be true, Dirk, but the PBR 1844 is priced at another level altogether. 300 RMB a bottle, retail (without the restaurant markup), outpaces the multi-level pricing trend. Even diners who are used to flaunting their wealth aren't going to be too pleased when they are charged 2,000 RMB for ordering six bottles of the "best".

300RMB? Too much.

Beer choices in China are developing, this will be the last product I would consider when travelling in China.