Top 10 Breweries in Hong Kong
Hong Kong had a lone craft pioneer from 1995, but the real scene emerged in the early 2010s in a city whose drinking was dominated by San Miguel, Carlsberg, Heineken, and the ubiquitous Blue Girl lager. The conditions for craft were paradoxical: a dense city of about 7.5 million people with high disposable income and cosmopolitan taste, but rents that put every food and drink business under intense financial pressure. The city now has more than 30 local breweries, and the ones that have thrived combine technical quality, a distinctive Hong Kong identity, and creative business models.
1. Young Master Ales, Wong Chuk Hang
Young Master is Hong Kong's most internationally acclaimed craft brewery, founded in December 2013 by Rohit Dugar, a former Goldman Sachs banker who turned a home-brewing hobby into a business. Its best-known beer, the Cha Chaan Teng Gose, is inspired by the salty lime sodas served in the city's working-class diners and brewed with house-aged salted limes; other beers use local ingredients such as chrysanthemum and chenpei (dried tangerine peel). Young Master brews in Ap Lei Chau and Wong Chuk Hang on the south side of Hong Kong Island, distributes across the city, and exports. Its use of local flavours has earned it plenty of attention abroad.
2. Moonzen Brewery, Kwun Tong
Moonzen's name is a transliteration of the Cantonese mun san, the door gods whose images guard the entrances of Chinese buildings. Husband-and-wife team Laszlo and Michele Raphael, who met in Beijing, founded the family-run brewery in a Kwun Tong industrial building, and the whole range draws on Chinese mythology: Thunder God pale ale, Jade Emperor IPA, Moon Goddess chocolate stout. Moonzen is more systematically Chinese in character than most local craft producers, and it has added a Mong Kok taphouse, Moonkok, billed as Hong Kong's first Cantonese taproom.
3. Gweilo Beer, Fo Tan
Gweilo (Cantonese slang for "foreigner," reclaimed here as a brand identity by its three British founders, Ian and Emily Jebbitt and Joseph Gould) was set up in 2014 and released its first beer in 2015. It brewed under contract at first and moved into its own brewery in Fo Tan in 2018. The core range is approachable, technically clean, and deliberately positioned for broad appeal beyond the craft enthusiast market, and the brand has also started selling in the UK through a brewing partnership there. Gweilo's wide distribution across Hong Kong bars, restaurants, and retail has made it the most commonly encountered local craft beer in the city, serving as a gateway product for consumers transitioning from mainstream lagers.
4. hEROES Beer Co, Wong Chuk Hang
hEROES grew out of HK Brewcraft, the city's home-brew supply shop, and was founded by friends Chris Wong, Jason Lowe and Angus Ip in 2016-17. Its idea is to build beers around the "heroes" of the local beer scene, from brewers to fans, and it claims to have been the first in Hong Kong to put craft beer in cans, with comic-book artwork to match. Releases such as Cereusly IPA and the hibiscus-laced Hangry Donut Hopiscus Wheat show the style, and it is based on Wong Chuk Hang Road.
5. Carbon Brews, Fo Tan
Carbon Brews is one of Hong Kong's more experimentally minded producers, with whimsical names and unconventional flavours aimed at both everyday drinkers and the city's beer geeks. It brews in Fo Tan in the New Territories, at one of the larger breweries in Hong Kong, and its signature black cans are sold across the city. The willingness to experiment in Hong Kong's cost-pressured environment is distinctive.
6. Yardley Brothers, Kwai Chung
Brothers Luke and Duncan Yardley started out on Lamma Island, brewing for their Beer Shack, before moving into a production brewery in Kwai Chung that runs tours and tastings. The staples are the Lamma Island IPA, the Hong Kong Bastard imperial IPA, Machine Men pale ale and a chocolate fudge milk stout, plus seasonal real ales and a barrel-aged series. The beers have collected awards at competitions across Asia, and the brothers have brought a beer festival back to Lamma.
7. Black Kite Brewery
Black Kite made its name with easy-drinking beers, then rebranded in 2020 and cut its core range from six beers to three (a pale ale, a golden ale and an IPA) to free up capacity for seasonal and experimental brews. It is a good example of how Hong Kong breweries have had to rethink their line-ups to stay interesting in a crowded market.
8. Mak's Brewery, Tsuen Wan
Mak's Brewery was launched in 2014 by three friends, Tak Chi Lo, Po Mak and Ho Lun "Mark" Mak, who wanted beers that tasted of Hong Kong. Their first releases in August 2015 included a Longan Pale Ale and a Sugarcane Stout alongside a hefeweizen, and the beers did well enough for them to open their own brewery in Tsuen Wan two years in.
9. Hong Kong Beer Co, Chai Wan
The city's craft pioneer started in 1995 as South China Brewing Company, took the name Hong Kong Beer Co in 2003, and is the oldest local craft brewery still operating. It was bought in 2013 by the founders of Singapore's Brewerkz and brews in Chai Wan at the eastern end of Hong Kong Island, where it is one of the largest craft breweries in the city. Its beers are some of the easiest local craft to find in bars and shops.
10. Citibrew
Citibrew sets out to "record Hong Kong by beer", with themed releases tied to local places and culture, and works with local home brewers on collaborations. It is smaller and harder to find than the names above, but specialist bars that focus on local beer, such as Ho Lan Jeng, regularly pour it.
A note on a departure: H.K. Lovecraft, the Tsing Yi brewery that was Hong Kong's first to focus mainly on lager and won gold at the 2019 Berlin International Beer Competition for its Space Rock rauchbier, announced its closure in 2026 after nearly eight years, citing financial pressure and the founder's health.
Explore on the map
Hong Kong's craft breweries cluster in industrial buildings in Kwun Tong, Wong Chuk Hang and Ap Lei Chau, and in New Territories districts such as Fo Tan, Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan, all reachable by MTR. Hong Kong is not yet plotted on our map, so use this list to plan your route. For the wider region, see our guide to breweries in China.