The Shangri-la Highland Craft Brewery is China's first fully licensed craft

brewing company A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of b ...

. The company is based in

Shangri-La City Shangri-La (; ) is a county-level city in northwestern Yunnan province, China, named after the mythical land depicted in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon''. It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is border ...

, which is located in

China's China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

north-western

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

province. This area is known as the

Dêqên Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture is an autonomous prefecture in northwestern Yunnan province, China. Covering an area of , it is bordered by the Tibet Autonomous Region to the northwest, Sichuan province to the northeast, and other parts of ...

History

With the support of the government, Shangri-La City's first beer brewery was founded in 2009 by Songtsen Gyalzur. The initial investment was expanded in 2013, and formal production began in June 2015. The brewery was established in an intact cultural and natural environment in cooperation with Swiss and German beer experts. In order to meet the annual needs of China's growing domestic craft beer market, the brewery management decided to expand the production line and began building a new brewery in Shangri-La Industrial Park in 2013. The Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery applies German beer purity laws, or

Reinheitsgebot The (; ) is a series of regulations limiting the ingredients in beer in Germany and the states of the former Holy Roman Empire. The best known version of the law was adopted in Bavaria in 1516 (by William IV), but similar regulations predate the ...

. Shangri-La Beer's CEO, Songtsen Gyalzur, was born and raised in Switzerland. His mother was an orphan who moved to Germany and began her studies after her adoption by a young German doctor couple. At the age of 36, she returned to her hometown in Tibet and established its first orphanage, "Tendol Gyalzur Children's Charity," and she still continues to care for children. Songtsen Gyalzur opted to give up his real estate company in Switzerland and return home to

to assist his mother with the orphanage. He started a business in his hometown,

, to support his mother's project and address the employment issue of the young people who grew up at the orphanage. Songtsen Gyalzur established the Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery, which employs young people from the orphanage and supports local agricultural development. Eighty percent of the brewery's employees are people who were raised at the orphanage. Part of the company's proceeds are donated to the orphanage’s daily operations, and a highland barley planting base of 583000 square meters was established locally.

Location

The Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery is located on the Tibetan plateau at 3300 meters above sea level in the city of Shangri-La.

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon'' by the British author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently ...

is called in Tibetan

Gyalthang Shangri-La (; ) is a county-level city in northwestern Yunnan province, China, named after the mythical land depicted in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon''. It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is border ...

or Gyaitang, which is reputedly the Valley of the Blue Moon and means "Royal plains". This ancient name is reflected in the Tibetan Pinyin name of the town of Jiantang (建塘; Jiàntáng), the county seat. Due to its location on 3300 meters above sea level. In the second half of the 20th century,

was called

Zhongdian Shangri-La (; ) is a county-level city in northwestern Yunnan province, China, named after the mythical land depicted in the 1933 novel '' Lost Horizon''. It is the capital and largest city of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is border ...

() but was renamed

on December 17, 2001, after the fictional land of

in the 1933 James Hilton novel

Lost Horizon ''Lost Horizon'' is a 1933 novel by the English writer James Hilton. The book was turned into a film, also called '' Lost Horizon'', in 1937 by the director Frank Capra and a musical remake in 1973 by the producer Ross Hunter with music by Bu ...

, in an effort to promote tourism in the area.

Shangri-La Beer Visitors Center

The Visitors Center of Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery is located at Qingkou Industrial Zone, 674400 Zhongdian, Yunnan, China, approximately 10 kilometers outside of Shangri-La City. Shangri-La has tours, including a beer tasting, that are offered in English, Chinese, and German.

City partnership between Arosa and Shangri-La City

Through the initiative of the Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery, the tourist resort city of

Arosa Arosa is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is both a summer and a winter tourist resort. On 1 January 2013, the former mu ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

signed a formal friendship city relationship agreement in

in 2012. In this way, the aim of the partnership is to strengthen the relationship between the two cities and learn from each other to foster a common development. Shangri-La Highland Craft Brewery became the first mutual project of the sister-city partnership through the successful research and development of highland barley used as a raw material to brew craft beer. On the day of Shangri-La Beer Brewery's opening ceremony, the Swiss ambassador to China as well as a delegation from the Arosa government attended to congratulate all parties involved.

Awards

European Beer Star
2016, Silver Medal – Black Yack (Bohemian – Style, Schwarzbier)
Brussels Beer Challenge 2016
Silver Medal – Yalaso (Lager: Light Beer)
Brussels Beer Challenge 2016
Bronze Medal – Songha (Lager: Helles)
China Beer Awards 2016
, Trophy – Songha (European Lager)
China Beer Awards 2016
, Silver Medal – Songha (European Lager)
China Beer Awards 2016
, Silver Medal – Yalaso (European Lager)
China Beer Awards 2016
, Bronze Medal – TPA (Pale Ale)
China Beer Awards 2016
, Bronze Medal – Fat Dolma (Bock)
China Beer Awards 2016
, Bronze Medal – Super Nova (Bock)

References

External links

* * http://www.infosperber.ch/Wirtschaft/Shangri-la---Bier-aus-Tibet-in-Schweizer-Qualitat * http://www.lepconsultants.ch/en/projects/past-projects/627-shangri-la-beer-brewery-planning-construction-yunnan-province-china * http://www.gokunming.com/en/blog/item/3536/shangri_la_highland_chinas_newest_micro_brewery * http://beijingboyce.com/2015/07/05/cheers-to-beers-wine-shop-chain-to-sell-shangri-la-craft-brew/ * http://pijiurepublic.com/shangri-la-beer-yunnan/ * http://brewrecon.com/?p=1154 * http://www.channaryetfrancoisashanghai.net/Archives_Photos/Chine/Yunnan/Shangri_la/Shangri_la.html * https://www.lonelyplanet.com/china/yunnan/shangri-la-zhongdian * http://www.chinareise.com/china-reiseziele/shangri-la.php * http://www.chinabeerawards.org/?page_id=964 * http://www.brusselsbeerchallenge.com/awarded-beers {{Alcoholic drinks Beer in China Breweries in China Companies based in Yunnan Shangri-La City