What’s Up in Beer: GLB’s Tombsweeper on Tap, Jing-A’s Kegxercise, Yu Bar's Brews

Happy Friday, beer lovers! We love days like this, working for a long three days, and then blam! The weekend's here again! Let’s have a look at where to celebrate the short week with the best of Beijing's boozy news and events.

It's the time of the year to commemorate deceased beloved ones, and to mark it Great Leap Brewing have brought back their annual Tombsweeper on tap at all three locations as of this past Tuesday (Apr 4). This porter features bold chocolate and subtle hazelnut flavors and a smooth body, benefiting from the local hazelnuts added during brewing.

The Great Leap team visited Warpigs Brewpub in Copenhagen last autumn, taking along Michael Jordan from Shanghai's Boxing Cat, and collaborated on a saison. Vitus the Great is what came of the venture, a Belgian-style saison with a Chinese twist, using Qingdao whole flower hops, Iron Buddha oolong tea, and rock sugar. This limited beer is on tap at GLB #6 as of today (Apr 7) at the price of RMB 25 as an opening special.  Due to unforeseen circumstances the Vitus release has been pushed back to a yet-to-be-confirmed date.

It’s getting warmer, and exercising and getting fit in between drinking beer is now apparently a thing. Tonight, Jing-A teams up with BaseFit to help you map out a 12-part, hour-long workout schedule using 20L steel beer kegs, ranging from empty (5kg) to full (25kg). The first session kicks off tonight at BaseFit at 7.50pm.

After the calorie-burning workout, head to Home Grounds for a free Jing-A pint, and to sample the venue's new dinner menu and drinks deals. The event is free for preexisting BaseFit members, and RMB 20 for everyone else. It's limited to 24 spots, so best to RSVP via WeChat (id: BaseFitChina) or book here.

At Jing-A, you can now enjoy two new beers on tap as of today, the Duck Rye’der IPA and One Beer Two Systems. The former is a collab-brew with Against The Grain Brewery in Louisville, and is a rye IPA with 7.2 percent ABV conditioned using charred jujube wood, which is more commonly found at any restaurants serving Peking duck. It has spice and hoppy aromas as well as a hint of smoke.

One Beer Two Systems is also a cobrew, with Moonzen Brewery from Hong Kong. Inspired by suan mei tang – the traditional sour plum and hawthorn summer drink for Beijingers – this wheat beer features aromas of both those ingredients as well as hibiscus and dried orange peel. First brewed in Hong Kong in 2015, this new batch was brewed in Beijing, therefore giving it its name of One Beer, Two (brewing) Systems.

Arrow Factory also has two new beers on tap as of Saturday (Apr 8), a saison collab with Craft Head from Shenzhen, which has notes of pepper and spice, and is brewed using New Zealand hops such as Motueka and Wai-iti. Their Man with The Golden Hop Country Ale will be back too, brewed with Maris Otter malt from UK. There's also a buy-one-get-one deal on Back in Black Stout (with 4 percent ABV) on Saturday at Liangma River location. 

Also, thanks to the recent wave of chaiing, Tiny on Xinyuan Jie thankfully remains open but has had to relocate its entrance. See the picture above for directions. They also have a new wheat beer on tap from Wuhan Bubble Lab.  

Recently we went to check out Yu Bar, located on the second floor of Chunxiu Lu's Yu/The Crib food emporium. They have eight beers on tap: Mandarin What and Flying Fist IPA from Jing-A (both RMB 45), IPA and Punch Bowl Northwest IPA from Russel (RMB 40), Machine Pilsner, Dadu American Pale Ale, Fang American Wheat, 100 Flowers Hidden Deep IPA from Peiping Machine (RMB 30-45), and a bottled ale from Buzz (RMB 25). 

And finally, the reopening of Pizza+, now rebranded as Pizza Saporita, sees the upgraded Dongzhimen space gain a series beers from an Italian craft brewery Birradamare. We marked the occasion with a delicious Biretta Nera Schwarzbier, a 5.5 percent ABV stout featuring a dark chocolate color and aromas of toasted malt and coffee. They also have Birra Roma Amber, Birra Roma Blond, Weisse, and Ondabionda in bottles (RMB 28 for 330ml, RMB 65 for 750ml) to pair with their new and spruced-up pizza menu.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos courtesy of venues