Beer drinkers warned they may get more than they ordered at the bar

    Fake "foreign" beers sold in some Beijing bars could cause sickness because of insanitary conditions in the brewing process, according to enforcement officers with the bureau of quality supervision in Chaoyang district.

    The area is home to Sanlitun - one of the most well known bar streets in the city - as well as many luxury hotels.

    "These beers are produced in small workshops with no disinfection process," said Wei Jinsheng, head of the enforcement team.

    "Customers in bars usually wouldn't check what they are drinking, which raises the chance of getting a disease."

    In a recent raid on a rented house in Wuliqiao village, officers found four men making counterfeit beer that they hoped to pass off as Budweiser, Corona and Carlsberg.

    The men were filling empty foreign beer bottles with Chinese beer and resealing them using a bottle-capping machine. Officers seized more than 10 boxes of adulterated beer.

    They said Chaoyang is known as a base of fake beer makers.

    In 2007, an adulterated beer production workshop raided in Chaoyang contained 7,000 boxes of phony foreign beer.

    According to Wei, it is easy to pass off fake beer because many brands have a similar taste.

    "Some people add water to light beers, such as Corona, which is quite popular among women in bars," he said.

    Officers said fake foreign beers are sold to bars for around 7 or 8 yuan a bottle and sold on to customers for 30 to 40 yuan a bottle.

    In 2009, the team handled about 15 cases related to the production of adulterated liquor, including beer, Chinese white wine and foreign wine.

    "I believe some bar owners know they are adulterated," Wei said. "But since they are cheap, there is still big demand from the bars."

    However, bar operators insisted they would not sell bogus beer.

    A man who answered the phone at "The Club" said they "never sell adulterated beers".

    "How can we do that? Our customers can tell when they taste our beers," he said.

    And a woman at a bar in Sanlitun, called Boys and Girls, also said they would not sell counterfeit brews. She told METRO the bar had purchased beer from a place called "Dinglixin", before another woman took over the phone and said beers were "ordered directly from the manufacturer".

    He Liang, customer service manager from Babyface, which operates one of the largest bar chains in Chaoyang and other parts of the city, estimated that about 100 bottles of foreign beers are sold every weekday in a single chain bar.

    Before the Olympic Games, many adulterated beers were produced in Datun, Chaoyang district, according to the enforcement team. Now, the sites are scattered in the outskirts of Beijing.

    Some bar owners say they are actually the victims of the producers of adulterated alcohol.

    Chad Lager has been running a bar named FUBAR in Sanlitun for three years. He said the fake alcohol problems seem to run along the distribution chain and employees.

    "Most of the bars do not try to make fake alcohols. At least the foreign bars I've dealt with. But sometimes an employee buys a bottle of fake Absolut, brings it to work and steals your bottle of real Absolut. Or, it could be delivery drivers or further down the chain," Lager said.

    Garry Lu, director of Carlsberg China Marketing Team, remains optimistic about their anti-counterfeit system.

    "Our marketing representatives in Beijing do regular checks on bars' Carlsberg stock," Lu said. "We only found five cases of counterfeit beer in Beijing in 2009."

    Wang Yuanyuan, a frequent bar-goer, told METRO drinkers may have difficulty telling the real thing from the counterfeit brews.

    "Well, I cannot tell the brand from the taste," Wang said. "I don't think there is much difference between them. If I don't order a cocktail, I would accept any beer handed to me."

    Zheng Tieqiu is another self-described "bar-worm".

    "I cannot tell the beer brand by taste, that's why I choose to buy foreign wine instead of beers," Zheng said, adding that a substantial number of apparently foreign alcohol may not be genuine.

    啤酒飲用者被告知他們在酒吧飲用的啤酒可能有假。

    朝陽區質量技術監督局執法人員稱，在北京某些酒吧銷售的假"外國"啤酒可能導致嘔吐，因為這些啤酒是在不符合衛生標準的條件下釀造的。

    出現假啤酒的區域主要集中在三里屯（本市有名的酒吧街之一）以及許多豪華酒店。

    執法隊隊長Wei jinsheng稱，"這些啤酒是在沒有消毒措施的小作坊生產的。酒吧的顧客通常不能辨別真假，這增加了得病的可能。"

    最近，在五里橋村的出租房內，執法人員發現了4個男子正在制造假冒偽劣啤酒，他們計劃以百威（Budweiser）、嘉士伯（Corona）和科羅娜（Carlsberg）的商標銷售。

    他們正在向用空的國產啤酒瓶充當的外國啤酒瓶中灌裝啤酒，然后用一個瓶子壓蓋機密封。 執法人員查封了超過10箱假冒偽劣啤酒。

    據說，朝陽區是一個假啤酒生產基地。

    在2007年，在朝陽區了搗毀了一個假酒生產工廠，共查封7000箱假的外國啤酒。

    據姓Wei的官員稱，因為許多商標的啤酒味道相似，所以他們很容易銷售這些假酒。

    許多人常加水稀釋啤酒，如Corona,這在酒吧的女士中是相當受歡迎的。

    執法人員稱，假的外國啤酒賣給酒吧每瓶約為7元或8元，可到了消費者手中每瓶賣30-40元。

    在2009年，執法隊共查獲生產假冒偽劣液體事件15起，包括啤酒、國產白葡萄酒和外國葡萄酒。

    我認為某些酒吧知道有些酒是假的。但是因為它們便宜，仍然有較大的需求。

    然而，酒吧經營者卻強調他們不銷售假酒。

    一名在俱樂部的男士在電話回答中稱，"他們從未銷售過假啤酒".

    "我們怎么會那樣做？ 我們的顧客如果嘗到我們的酒有問題會告發我們的。"

    在三里屯一個稱為"Boys and Girls"的酒吧中，一名女士也稱她們從不銷售假啤酒。 她告訴執法人員說酒吧的啤酒是從一個叫"Dinglixin"的地方購買，但之前另一名女士通過電話說啤酒是直接從廠家訂購。

    何亮，Babyface酒吧的客戶服務經理，其經營著朝陽區最大的酒吧連鎖店之一和本市其它地區的酒吧，他估計大約每周僅在一個連鎖酒吧就能銷售約100瓶外國啤酒。

    據執法人員稱，奧林匹克運動會之前，許多假冒偽劣啤酒是產于朝陽區的大屯。現在，加工點分散在北京的郊區。

    許多酒吧擁有者稱，他們實際上是假酒的受害者。

    Chad Lager在三里屯地區經營一個名為FUBAR的酒吧已有三年。 他說，"假酒問題似乎與雇傭者有一定聯系。大部分的酒吧不會試圖銷售假酒，至少是我掌管的外國酒吧不會。 但是，有時雇員購買了假酒，用它偷偷更換了酒吧購買的真酒。或者，可能采用其它方式促使事態的進一步發展。"

    Garry Lu,Carlsberg的中國市場總監，仍然對他們的防假體系保持樂觀。 他說，我們在北京的銷售代表定期檢查酒吧的Carisberg標示。在2009年，我們在北京僅僅發現5次假啤酒事件。

    王圓圓，一個頻繁出入酒吧者，告訴執法人員，飲酒者不敢說出假啤酒的真相。

    王說，"我不能從味覺上辨別啤酒的優劣，我認為它們之間沒有很大差異。如果我不要雞尾酒，我將接受遞給我的任何一種啤酒。"

    Zheng Tieqiu 是另一位自稱"酒吧蟲"者。 他說，"我不能憑味覺來判斷優劣，這是我選擇購買外國葡萄酒而不是啤酒的原因".他還補充說，"大量標示為外國酒的啤酒不一定是真的。"