AS the world’s second-largest and Asia’s largest beer festival, Qingdao International Beer Festival has become a beer expo with more than 200 brands from 20 beer companies originating in 13 countries and regions. It is not only a beer event but also a big stage to introduce Qingdao to the world. A total of 13 countries participated in this year’s festival, including the United States, Britain, Germany and Belgium, bringing different brands such as Krombacher, Paulaner, Bitburger and Cerna Hora. There are three new beer brands this year — Becks from Germany, Miller from the United States and Cerna Hora from the Czech Republic. The area of this year’s beer venues was also the biggest. The largest beer venue at the first beer festival was only about 200 square meters, but the biggest venue this year was about 6,000 square meters. Only 300,000 visitors came to the first festival while this year’s number was expected to reach 3.7 million, said Lin Xingyu, chief consultant of the festival. Miller sold out 5,000 bottles and the company had to order more from the United States, while Cerna Hora also sold out. Many beer makers also chose the festival as a platform to launch their new products. Tsingtao Beer revealed its own fruity beer at the festival this year to attract more female and older customers. The festival organizers have also built cooperative relationships with beer brands, aiming at jointly promoting beer and the festival. More than 20 tourism groups visit the festival every day. (Wang Yuanyuan, Liu Lina) ? | 