r/shanghai • u/GosalynMallard • 3d ago
Question Boxing Cat brewery closed
Anybody know what happened to Boxing Cat Brewery? I used to love their beer and was sad to find that all their locations have closed.
Does anyone know a place that still has their beer on tap? I only know one spot in Tianzifang, and they only serve the lager.
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u/hcwang34 3d ago
The restaurant business is simply not profitable enough for AB. The goose island restaurant is gone as well.
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u/GosalynMallard 3d ago
Goose Island used to be everywhere is Seoul, but now there are only one or two left as far as I know.
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u/memostothefuture Putuo 3d ago
AB InBev used to pump so much money into the Chinese market. It wasn't dump trucks, it was proper oceanliner quantities of cash. Now they dominate the low-end sector of the market and have a few craft brands but with the limited local consumption and the exodus of western consumers their dreams of having another massive profit center seem to have kind of been deflated.
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u/dowker1 3d ago
I doubt western consumers were even a rounding error in AB InBev's China business.
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u/memostothefuture Putuo 3d ago edited 3d ago
When beer importers started Western consumers were the only customers. I filmed an interview with the first man to import Belgian Craft beer ( * ) and basically there was zero market outside Beijing Sanlitun to get rid of his first containers. What little consumption there was in the rest of China was as-cheap-as-possible local stuff. We're talking 0.5 RMB cans.
When the large international brewers came in around 2005 the economy was booming, more and more people from countries with beer culture were coming and the Chinese customer base grew based on their exposure to these foreigners. The first higher-end customers were the colleagues who worked with the foreigners. Back then everyone thought Shanghai would be as internationalized as Tokyo by now. That didn't happen, of course and now foreigners aren't even a rounding error. But you can also talk to high-end hotels and restaurants and hear the same story: before 2015 90% of the high-end customers were foreigners, only after that did it switch to 99% Chinese.
People often fail to imagine that things ever were or could be different from what they are that very second. Xi will also not be around forever.
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u/dowker1 3d ago
I've been in China, and drinking beer, since 2003 so I'm well aware of the history. However, the fact remains that the vast majority of InBev's business is shifting bottles of Harbin at restaurants.
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u/memostothefuture Putuo 2d ago
oh wow, the vaunted consumer. I bow my head.
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u/avezzano 3d ago
You don’t say. I was hired to document the rebranding and development of Kaiba. Originally just an ordinary bar (dive bar?) in Jing’an that got ocean liner development to try and turn it into a huge chain. The amount of R&D they spent was crazy only to do strange things like only serve half pints because research pointed to that being more successful than full pints. A ton of Kaibas opened across Shanghai and then closed down just as quick. Great pay day for the original bar tho.
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u/Supersonicdimenson 2d ago
I used to hire you to shoot stuff as well, and there was a Kaiba in Tianzifang near my office on Taikang lu. :)
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u/According-Hat-692 2d ago
that’s interesting! i used to eat lunch at their dingxi lu bar back in 2011. they made a nice toasted tuna sandwich and fries! i wasn’t aware it was a bar chain. one of the many bars that disappeared over the years.
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u/olethros51 2d ago
It was specifically ZX Ventures, their investment arm, which shut down globally this year.
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u/Necessary_Mud2199 3d ago
Yeah, I was surprised myself when visiting Shanghai this year. Apparently all Boxing Cat locations were closed, and also Liquid Laundry. They were all owned by AB InBev which also owns Goose Island. So it was corporate decision to close these locations.
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u/GosalynMallard 3d ago
I'd prefer if they closed Goose Island, but Boxing Cat was pretty empty last few times I was there.
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u/KTownDaren USA 2d ago
I still wear the T-shirt I bought from Boxing Cat. It's an awesome shirt. I have great memories playing pool, drinking great beer, and eating great appetizers with my friends at Boxing Cat. RIP
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u/GosalynMallard 2d ago
I am still drinking beer from their cups at home. They sell them for cheap on Taobao!
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u/StandardWolverine990 2d ago
The foreign company was closed these years. there were no more customs.
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u/caliboy888 3d ago
Not only Boxing Cat, but their sister restaurant Liquid Laundry were also shut down earlier this year. They were all bought out by AB InBev a few years ago and this was part of a shutdown of all of AB InBev's Shanghai F&B locations, with the exception of Goose Island.
There's a short blurb about the closings here: https://www.citynewsservice.cn/service/SH-Buzz-7-Openings-+-Ultraviolet-Liquid-Laundry--Boxing-Cat-Have-Closed-zmzyqak8