Black pepper beef dices with a Goose Island IPA. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The course was among the beer industry's first attempts to include a portfolio of fun-packed interactive sessions, such as DIY beer-based cocktail classes, baking and cooking classes, and quiz sessions. These programs were aimed at improving people's dining experience by understanding how beer is made using different types of wheat and hops, and showing consumers how to approach food-pairing.

It also invited a renowned team of food and online opinion leaders, including Wei En, author of We-Media food channel Wayne Kitchen, who specializes in creating tempting recipes that bring the best out of the four major categories of beer - easy-drinking lager, classic lager, wheat beer and malt ale.

"Steaks can be fatty and oily, especially if it's a really nice thick cut of quality beef. These go best with a fragrant IPA (Indian Pale Ale) that's slightly bitter," says Wei, an established food and drink writer with over 800,000 microblog followers, and a beer aficionado capable of cooking up a mean steak.

Cutting the meat into bite-sized pieces and mixing them with diced king oyster mushrooms, Wei finishes the dish by giving them a quick stir-fry with thick black pepper sauce before serving the dish with a Goose Island IPA, introduced to China by the company last year.