Foam palace

Food at Slow Boat includes a spicy "Aztec chocolate" dessert, the signature "fryburger" (above) and sausage platters that go with any beer.

"None of us are Budweiser or Yanjing," says one craft-beer fan, who pulls taps part-time at another recently opened brewpub. "Fresh beer is still a small segment of the market, so everybody needs to promote the value of craft beer at least as much as their own brands."

How would-be beer moguls go about it varies. Trailblazers started slowly, while today, glossy beer bars seem to sprout like autumn mushrooms: Legend, No 9 and Peiping Machine Brewing are among the recent Beijing openings this year－with more coming in the expat haven of Sanlitun alone.

However, there are other business models. Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Group, for example, plans to launch four facilities to produce craft beer and use online distribution channels to sell it.

In Shanghai, industry watchers say there are 200 varieties of craft beer at high-end groceries, brewery-run outlets, boutique dining bars or through home-delivery services.

Wang Deliang, brewery research director with the China National Research Institute of Food & Fermentation Industries, told China Daily last month that investments in the craft beer segment have been rising in recent years because of potential profits of up to 30 percent in the growing niche market. Because production volumes are low, investment is low compared to other alcohol enterprises.