Taiwan’s craft beer scene has been exploding in recent years, and Wellingtonian Max Gilbert is in the thick of it. In 2019, Gilbert and his American wife, Harn Sun, founded Ugly Half, a microbrewery and craft beer label in Wugu District on the outskirts of Taipei. Despite the pandemic and the couple being locked out of the island shortly after hitting the market, Ugly Half has quickly emerged as one of the darlings of Taiwan’s fashionable craft beer culture. Ron Hanson visited Gilbert at the brewery to discuss the idiosyncratic, award-winning label.
Anyone with a nose to the ground in Taipei’s mushrooming café and bar scene will have noticed the distinctive artwork of the craft beer label Ugly Half. Whether eyeing a poster of its unmistakable logo, a charming, oddball smiley face with protruding buck teeth, or the psychedelic labels of its unique beer offerings, each featuring work by a commissioned artist, one senses Ugly Half’s growing presence.
