What's Up in Beer: Hutong Pub Crawl, Peiping Machine Gongti Anniversary, Dongli Brewery SLT Location
What's Up in Beer is our weekly rubdown of all things ale and suds. Lather yourself in the latest beery news, gossip, and openings all the while forgetting what exactly it was that you were meant to be doing. Don't worry, beer can fix that too.
We hope you're all not too fuzzy-headed after yesterday's Thanksgiving celebrations. If you've yet to have your fill, then there are a number of venues who are giving thanks right through the weekend. Read about those here. Otherwise, there are plenty of beery activities to keep you content...
Maovember Hutong Pub Crawl
Another weekend, another fun and boozy event from Maovember all in the name of charity. This Saturday, the team invite you to drink your way through the hutongs on Saturday. Meet at Café de La Poste at 1pm before stumbling to The Great Outdoors and, finally, Side Street. The RMB 100 entry fee gets attendees a drink and a snack at each venue and half of the money goes towards Maovember. There'll be a hot mobile drinks unit, games, and discounts on selected drinks. Wristbands for the event are now on sale at all three locations.
Peiping Machine Taphouse Gongti Turns One
Peiping Machine's Workers' Stadium venue celebrates its one-year anniversary with a free-flow blowout on Saturday, 5pm-1am. Attendees can either opt to buy a ticket (RMB 180) for free-flow beers or buy on the day from a selection of Chinese and international beers. The event is being held in cooperation with Fruityspace and includes a full roster of music starting at 9pm from bands Sha! and Sophie's Garden as well as DJ Marukou. See the full beer lists and more details about the acts here (in Chinese).
Great Leap Brewing Release Two New Beers
Great Leap has two new beers on tap at both of their locations as of today. The first is dubbed Your Wife is Bunny Blonde Ale (4.6 percent ABV), which has strong notes of lemon and pomelo on the nose, a hefty dose of rye malt, and, fittingly, a bright, straw-gold color. The second brew is the Repulse General IIPA, the newest addition to the brewery's General IPA series. Named in honor of Liu Guangcai, who successfully fought off thousands of foreign invaders of the Eight-Nation Alliance in 1900, this one sports strong notes of tropical fruits such as mango, orange, and guava, as well as resin and pine flavors. You too will think you're a general once you've downed a few of these 8.0 percent brews.
Slow Boat Also Have a New Beer
Over at Slow Boat, they've re-released their Sea Hag Forest Ale (ABV 4.7 percent). A heavy-bodied brew with a sweet finish and piney and citrusy notes, the Sea Hag gets its flavor from having been brewed with a whole juniper tree, sprouted fava beans, and black cardamom. Taste it from today onwards. (Pro tip: Slow Boat's Glass Bottomed Boat "Anti" New England IPA is still on tap but it's been renamed Moon Jelly. It also happens to be one of the best sippers of the year.)
Stone Brewing and Jing-A Collab
Jing-A and San Diego's Stone Brewing co-release a new beer on Friday, launching taps at both the former's Xingfucun joint and Stone's Shanghai-based tap room. The beer was birthed when Jing-A traveled to California to share their beers at Stone's 22nd-anniversary festival and took the opportunity to brew together. The end result is Delights and Sorrows, or Tong Gan Gong Ku (7 percent ABV), a West-Coast IPA brewed with chrysanthemum tea. Drop by from 5pm onwards to get a taste.
New Dongli Brewery Sanlitun Location
Finally, Dongli Brewery has opened a new venue just west of Workers' Stadium at 68 Xinzhong Jie. This is their second venue after their original Shangdi location. You can read our review of that venue here.
Images: redarrowtaproom.com, courtesy of the vendors, Kyle Mullin
