Beijing creates 'Airpocalypse' beer as tribute to the country's notoriously bad air

Beijing creates &#039;Airpocalypse&#039; beer as tribute to the country&#039;s notoriously bad air

(Image credit: FENG LI/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

Beijing's air pollution is bad enough to keep children home from school and force residents to wear masks. But one brewery has found a way to make something positive out of the so-called "smogpocalypse."

Jing-A-Brewing, one of Beijing's microbreweries, has created an "Airpocalypse" brew, the price of which is determined by the day's air quality. The Wall Street Journal reports that "if the AQI hit 500 or above, a measurement identified on the U.S. Embassy's Beijing Air Twitter feed as 'beyond index,' the beer would be free."

Alex Acker, the creator of the Airpocalypse IPA, told The Wall Street Journal that he created the beer to pay "tribute" to Beijing's bad air. Airpocalypse has an 8.8 percent ABV, making it the most alcoholic of Jing-A-Brewing's beers. "It's a strange phenomenon to hope for a bad air day for beer," Adam Goldstein, a teacher at an international school in Beijing, told The Wall Street Journal. But here we are.