BEER OF THE MONTH
FAT DOLMA
Boozy Offerings from the ‘Roof of the World’ By Ryan Gandolfo
Our friends from Yunnan know a thing or two about brewing high-quality craft beers.
T
he Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery, which claims to be the largest independent brewery in the PRC, is located on the legendary Tibetan Plateau. Hailed as the ‘water tower of Asia,’ the region offers some of the cleanest, brewer-friendly water in all of Asia. Admittedly excited about sampling some smallish-batch suds from the ‘Roof of the World,’ we ordered a selection of Shangri-La Brewery’s grain-based beverages from Taobao. When they arrived, we promptly cracked open a bottle of Fat Dolma double bock wheat beer (second from the left), which took our taste buds on a wild and flavorful ride to the Himalayas. Named after an overweight Tibetan woman called Dolma (we think...), who presumably resides somewhere in China’s Tibetan region, the brew comes in dark, 330-mililiter bottles adorned with a colorful label featuring a multi-armed woman (Dolma?) rising from a blooming flower. At 8.2% ABV, Fat Dolma is a golden-colored beer that boasts a malt and honey aroma and succeeds at being both heavy-hitting and smooth at the same time. Capped off with a sweetish aftertaste, thanks in large part to the hints of banana and mango, Fat Dolma is a real beauty of a beer and highly sessionable. The bronze-medal winner at the 2016 China Beer Awards, this beverage is definitely one to share with your beer-drinking friends and family, and can be best enjoyed at a summer barbecue on that ‘off-limits’ rooftop you frequent.
Shangri-La Brewery’s Fat Dolma can be purchased on their official WeChat Store or Taobao in variety packs starting at RMB75. Search for ‘香格里拉啤酒 (xiang ge li la pi jiu).’
WWW.THATSMAGS.COM | JUNE 2019 | SZ | 49