Behind the Great Leap Redesign

By Steve George

In the space of five short years, Great Leap Brewing has gone from being Beijing’s most difficult-to-find craft beer bar to its most ubiquitous. As much a part of the city today as bad air and unfriendly cab drivers, the brewery’s two sizable central locations are among the most popular places to meet and drink in the capital. Such is their level of fame, that newcomers to the city often remain entirely unaware of the company’s third, more modest courtyard setting: the original Great Leap brewpub.

Hidden away on Doujiao Hutong in Dongcheng district – not far from the Drum and Bell Towers – Great Leap Brewing #6 (GLB locations are known simply by their street numbers) is both the smallest and least prominent of the brewery’s quickly expanding empire. This is due in part to the bar’s somewhat limited indoor seating. Housed within a former library, the Qing-era building is centered around a large open patio, with the bar itself taking up much of the indoor space – ideal during Beijing’s sweltering summer months, less so throughout its long, cold winter.

Co-owner Carl Setzer, who along with his wife Liu Fang opened #6 in October 2010, describes the courtyard location as a work in progress. “There was never a master plan,” he explains. “Numbers 12 and 45 were designed as you see them today from the outset. We never had that luxury with the original courtyard. Sure, we had an idea of what we wanted to achieve, but it was really a case of pragmatism. How do we turn this incredible derelict space into somewhere we can brew and sell our beer?

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