Beer in Taiwan was dominated by monopoly products until 2002, when free trade became law in Taiwan.
The first beer monopoly was held from 1922 to 1946 under Japanese rule by Takasago Beer. Takasago Beer was brewed in light and dark varieties and competed at times against Japanese import beers. Its successor in 1946, Taiwan Beer, remained a monopoly product under one-party Kuomintang rule. Taiwan entered its modern period of multiparty democracy in the 1990s and shed its government monopolies as it joined the World Trade Organization in 2002.
The main domestic brand remains Taiwan Beer, brewed by the publicly owned Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation that succeeded the government's monopoly bureau in 2002. Taiwan Beer is primarily sold domestically, though the brewery does make some beer for export to Taiwanese living abroad. In recent years Taiwan Beer has stepped up export to China.
(For more detail see Taiwan Beer, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation.)
Read more about Beer In Taiwan: Economy, The 'Beer Wars'
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