Buy the draft beer in a plastic bag, like everyone else

Corner shops and small bottle stalls sell unpasteurised Tsingtao by the litre, poured into a plastic bag with a straw, fresh from the brewery that morning. It costs a few yuan and it is genuinely better than the bottled version.

Take it to a seafood place, order clams stir-fried with chilli and whatever is in the tank, and drink it the same day — it does not keep. In August the beer festival takes over the city; if crowds are not your thing, come in June or September instead.