Beijing duck, steamed dumplings or a glass of green tea: these are the culinary offerings most associated with China. But beer? Believe it or not, China is the beer-chugging capital of the world. The Chinese public gulped down 59.3 billion liters of alcohol in 2012 -- nearly double the amount quaffed in the U.S. Beer accounted for 84% of that figure, according to market research firm Euromonitor. Yet per capita, Chinese consumption was only about 35 liters annually -- less than half of the United States, according to Bloomberg -- and still has enormous room to grow. That has led to a microbrewery boom in Beijing. "There's a whole slew of places that are about to emerge," said Ryan O'Neal Johnston, owner of Beijing's The Drive-Thru Bar. "For anyone interested in anything besides lagers and Tsingtao, it's on."
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China is the beer-chugging capital of the world, drinking twice as much as the U.S.
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Per capita  consumption of beer is still half that of Americans, showing room for growth
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A growing  number of foreign-run microbreweries have launched in Beijing
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Biggest challenge is intellectual property: "If you're not being copied then you're not relevant"
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"There are 20 million people in this city and the more local Beijing breweries, the greater the likelihood that there will be a craft beer revolution in @placeholder."