2016 Year in Review: 20 New Brewpubs and Beer Bars That Graced Beijing in 2016
2016 has been an exciting year for beer lovers with a dozen beer bars and brewpubs opening throughout town and old ones growing even bigger. We're excited about the prospects of some of the city's new additions, for example Tiny and Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing, but some – given some particularly sour-tasting first impressions – we doubt we will set foot in again, such as Dongzhimen newbie No. 9, and Craft Art & Craft Beer. And then there was a third category: those that won't even make it to see the birth of 2017, such as Koli's Camp in Shunyi and 什么什么 Frog in Sanlitun Soho, which closed so fast we had to look up its name.
Anyway, let's take a look at what 2016 had to offer in terms of the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing 滚滚精酿
This young Chinese couple brought Yizhuang its first ever brewpub: Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing (滚滚精酿). Owner Chen Chen brews six microbrews on-site, which are of decent quality, and also stocks draft beers from Boulevard Brewing and Vedett, and sells Brewdog bottled beers. We were also a fan of their beef burger (RMB 45, comes with fries).
Read our first impressions here.
Koli's Camp (蜂朝精酿主题西餐厅) (CLOSED)
Since Charcoal's bitter break-up with Arrow Factory (with Arrow Factory moving all its brewing equipment out in November 2015), an ambitious new team took over the Shunyi venue in January, renaming it Koli’s Camp. Koli's owner Yang Shaojun, a veteran of the IT industry, told the Beijinger, “it’s my first time to use a 1,000-liter brewing facility, but I’m confident that my beers are above average.” Unfortunately, the public thought otherwise and for one reason or another, Koli had to shut down.
Read our first impressions here.
Drunk Begining 醉开始
Drunk Begining [sic] has one of the widest selections of bottled beer in all of Beijing – at last count, over 100, from all over the world. What's even more of a mean feat is fitting such an all-encompassing selection into a mere 20-square-meter space. If you're new to beer, you'd be advised to go during their daily 6-8pm happy hour, which features buy-two-get-one free on everything.
Read our first impressions here.
Flow Brew 如流精酿
The Beixinqiao area welcomed another brewpub to its growing arsenal: Flow Brew, which opened as a cooperation between three friends. Flow has eight brews on tap, six of which are brewed by the team themselves in Haidian’s outer hills, as well as two options from Slow Boat. As for the grub: Japanese beef and chicken yakitori are on hand to soak up some of that beer, as well as barbecued miso pork and french fries.
Read our first impressions here.
W CoBar (CLOSED)
W CoBar (a portmanteau of coffee and bar) was the product of two young Beijing-based girls who love travel and wanted to combine their experiences into a somewhere to call home while in the Big Smoke. Dipping down into the basement floor of the Jiaming Center, next to the East Third Ring Road, the café was perfectly poised to catch foot traffic from Bayer and several other nearby big name companies but didn't survive more than a few months.
Read our first impressions here.
The Dirty Duck
Located at Beiluogu Xiang, this British-style four-story pub has several beers on tap and features an atmosphere that some Brits may appreciate if they're positioned far away from home.
Read our first impressions here.
Dongli Brewery 东里手工啤酒 (pictured at top)
When you find yourself in Xierqi for the visa health check, you might want to check Dongli to put some liquids that you lost to government back in. Opening in February in Shangdi at the far end of Haidian, amidst the offices of IT giants such as Baidu, Sina, and Tencent which also occupy the area, Dongli offers seven beers on tap, all brewed in their own 500-liter fermentation tanks. The kitchen serves German-style food, such as sausages, pork knuckle, and schnitzel.
Read our first impressions here.
River Homebrewing & Steak 良食精酿
River is neither a traditional brewpub or restaurant, rather, it combines imported bottled beers and microbrews on tap with fusion food from several different countries, all housed within 240 square meters. On the menu. there's grilled vegetables, ramen (RMB 38), soups and main courses such as braised beef (RMB 88), stewed mussels with white wine (RMB 68), three varieties of Australian grain-fed steak (RMB 388, 488, and 588), and snacks.
Read our first impressions here.
Peiping Machine Taphouse 北平机器
Peiping officially opened in June and towers over Tiki on 46 Fangjia Hutong. There are a hefty 32 microbrews on tap, including brews from Harvest Brewery, No. 18 Brewery, Nbeer, and Reberg. One of the owners, Li Wei, a CCTV-7 anchor and the president of the Beijing Homebrew Society i.e. a man who knows his beer. Jianbing are sold as the necessary beer snacks but you might find it difficult to order one given the lack of service.
Read our first impressions here.
Kamehameha 大有酒场
This 100-square-meter bar is located in Wangjing, and has six beers on tap, including Estaminet pilsner, Konig Ludwig Weissbier, St-Louis Premium Kriek, Kenkucky IPA, Summer Stout, and Steenbrugge Wit at prices ranging from RMB 36-60. There are also about 30 imported bottle beers in the fridge, including brands popular throughout Beijing such as Rogue, Brewdog, and Ballast Point, all personal favorites of the owner Wang Fanfei's. If you're looking for fish and chips to go with your brew then Kamehameha is notable for selling for types: cod, flounder, sea bass, and basa fish (RMB 55-125), as well as German sausages, cheeseburgers, and other bar snacks.
Read our first impressions here.
C2H6O
C2H60 is located a stone’s throw away from Temple Restaurant Beijing, and with over 700 imported beers on display, including 300 beers chilled and ready to go, C2H6O may just have the most impressive collection of beers that Beijing has ever seen, which would explain the space's name (the chemical formula for ethanol i.e. drinking alcohol). Food includes french fries, nachos (both RMB 40), cheese platters, a German sausage platter (RMB 75), and spicy pork ribs (RMB 110). The decor is stunning and makes for a great one-two evening and a slap-up meal at Temple.
Read our first impressions here.
Legend Beer 老牌啤酒
At a sprawling 1,500 square meters, Legend Beer's venue at the West gate of the Workers’ Stadium holds eight 1,000-liter fermentors, and eight 2,000-liter fermentors on site. There are six beers on tap: the Workers' Stadium West Lager (4.5 percent ABV), Party Queen Wheat (5.2 percent ABV), Legend IPA (6.8 percent ABV), William IV German Lager (4.5 percent ABV), Black Silk Temptation (5 percent ABV), and Beatles American Amber Ale (5.2 percent ABV). The menu also includes two beer-cocktails: Radler (half lager with half Fanta or Sprite) and Diesel (beer with coke), both priced at RMB 40. Food on offer sits somewhere between German and American, such as pork knuckles with sauerkraut, handmade sausages, mini burgers, pancakes, as well as a bunch of decent salads.
Read our first impressions here.
No. 9 Beer 酒号
This 1,500-square-meter venue includes a brewery in the basement as well as a sports-themed restaurant. There are six unimaginatively named beers up for grabs on tap: No. 9 dark beer, No. 9 red beer, No. 9 lager, No. 9 wheat beer, No. 9 light beer and No. 9 IPA, priced between RMB 35-48 for 500ml, and a “No. 9 nice non-alcoholic beverage” (RMB 30) for those wanting to stay clean. If you are used to hoppy, innovative, punch-in-the-face American beers, you might feel like these No. 9 offerings are a bit watered down. The German-style beers here are lighter and comes with less carbonation. Since we didn't even finish one 220ML taster during our visit, maybe it's the place you wanna avoid. Its existence proves that owning the expensive facility doesn’t guarantee that you can brew.
Read our first impressions here.
Tsingtao 1903 Zone
After expanding its empire to include 18 bars in Qingdao, where the Chinese beer giant's headquarters are located, Tsingtao went on to open its first bar in Beijing Galaxy Soho in May of this year. There are a measly two beers on tap: Tsingtao's original beer (RMB 58, 原浆 yuánjiāng), and draft beer (RMB 28, 生啤 shēngpí). Unfortunately, the IPA that we had come to try had run out, with a member of the staff informing us that, “the production of our IPA is so limited that we normally only get one keg a month,” which bodes terribly for this brand and venue. However, there were also plenty of bottled beers to fill the void, including Tsingtao's stout, wheat beer, export-quality bottles, and Tsingtao 1903, with a price range of RMB 15-25.
Read our first impressions here.
Beer Library 啤酒图书馆
Beer Library might just be the least conspicuous beer bar in the Sanlitun area given that, right after celebrating its one-year anniversary, many people have still never heard of it. The bar prides itself on being down-to-earth, and at the same time, with 80 beers in the fridge, their selection is certainly nothing the scoff at. There are also a range of whiskeys, as well as two special drinks at the bar: butter beer and smokey whiskey beertail. Beer Library is not just a place to feel at home, but also a bar for nerds (no offense, I’m most certainly one of them), an inkling solidified by their entire manga series of Dragon Ball.
Slow Boat Brewpub Sanlitun
After a six-month wait, Slow Boat Brewery finally opened at 6 Nan Sanlitun Lu in September. With more than 170 seats spanning three floors, as well as 16 beers on tap, their new flagship venue provides its popular award-winning burgers, as well as salads, fries, desserts, not to mention the lovely pancakes and waffles for brunch. We look forward to hopefully breaking in their rooftop come summer 2017.
Read our first impressions here.
Joyous Shop & Bar 酒仰
Hidden in the first basement of Shangdu Soho, this bar has about 40 seats, and one of the largest selections of bottled beer in Beijing. Among the 200 kinds of beers, are popular options like Dogfish Head, Brewdog, Flying Dog, Rogue, Stone, Karl Strauss, Bush, De Molen; Belgian brands such as Chimay, Hoegaarden, Lindemans, Duve, La Chouffe, and Vedett; as well as rarer beers such as Speakeasy, Evil Twin, and Belching Beaver. Plenty of Chinese bottled beers are also on offer too, such as Panda Brew, Master Gao, and Reberg. If a pint is what you're after then grab a glass of Nbeer, Chengdu Harvest, or Master Gao.
Read our first impressions here.
Tiny
Opening in September on Xinyuan Jie, Tiny offers a more relaxed drinking environment when compared to the hustle and bustle Sanlitun. The 36-square-meter bar is small but cozy, and provides nine beers all from Wuhan Bubble Lab, including one pilsner, one saison, four IPAs, one porter, an ale and a stout. There are also salads, fried dumplings, fish fillet, sausage on the menu.
Read our first impressions here.
High Town 海棠精酿
Taking over the space previously held by Particles Kitchen in Nali Patio, High Town offers three beers brewed on site (Wheat Beer, High Town IPA, and Osmanthus Ale), as well as nine imported beers on tap, including Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale, Kentucky IPA, No. 18 Milk Stout, Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Firestone Ale 31, Finn Pilsner Lager, Foxes Rock Red Ale, Liefmans Cuvee Brut, and Cider Republic Apple Cider. The American takes on a number of different dishes were also surprisingly well-conceived, and we especially enjoyed the quesadillas (RMB 68), and lava cake (RMB 58).
Read our first impressions here.
Craft Art & Craft Beer 霄云绘
Unfortunately, not all new beer bars can be good, with Craft Art & Craft Beer giving us fair warning that some people just don't have a clue. Although boasting 14 taps, with offerings from Peiping Machine, Dead Pony Club from Brewdog, Evil Twin, Ballast Point, and Rogue, three out of 14 were sold out and of the five we tried, four tasted off. Both the attitude of the owners, and the pigeon-sized chicken that we had the misfortune of ordering, were disappointing in equal measure.
Read our first impressions here.
And that's all folks! We wouldn't suggest trying them all before the New Year but it should put you in good stead before the new wave of venues start to roll in thanks to all that Chinese New Year money flying around.
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure
Photos: Kamehameha, Slow Boat, Tiny, Rolling Rolling, Tracy Wang, Legend Beer
