Update | Hong Kong’s growing love of craft beer reflected at Beertopia, the festival that keeps getting bigger

The sun hasn’t even set and TAP is already filling up. Since it opened at the end of 2014, this hole-in-the-wall Mong Kok taproom has become a magnet for beer lovers from far and wide. Its 18 taps pour hoppy IPAs from California, sour beers from Belgium and an increasingly robust list of locally brewed ales and lagers.

Recent entries on the fast-changing beer menu include the sour, salty Cha Chaan Teng Gose from Young Master Ales, a barley wine from Lucky Baby and a dry West Coast-style IPA from Heroes – all made in Hong Kong at one of the nearly 30 breweries that have opened in the last few years.

“It’s getting to the point where I don’t have enough taps for all the good beers in Hong Kong,” says TAP’s general manager, James Ling.

There’s no shortage of taps at Beertopia, the annual beer festival whose sixth edition will take place on the Central harbourfront on September 22 and 23. Founded by entrepreneur Jonathan So in 2012, the inaugural Beertopia was a surprise hit, filling the Western Market beyond capacity. This year’s festival will feature more than 500 beers from around the world, and 87 brewed in Hong Kong.

Toby Cooper, owner of The Globe, one of Hong Kong’s first speciality beer bars, says the number of people who showed up at the first Beertopia was “a little bit of a shock to everyone”. Craft beer had only recently been introduced to Hong Kong by importers bringing in brews from the US, Europe and Australia; the festival featured just two locally produced beers from the now-defunct Typhoon Brewery.

“It’s evolved quite nicely,” Cooper says. “We’re getting better, fresher beer than ever before.”