What’s Up in Beer: Take a Summer Beer Break With New Brews, New Imports, and Shanghai Beer Fest
Clearly the rain doesn’t help with cooling things down. Have you noticed that even the number of dancing grandmas at Workers' Stadium has vastly decreased to a handful due to the sweltering heat? Since we're trapped here, let’s take a beer break and look at the various liquid solutions open to us this weekend.
If you are a true beer lover and/or a loyal reader, it's likely that you're aware of how much we enjoyed Great Leap Brewing's Leaping the Dog Barley Champagne Rosé collab with Australian brewery Moon Dog. This beer is brewed using raspberries to give the brew a light body, and a dry, crisp finish with a hefty 13.5 percent ABV. Thankfully, they saved a few liters to bottle, which will be available at all three GLB locations for RMB 148 from Friday (Jul 21).
Slow Boat also has two new beers on tap: Yacht Party Blonde (5 percent ABV) marks the second time that they've brewed this variety (the first batch was called Banyan Blonde), the difference being that they've swapped the former hops for Palisade hops to give it a pillowy head with green papaya and orange blossom aromas. This beer supposedly represents “all of the tattooed bravado and blatant sexiness of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson on a boat,” which we'll take their word for. The second beer is a Belgian-style Koh Chang Saison with 5.4 percent ABV, which is brewed with lots of lemongrass to create a bright orange color and rich texture with citrusy aromas.
Also, thanks to SB's head chef Clement Rol’s recent visit to Thailand, the team have been inspired to add gai yang, or Thai grilled chicken satay, to the food menu. This dish includes five juicy chicken skewers, the meat marinated overnight in a blend of palm sugar and lemongrass, seasoned with a dash of garlic and coriander, and served with a spicy dipping sauce. Slow Boat recommends washing them down with a pint of Koh Chang to get about as close as you can get to Southeast Asia if you're stuck here like us.
Over at Peiping Machine, there are now six beers from American brewery Boulevard on tap: Calling IPA, Tank 7, Single Wide, Pale Ale, including two limited options: Unfiltered Wheat (4.4 percent ABV), and Tropical Pale Ale (5.9 percent ABV). There's also No. 18’s The Bloody Blade Imperial Stout (8.5 percent ABV), Harviestoun IPA, Tripsmith’s Haunted Warrior Imperial Stout (12 percent ABV), Breakfast Stout from Founders (8.3 percent ABV), and Gonzo Imperial Porter from Flying Dog (9.2 percent ABV) if you're looking for something a little boozier.
Another and another new batch over at Via Jian Guo, who have added Hippy Berliner Sour Hoppy Ale, Tropidelic Pale Ale, Hopwired IPA, Super Conductor, Double IPA, Flat White Stout (RMB 48-60) from Kiwi Brewery 8 Wired, Bomb! Imperial Stout, Pirate Bomb! Imperial Stout with 15 percent ABV from Prairie Artisan Ales in America, Liquid Confidence Imperial Stout, and Smoke On The Porter, Fire In The Rye American Porter from ToØl to their shelves. Prices range from RMB 100-200 per bottle.
Nali Patio's High Town, have also brought in some new beers on tap, including Tropical Pale Ale from Boulevard, IPA from Old Driver, and Watermelon Wheat Beer from Jing-A.
As for new breweries, Great Friend Outdoors Club just opened last weekend at 12 Fangjia, and features12 taps with with a mixture of local and domestic microbrews, such as Fumo IPA (RMB 48), Tengyun Wheat Ale (RMB 38) from Harvest, Film G Milk Stout (RMB 48), Tiaodong Who IPA (RMB 45) from Wuhan No. 18, Beijing Gose (RMB 45), NB Wheat (RMB 38), Vanilla Coffee Stout (RMB 48), Heifeweizen (RMB 38) from NBeer Pub, Osmanthus Honey Ale (RMB 38) from Shenyang Laotao, and Diaistic Cider (RMB 45). The 350sqm space also includes a small climbing wall and a nice terrace, which the team will use to hold seminars about outdoor activities in the near future.
If you happen to be in Shanghai this weekend, head to the annual Shanghai Craft Beer Festival at Jing'an Kerry Center (1515 Nanjing Xilu), July 22-23. Among the 100 beers in attendance, you’re likely to see a bunch of familiar faces given that Arrow Factory, Slow Boat, and Great Leap are heading down to celebrate. Other notable vendors include Taihu, Goose Island, Young Master, Bionic, Ballast Point, The Brew, Boxing Cat, Le Ble D’or, Ale Smith, Boulevard, Zeffer, Founders, Karl Strauss, Mornington, Cider Republic, Pitata, and Dr. Beer.
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Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: Tracy Wang, courtesy of the venues
