Beijing Restaurant Review: Slow Boat Sanlitun Brewpub

By Noelle Mateer

A fitting metaphor for the growth of the Beijing craft beer scene might be the growth of Beijing craft brewery Slow Boat. A fitting metaphor for ‘making it’ in Beijing might be nabbing a sweet property in Sanlitun. 

Well congrats, Beijing beer. And congrats Slow Boat. It was a long-awaited opening, but it would appear that you’ve made it. In the five years since the company was founded, plenty of other Beijing brewers have bounded onto the scene. Others have opened multiple locations – Great Leap Brewing has three addresses now, while Arrow Factory opened its own brewpub less than a year after its first taproom. All the while, Slow Boat kept churning out some of the best beer in the city, its small hutong taproom packed with fans just about every night of the week. 

But if the Slow Boat crew were being humble, then it must have been saving the pomp for the opening of its new location: Slow Boat Sanlitun Brewpub. Spread over three floors, the new taproom stretches along Nan Sanlitun Lu – the same road where the mega-huge Topwin Center and InterContinental Hotel just opened. We cannot overstate how big this place is. It has to be at least five times larger than the Dongsi original. 

That, of course, is a good thing (mostly, anyway – it is a lot of space). More room means more people, more drinking and more beer. And that’s exactly what Slow Boat has done: lengthen its menu to accommodate the masses. 

We love the new Lao Thai Thai burger (RMB75) – a juicy patty dripping with peanut sauce; and the Beijing Burger (RMB70), which features peanut butter and Sriracha. Did the Slow Boat team just think about peanut butter and jelly when making new recipes? Maybe. It matters not. 

At this point in the review, we’ll just list a bunch of nice things about the new Slow Boat that need no explanation. Brownies. Rooftop seating. High ceilings. Buffalo wings. Popsicles. Semi-indoor spaces. Fully indoor spaces. Beer!

I mean, the beer’s why you’re here, isn’t it? It’s why we’re all here (at Slow Boat, not the universe, although maybe that too). Brew is ruling Beijing, and hopefully it will continue to do so. If this three-story shrine to the craft is anything to go by, then it will.

Sun-Thu, 11am-midnight; 6 Nan Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang  朝阳区南三里屯路6号(6592 5388)

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