Talking Pints: Awards, New Bars, Beer Fests, Aircraft Carriers & This Weekend

Another weekend in Beijing ... but what a weekend it'll be. First of all, there's our Ninth Annual Reader Bar & Club Awards. For RMB 100, you can drink your fill and devour as much as finger food as you leave room for. It takes place at Sanlitun Soho on Saturday. It starts at 2.30pm, runs till 8pm and the only thing that really matters is that you sport some beach wear.

Gratuitous plug over. What else is going on? Well, it's the Champions' League Final a mere 12 hours of imbibing after our awards. England's Chelsea and Germany's Bayern Munich star in the final that no one wanted but everyone should watch. Here's a roundup of suggestions where to watch the game (and any confirmed deals). The game is on terrestrial TV as well as satellite so it should be available everywhere. Do call ahead to confirm.

• Heineken Party – RMB 100 for free-flow – Jianwai Soho – 9pm onwards
• Paddy O'Shea's
• The Den
• Black Sun
• Brussels
• Frank's Place

If you have any other suggestions for where to watch, please leave them as a comment.

One place that we wish was open to show the game is the new Gulou area bar from Badr Benjelloun. The man behind Beijing Daze is turning his hand to innkeeping and he's promised "Dongcheng's first sports bar" in time for the European Championships next month. We'll tell you more as we have it, starting with a name.

Another new bar is Bali Bar. The space that was formerly Zhongyu Hanging Gardens and then Miss Saigon has become a little more southeastern in its Asian flavor. We don't know much yet but we're sending someone to find out what's what. Apparently, we at the Beijinger should know all about it – rumor has it that Bali Bar is hosting the afterparty for our Reader Bar & Club Awards. Please note that there is no official afterparty but many bar owners may want to attract revelers back to their hostelries.

If you've not been to Atmosphere for a while, now is the time to get on that elevator. They have just taken on Henning Neufeld as a bartender. Herr Neufeld was previously a finalist in the Diageo International World Class Finals. This means he'll be making mindblowing drinks to match Atmosphere's view.

Be on the lookout for details of upcoming beer festivals. Villa Castanea's opens next Saturday (May 25) and then the Homebrewers are uniting for the Beijing Craft Beer Festival on June 2. Dashilar will surely be hopping.

Speaking of beer, Terra's teaming up with Slow Boat this Friday night for an epic cookout, with BBQ, beers, rums and some new infusions from their bar.

For more drinking plus eating, Enoterra's celebrating their Fifth Anniversary, also on Friday night. RMB 200 gets you unlimited wine and tapas all night.

If you like your wine with Indian cuisine, Tadka at the Marriott Northeast is hosting another one of their popular wine dinners. RMB 248 gets you eight courses with wine pairings - great value.

Finally, catch up on sleep after this weekend. You'll need it for the Great Aircraft Carrier Party on June 30. Another night of dancing, uniforms and recreating the video for "If I Could Turn Back Time" will soon be upon us.

If all that was not enough for you nightlife guzzlers, here's a list of links to events this weekend:

• The Interceltic Noz Fest - Bretons and the like in tug-of-war and musicality
• Charity Poker Night For Peace - They need eight players to give peace a chance, so call in advance
• Starfish Project's Prom Night - Get dressed up, ride a limo down a hutong and then be sick
• Homebase Electric - Lantern gets its dancing shoes on
• Basement Mashup - Siif drops all kinds of bombs
• Metro Tokyo's Birthday - The Bar at Migas hosts the Three Discoteers

Have fun.