调“啤”的美国大叔Ben

□ 文/本刊记者 贺煜

□ Article/Journalist He Yu Translator/Xue Xiaohong

Ben Brown 美国明尼苏达州人，西雅图大学MBA毕业，现定居重庆，笨精酿啤酒创始人、酿造师。

1.8米的个头，戴着印有“ST.John’s”的红色鸭舌帽，用流利的中文和店员交流工作。在重庆鹅岭贰厂文创园，记者见到了这个在重庆小有名气的老外Ben Brown（本·布朗），中文名叫河边，朋友、同事都亲切地称他Ben。

“我来自美国明尼苏达州，ST.John’s（圣约翰大学）是我的大学”。Ben指着自己的帽子介绍，他曾在重庆留学、工作过，成了重庆女婿后在重庆经营着一家小酒吧。2012年，他结合重庆美食的麻辣特色大胆尝试，调制酿造出独创的花椒啤酒。

In the Cultural and Creative Park of Chongqing Testbed 2, the reporter met Ben Brown, now-famous foreigner in Chongqing. He was 1.8 meters tall, wearing a red peaked cap with "ST. John's" on it, and was fluent in Chinese to communicate with shop assistants.His Chinese name is Hebian (which means riverside in Chinese). His friends and colleagues always call him Ben.

“I am from Minnesota, USA, and St. John’s University is my Alma Mater”. Ben pointed to his cap and said that he studied and worked in Chongqing. After becoming a Chongqing son-in-law, he runs a small bar in Chongqing. In 2012, he made a fresh attempt that combining the spicy taste of Chongqing cuisine to brew an original pepper beer.

生活中 In Life

他是重庆女婿，最爱重庆火锅

会划酒拳、爱聊天，最爱重庆火锅。这是生活中的Ben，他自称为重庆人。

1994年，Ben作为圣约翰大学的交换生，第一次来到重庆学习，几个月后便回到了美国。1997年大学毕业后，他再次来渝，先后在四川外国语大学和渝州大学（现重庆工商大学）当外教。这两次经历让他结交了许多朋友，他也爱上了重庆。2001年，Ben回到美国攻读MBA，毕业之后他也在中国其他城市待过。直到2012年，Ben才真正扎根在重庆，因为他娶了一位重庆姑娘。

He is the Son-in-law of Chongqing and Loves Chongqing Hot Pot Best.

He is quite good at playing finger-guessing drinking game and chatting with people, and Chongqing hot pot is his favorite.This is Ben in daily life and he calls himself a Chongqing man.

In 1994, Ben came to Chongqing for the first time as an exchange student at St. John's University and returned to the United States a few months later. After graduating from the University in 1997, he came to Chongqing again and worked as a foreign teacher in Sichuan International Studies University and Yuzhou University (now Chongqing Industrial and Commercial University). Thanks to these two experiences, he made many friends and fell in love with Chongqing. In 2001, Ben returned to the United States to study for an MBA. After graduation, he also spent time in other cities in China. It wasn’t until 2012 that Ben really settled in Chongqing, because he married a Chongqing girl.

Ben said he worked at a training institution in Chongqing in 2012 . One day, when he was running a bank business, he met Li Can, a Chongqing girl. The relationship between the two gradually developed,and they decided to marry in Chongqing. Today, their son is already 3 years old, and Ben, who can speak a Chongqing dialect, has become a "Chongqing hand."

Ben is a foreigner who is very down-to-earth . He likes the unique culture and beauty of Chongqing and prefers the food here. Barbecue and Maoxuewang (a dish of boiled blood curd and other stuff with spicy sauce) are his favorite, especially Chongqing Noodles and Chongqing Hot Pot. “Every time I go out for dinner, I will choose the hot pot restaurant, eat a spicy hot pot, chat with friends, and then play fingergussing game.It’s so interesting!”

Ben说，2012年，他在重庆的一家培训机构上班，某一天，他在银行办业务时结识了重庆姑娘李灿。两人感情逐渐发展，恋爱并决定在重庆结婚。如今，他们的儿子都3岁了，能讲一口重庆话的Ben成了“重庆通”。

Ben是个很接地气的老外，他喜欢重庆特有的文化、美景，更喜欢这里的美食：烧烤、毛血旺……尤其是重庆小面和重庆火锅。“出去聚餐首选火锅店，吃一顿麻辣火锅，和朋友摆龙门阵，再划上几拳，好耍惨了！”

Ben说，他在重庆生活的这些年，见证了重庆的飞速发展。最明显的感受就是高楼变多了，出行更方便了。“重庆有3000多万人，我的家乡只有3000多人。”在Ben看来，重庆是一座非常大的城市。这座城市的美丽、开放、包容和豪爽都深深地吸引着他。他建议重庆要面向世界加大宣传推广力度，让更多人知道这座美丽的城市。

Ben喜欢跟朋友划拳、聊天，最爱重庆火锅。

Ben said that during his years in Chongqing, he witnessed the rapid development of Chongqing. The most obvious feeling is that there are much more tall buildings and transportation is more convenient.“Chongqing has more than 30 million people, and my hometown has only 3,000 people.” In Ben's eyes, Chongqing is a very big city and he was deeply attracted by the beauty, openness, tolerance and generosity of the city. He suggested that Chongqing should increase its publicity and promotion to the world so that more people can know about this beautiful city.

工作中 In Work

他是酿造师，自创花椒啤酒

爱喝酒、会酿酒，自创花椒啤酒。这是工作中的Ben，他爱酒，他的酒吧以他的名字命名。

巧克力帝国世涛、黑啤、巧克力黑拉格……记者在Ben的酒吧里看到，中英文酒水牌上有十几种啤酒，而最受欢迎的当数该店的招牌花椒啤酒。

Ben的花椒啤酒诞生于2013年。那时候，重庆市面上大多是批量生产、口味单一的工业啤酒。进口啤酒可供选择的口味也寥寥无几，且价格较贵。这对于曾在美国精酿啤酒中心西雅图喝惯了精酿啤酒的Ben来说根本不满足。于是，在朋友的建议和指点下，Ben开始自学酿酒。

“酿啤酒不难，普通人都能学会最简单的酿造方法。但要追求更高品质的啤酒口味，就很难了。”Ben说，酿造啤酒最关键的步骤在于发酵，在10至20天的发酵过程中必须保持酒桶的温度恒定。重庆的夏天酷热又漫长，这让他很苦恼，不得不费尽心力反复尝试。

He is a Brewer and Developed Pepper Beer by Himself.

He likes to drink and can brew wine, and developed the pepper beer. This is Ben in work. He loves wine and beer. His bar is named after him.

Imperial Chocolate Stout, Stout, Chocolate Black Lager... The reporter saw that in Ben's Bar, there are more than a dozen beers on the Chinese and English liquor brands, and the most popular one is the bar's speciality - pepper beer.

Ben夫妇定居重庆。

不过，对于酿酒，重庆也有优势。精酿啤酒的一大特色就是常常加入具有本地特色的原料，而重庆丰富的特色原材料，极大地丰富了Ben的想象。最终，他选择了代表重庆麻辣性格的花椒。从红花椒到青花椒，Ben通过尝试不同的材料、调整酿制方式，并结合朋友品尝反馈的意见，最终成功调制出口味纯正的花椒啤酒。

Ben在调制花椒啤酒。

起初，Ben的花椒啤酒只用于朋友聚会，喝过的朋友都觉得不错，并鼓励他经营一家酒吧。2017年10月，Ben的酒吧开业了，花椒啤酒自然就成店里的招牌，酒吧也成了他和老友聚会、结识新朋友的好地方。

Ben的花椒啤酒并没有想象中的浓烈花椒味，而是微甜、很香。现在这种花椒啤酒比较受欢迎，已有量产的瓶装啤酒上市。很多游客都会慕名前去品尝，有的还会购买带走。“目前，我们店里有18种精酿啤酒，其中有近一半是自酿。接下来，我还会考虑酿造辣椒啤酒、薄荷啤酒、八角啤酒，甚至折耳根啤酒等。”Ben说，他打算结合重庆特色不断丰富啤酒种类，做重庆最好喝的精酿啤酒。

图片/受访者提供

Ben's pepper beer was born in 2013. At that time, most of the commercial beer in Chongqing was mass-produced and tasted.Imported beer has few flavors to choose from and is more expensive. This is not enough for Ben, who used to drink craft beer in Seattle, the American Brewery Center. So Ben began to learn how to brew by himself with the advice of his friends.

“It’s not difficult to brew beer. Ordinary people can learn the simplest method of brewing. But it’s hard to pursue higher quality beer flavors.” Ben said that the most critical step in brewing beer is fermentation, and the temperature of the barrel must be kept constant during 10 to 20 days of fermentation. However, summer in Chongqing is very hot and long, which upsets him. He has no choice but try it over and over again.

However, Chongqing also has advantages in brewing beer. One of the characteristics of craft beer is that it often adds local characteristics of raw materials, which greatly opens Ben’s eyes. In the end, he chose the pepper, which represents the spicy character of Chongqing. From Chinese red pepper to Chinese green pepper, Ben successfully created a pure pepper beer by trying with different materials,adjusting brewing methods and integrating feedback from friends.

At first, Ben’s pepper beer was only available in his friends’ parties. Friends who had drunk it all felt good and encouraged him to run a bar. In October 2017, Ben's bar opened, and pepper beer became the signature dish of the bar. The bar also became a good place for him to meet old friends and make new friends.

Ben’s pepper beer is slightly sweet and fragrant,rather than the intense pepper flavor. Now this kind of pepper beer is so popular that mass-produced bottled pepper beer hit the market. Many tourists will come to enjoy it, and some will buy it and take it away. "At present, there are 18 kinds of brewed beer in our bar, nearly half of which are self-brewed. In the next step, I will consider brewing pepper beer, mint beer, star anise beer, and even herba houttuyniae beer. Ben said he intends to combine Chongqing's characteristics to enrich beer varieties and make the best brewed beer in Chongqing.