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Beer classifications

Beer standard GB/T 4927-2008 啤酒

Chinese national standard · 2008

  • Pale淡色啤酒
  • Dark浓色啤酒
  • Black黑色啤酒
  • Draft, unpasteurised生啤酒
  • Pasteurised熟啤酒
  • Special beers特种啤酒

The standard in force today defines Chinese beer and classifies it by colour and by process, with a separate group of ‘special beers’ whose ingredients or methods give them a distinctive style.

New beer standard GB/T 4927-2025 啤酒质量要求

State Administration for Market Regulation; Standardization Administration of China · 2025

  • By colour

    • pale
    • dark
    • black

  • By heat treatment

    • draft生啤酒
    • pasteurised熟啤酒

  • By yeast

    • top-fermented (ale)
    • bottom-fermented (lager)
    • mixed

  • By turbidity

    • clear
    • hazy

  • Special beers

    • now including sour beer

  • Alcohol levels

    • Non-alcoholic: up to 0.5%
    • Low-alcohol: 0.5–2.5%

Issued on 31 December 2025 and in force from 1 January 2027. Beer must be made mainly from malt and water, with malt at least 50% of the grain bill, and the label must state the share of malt. It adds a classification by yeast type, in line with international practice, and for the first time defines ‘craft beer’ (工坊啤酒): beer from small brewing lines, without additions unrelated to flavour. The quality grades ‘premium’ (优级) and ‘first grade’ (一级) remain.

Original gravity on the label 原麦汁浓度

Chinese labelling practice

Degrees Plato (°P) = grams of extract in 100 g of wort

Chinese beer labels state the original wort concentration in degrees Plato, a measure of how much malt sugar the beer started with. Tsingtao Lager, for example, is brewed at 11 °P. It is not the alcohol content, which is shown separately.

Chinese beer is defined by national standards that classify it by colour, by process and, from 2027, also by yeast type and haze. The current standard, from 2008, separates pale, dark and black beers, draft from pasteurised beer, and a group of 'special beers' with distinctive ingredients or methods. The new standard, issued at the end of 2025, is a turning point. It requires malt to make up at least half of the grain, asks labels to state the share of malt, adds the international distinction between ales and lagers, and defines craft beer (工坊啤酒) for the first time. For drinkers it means clearer labels and a legal space for the small breweries that have changed Chinese beer since 2010. Two numbers on a Chinese label are worth knowing: the alcohol content, and the original gravity in degrees Plato, which tells you how much malt sugar the beer started with. Most mass-market Chinese lagers sit at 8–11 °P and around 3–5% alcohol, which is why they taste so light; craft beers often start from 12 °P and well above.

All styles

Sources

  1. GB/T 4927-2008 Beer — ChemLinked, 2008
  2. GB 4927-2008 Beer (Chinese text) — Public.Resource.Org, 2008
  3. 新国标来了！啤酒将有这些变化 (China Consumer News, via Gansu Market Supervision Administration) — The Paper, 2026
  4. GB/T 4927-2025 Quality requirements for beer — ChineseStandard.net, 2025
  5. Tsingtao — Difford’s Guide, 2012