SHENZHEN isn’t just about the hustle. Even though you might have to dig a little to find great nightlife in the city, when you do you’re sure to strike gold. Boutique cocktail speakeasies are opening faster than you can muddle a mojito, the craft beer scene is growing, and the city boasts one of the hottest underground clubs in China.

Beer

Despite the rise of whisky, cocktails and craft beer, Shenzhen’s most popular tipple remains the cheap, lager-style beers popular all over China. Light and clean-tasting, they are designed to pair well with rich Chinese food. Most ubiquitous is Tsingtao (from Qingdao) and Blue Girl, a beer from Hong Kong.

You’ll also see Kingway, Shenzhen’s own mass-produced beer. Just about the cheapest way to drink is to head to small restaurants (not bars), especially barbecue joints with outside seating. These places stay open late and have a boozy vibe, serving longneck bottles or cans of local beer.

Craft beer

China’s craft-beer revolution, which kicked off in Shanghai and Beijing around 2010, has much more recently found its way to Shenzhen. Brew pubs and specialist craft beer bars are popping up all over the city, and even regular bars and cafes are starting to add a couple of Chinese craft beers to their taps.

Bionic Brew, launched in 2014 by a former employee of Beijing’s Great Leap Brewing, is a Shenzhen original. They brew pale ales, IpAs, wheat and black beers using mostly imported hops and ingredients, but they do use domestic ingredients as well, such as rice in their rice rocket Lager.

TAPS is another famous craft beer brand in Shenzhen. Its first store is located in a residential area in Nanshan, offering decent pale ales and stouts. It has branches in COCO Park (Futian) and Nantou Ancient Town as well. Another local brewing outfit worth your time is Craft Head, which, like Bionic Brew, also has a brew pub in an atmospheric urban village setting that feels a world away from Futian’s upscale CBD just a few kilometres away.