Knockoff Chinese versions of brand-name products is kind of a widespread joke. Right? You’ve got those fake superhero action figure packs at the bodega, knockoff handbags, and the fake Chinese versions of famous Hollywood movies like Star Wars. According to Mashable though, China is breaking in to one of the most American products in existence: cheap beer.
A small factory in Dongguan, a city in Guangzhou in the south of China, was raided earlier this month, and what they found might disturb you. The factory was, with very little regard for health codes, filling Budweiser cans with beer. Obviously, this was not a sanctioned operation, and footage of the factory showed bare-handed workers up to their elbows in the stuff. The beer cans were sent down a conveyor belt and packaged like any can of Bud would be.
Apparently, the factory was producing 600,000 cartons a month. Not cans, cartons. The beer was then taken directly to bars and clubs. When Anheuser-Busch InBev, the owner of Budweiser, found out, they contacted the authorities and shut the operation down. Anheuser-Busch InBev has 14 breweries in China, making it the third-largest beer manufacturer in the country, and one of the biggest in the world.
This isn’t even the first time bootleg Chinese Budweiser factories have sprung up in China. It’s a thriving black market, pumping out hundreds of thousands of cans of fake beer a year. No word on how it tastes, but I can’t imagine that it’s that much worse than the real deal. If you needed one more reason to upgrade your beer choice, this is it.