Over 130 Brews on Offer at Jing-A 8x8 Brewing Project Party Oct 27&28

You smell that? Those are the sweet and ripened notes of the weekend rapidly approaching and with it the gentle wafts of malt and hops in the cool autumn air. Except for this time, the aroma is even stronger, which can mean only one thing: Jing-A's annual 8x8 Brewing Project festival is nearly upon us.

Taking place on Friday and Saturday, Oct 26-27, at Vintage16 events space near Guomao, 8x8 is now in its second incarnation, coupling eight local Chinese breweries with eight names in the international craft brew scene to create eight wholly original collaboration beers.

This year's collaborations come courtesy of:

• Amager x Wild West
• Brewski x Jing-A
• Dugges x Xian Brewery
• Kex Brewing x TripSmith
• Nøgne Ø x Shangri-La
• Pöhjala x Taiwan Head Brewers
• Stigbergets x No. 18 Brewery
• To Øl x Young Master

As well as the eight new beers flowing freely at each session of the festival (Friday 8-11pm; Saturday midday-3pm, 4-7pm, 8-11pm), there'll be two additional rotating taps from each of the 16 breweries, making for a lip-smacking 40 beers in total whenever you decide to visit. If you make an entire weekend of it, that means you'll have access to a whopping 136 beers, ciders, and even sparkling sakes in total. A full list of what will be on offer and at which session can be found here.

Speaking to the Beijinger, Alex Acker, co-founder/brewer of Jing-A, describes how 8x8 has changed since last year's inaugural run as well as what attendees can expect from the event:

"It was our first time doing any sort of event of this scale. It was a big task coordinating so many breweries across great distances and different time zones, finding the right venue for the festival, and then getting the word out, but last year we pulled it off, and established 8x8 as a highlight of the year for Beijing’s beer lovers.

"This year we’ve shuffled the mix of breweries, both from China and from overseas, because instead of the US, this year we’ve invited breweries from various Nordic countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and even Iceland. The idea for 8x8 came from our own experience traveling to other countries, meeting other brewers and making beers together. It’s a way for us to get our friends from breweries all over China to work with really interesting and fun brewers from overseas each year, and at the same time introduce our guests from overseas to Beijing and the Chinese craft beer scene. 

"It’s an exciting surprise to learn about the collaboration beers the breweries of 8x8 have come up with each year – the different ways they combine their local ingredients or expertise into a recipe, or sometimes just a shared love for a certain style of beer, like in our collaboration with Brewski, a super-fruity and hoppy IPA with fresh pineapple.

"And then there’s the pleasure of finding out the full list of 128 other beers that these breweries send to pour at the festival. This year some of the breweries have really pulled out all the stops – for example, Põhjala, from Estonia, has exclusively sent us eight massive (12 percent abv or stronger) barrel-aged beers from the cellar series. These are mind-blowing beers that would cost you upwards of RMB 100 per bottle in a store. There’s also going to be lighter, more “crushable” ales and lagers, of course, and some really intriguing sour and fruit beers. All in all, we’re really lucky to have the chance to taste them all under one roof this weekend, and we hope that anyone who loves beer, or is curious about trying lots of new types of craft beer, has a chance to join us at 8x8!"

Tickets for this year's 8x8 Brewing Project cost RMB 258 per session (limited to 500 people each) or RMB 988 for the VIP treatment (access to all sessions plus a special bottle tasting and T-Shirt on Friday night, limited to 50) and can be bought here.

Vintage16
Bldg 16, Langyuan Vintage, Tonghuihe North Road, Chaoyang District
朝阳区通惠河北路朗家园6号朗园Vintage 

To dive into all of our beery coverage, simply click here.

Images courtesy of Jing-A