What's Up in Beer: China Craft Beer Exhibition, Many New Brews
What's Up in Beer is our weekly rubdown of all things ale and suds. Lather yourself in the latest beery news, gossip, and openings all the while forgetting what exactly it was that you were meant to be doing. Don't worry, beer can fix that too.
If you're not completely sodden after your mid-week fun, save a little space for this weekend's fourth China Craft Beer Exhibition organized by imbeer out at the Bird's Nest. Running Saturday and Sunday, 10am-6pm, a ticket (RMB 240 or RMB 150 advance) will get you access to over 40 domestic beers, including local favorites like Jing-A, Urbrew, and Arrow Factory. For a full list of the vendors, go here.
Drinking Buddies, China's preeminent beer subscription service, have just released their December box. The six beers make up the second part of their "trip back to Italy" featuring a "balanced mix of very light to very dark beers, and very mild to very very hoppy beers." Among those, there's Canediguerra's Berliner Weisse, Brewfist's Spaceman is a West Coast IPA, Della Granda's XTRA IPA ("the hoppiest Italian IPA we've ever had," according to Drinking Buddies), Della Granda's Black Hop Sun, Retorto's Vincent Vega, and Brewfist's Fear. Grab a box now via their WeChat here.
Looking for a new brunch option now that the winter freeze has arrived? Arrow Factory has just the ticket with the launch of their new Sunday roast (RMB 128) including Australian roast beef, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, Brussels sprouts, homemade Yorkshire pudding, horseradish, and gravy. Add RMB 30 for any beer, house wine or Prosecco as well as an additional RMB 30 for dessert. Two-liter jugs of beer will also be 20 percent off to help you wash it all down. Advanced bookings are required by the Friday evening prior. Read more here.
It's all a go at
Slow Boat who have a new seasonal brew on tap: the Buccaneer's Brown
Ale, a clean, English-style brown ale brewed with a variety of local
mushrooms for a finish that is nutty, malty, and packed with umami
earthiness. You'll also find their Safe Harbor Christmas Ale and
Imperial Waters Milkshake Stout for RMB 55 now at TRB's casual dining
haunt Hulu in Taikooli.
Elsewhere, they're collaborating with
Beijing Postcards Collab for a second time to bring drinkers "Beer and a
Bag." What's a beer and a bag, you ask? To be exact, one 500ml Slow
Boat can plus a matching canvas tote designed by Beijing Postcards for a
readymade holiday gift set for beer lovers. They can be bought at this
Saturday's (tomorrow) Hutong Winter Fayre for RMB 88 as well as
Beijing Postcards' X-mas Extravaganza on Dec 9, or the Beijing
Postcards Historical Quiz Night at the Bookworm on Dec 14. They're also
available at Slow Boat Sanlitun Brewpub or at Beijing Postcards HQ in
Dashilan.
Finally, the team has once again joined forces with Dew
Drops Little Flower charity for Pints for a Purpose. Simply scan the QR
code in the poster above or donate an amount of your choosing in person at the
brewpub, which will go towards providing "medical assistance,
preoperative and post-operative care, and a nurturing environment to
China's most fragile orphans." At the conclusion of the month-long
fundraiser, there'll also be a thank you party for those who donated.
Read more about all of the above here.
Jing-A's latest beer is a collaboration with Icelandic brewery Kex, one of the participants at October's 8x8 Festival. This light sour ale was brewed using four special ingredients brought over from Iceland: foraged pine shoots, Angelica seed, and arctic thyme, plus geothermal salt, for a tart and complex sipper that should go down well with the sourheads among you. Jing-A has also launched a limited edition run of 750ml Black Tentacle Imperial Stout and Yě bottles (pictured above). Bottles go for RMB 188, look great, and would make for a great Christmas present for your best beer-drinking friend (or yourself). Tap here for more information. Finally, the team has also gotten into the holiday spirit by offering a RMB 10 discount throughout December at eight partner restaurants and bars across Beijing like Punk Rock Noodle, Palms, Fairmont Hotel, Grinders, Cravings, Pie Squared, Pak Pak, and Transmountain. Tap here to read more about that.
Finally, on the horizon, Tianjin brewery WE Brewery are gearing up to release two 500ml canned editions of their beer by the end of December. The two beers, Broken Compass IPA and Yi He Li Pale Ale, will be available at the brewery as well as over bars and restaurants in the capital. We'll certainly be keeping a lookout.
Images: Unsplash, craftbeer.com, courtesy of the organizers
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