But Chinese beer? Not so much.

While grocery stores and specialty beer markets are awash with imported lagers and ales from Belgium, Germany, Mexico and Canada, the world's most populated country is woefully under-represented in the U.S.

So if you want to hoist a Chinese beer during the Beijing Olympics that begin Friday, your choices are limited. The only two widely available in the U.S. are Tsingtao and Harbin.

And people are more likely to try them at a sit-down restaurant than to rush out and stock up their fridge.

Of course, that's not surprising to many beer experts.

"The fact is that there's not much to Chinese beer," said Matt Simpson, a beer sommelier from Atlanta who runs the Web site http://thebeerexpert.com and who teaches a beer education course at Emory University. "There's not much to tell."

Chinese beers are generally light, yellow lagers with low alcohol. They are brewed for easy drinking--the type of beer that's perfect on a hot summer day or after mowing the lawn.

"They are close to what we call an international lager style beer," said Keith Lemcke, vice president of the Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy in Chicago. "Those are lager beers that don't have a dramatic degree of flavor differential or noticeable hoppy or sweet characteristics. Instead they are made for drinkability."

In other words, there's no need to be on the lookout for a Chinese version of an Imperial Russian Stout or an Indian Pale Ale--at least not yet. Beer experts wonder what will happen when--or if--the craft beer phenomenon now in the U.S. hits China.

That's not to say there aren't unusual beers there.

Dave Friesen, who lives in China and writes beer reviews for the Web site United Nations of Beer, found a pineapple-flavored brew called King Benefit Pineapple Beer. It was so disgusting, he poured it down the toilet.

"The beer was ridiculously pale and had a horrible fake fruit smell," he wrote. "Like bad tinned pineapples in syrup if you had spilt some Budweiser on them."

Although Americans may not have a lot of choices when it comes to Chinese beer, there are many regional Chinese breweries. The top brands are Tsingtao, Snow, Yanjing and Harbin.

At the three House of Hunan restaurants in the Akron area, owners Cheryl and Lawrence Suen sell Tsingtao. The Suens said the beer is the most popular in China.

Here, it remains a customer favorite. They used to offer other brands of Chinese beer, but they were discontinued because they didn't sell.

Tsingtao owns 50 breweries in the country and is the 10th largest brewery in the world. It also is the No. 1 Chinese beer in the U.S.

Harbin, located in northeast China, is the country's fourth-largest brewer. Anheuser-Busch bought the brewery in 2004 and is now making a big push to market the brand in the U.S.

China--because of its 1.3 billion people--is the top beer consuming nation by volume in the world.

One of the reasons is the suspect water quality in some areas. It's safer to drink the beer than the water, since water is boiled in the brewing process.

"Beer is always a safe drink," said Rick Sellers, beer director for Draft magazine.

He predicted that Americans may see more Chinese brands in the future. Perhaps the Olympics will drive some curiosity, he said. Also, the number of Chinese immigrants continues to rise and more foreign investors are buying into Chinese breweries, providing more opportunities for a larger distribution.

"It's all built on demand," Sellers said. "There's no reason we shouldn't see more Chinese beers."

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For more details about Chinese beer, check out these Web sites:

www.tsingtaobeer.com

www.harbinusa.com

www.zhujiangbeer.ca

www.yanjingbeer.com

www.ratebeer.com

www.united-nations-of-beer.com/china-beer-guide.html

Rick Armon can be reached at 330-996-3569 or rarmon@thebeaconjournal.com. Food editor Lisa Abraham contributed to this report.