Fannou House: Beijing's Most Ambitious Collection of Whiskies Has Arrived in Sanlitun
We ride down Nan Sanlitun Lu every day due to its proximity to our office, but we never realized that there was a world-class whiskey bar called Fannou House hidden inside this fancy furniture store next to The Smokeyard. By world class we mean there are whiskeys here that in the words of Indiana Jones, “belong in a museum.” This is mainly because the owner of this fine establishment is conveniently also one of the founders of Single Malt Club China (SMCC), a conglomerate of experts who specialize in importing this tasty spirit.
Despite the lavish interior, they have fairly reasonable prices, starting from RMB 80 for their deep selection of whiskeys, going up into the thousands for the more boutique items. The head bartender came from Tokyo and was more than knowledgeable about the inventory. He didn’t speak much Chinese or English, so there was a translator also working behind the bar aiding in our exploration of the various flavor notes from each bottle. He let us try the Kilchoman Machir Bay, The Balvenie 12 Year Single Barrel, and the Springbank 18 Year Single Cask. All were produced in very different ways, and when paired together you could easily taste the difference made by the barreling, aging, and filtering process.
The team is curently in the process of rolling out a new cocktail menu that focuses almost entirely on whiskey-based cocktails. We tried their whiskey sour (RMB 120), which tasted top notch and worth the sort of hefty price as it was made with the good stuff. What was even more appealing though was that they are even working on bringing in a series of flight tastings in the future that will be organized by barrel type, age, and region so that you can further understand the complexities that exist within these whiskeys.
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Fannou House seems more of a library dedicated to whiskey than just a watering hole and a must-visit for anyone wanting to expand their knowledge on these godly nectars. We had no idea what we were walking into but walked out a whole lot smarter about what goes into a tasty whiskey.
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Email: danielkippwhittaker@thebeijinger.com
Photos: Kipp Whittaker
