Round Two: Boxing Cat Returns to Beijing With Bustling Xinyuanli Location
Boxing Cat may have been down, but it was never out for the count. The Shanghai craft beer giant is now going for round two in Beijing with its new Xinyuanli branch (in the same complex as Q Mex Taqueria and Bottega), marking yet another white-hot opening for the neighborhood jostling it out with Sanlitun. And this time, the brewery has come out swinging.
At the venue's opening bash on Aug 12, the taps were flowing with 16 beers Boxing Cat brews, all but three of which are not available anywhere else in Beijing. Among our favorites (all at RMB 50 per pint): the El Presidente, a Mexican lager with zesty lemon-lime notes that was refreshing and we imagine quite sessional at 4.8 percent ABV; the Thrilla in Manila, a gobsmackingly sour beer with hints of pomegranate, honey, and ginger that's light on its feet at 3.7 percent ABV; and the King Louie Imperial Stout, rich with coffee and chocolate notes as well as smooth and quaffable for an 8.5 percent ABV beer. However, the Breast Wishes Milk Stout was a dud, the combination of being brewed with lactose and flaked oats and its carbonated bubbles making for a less than stellar combination, even though its initial pure white color changes to a familiar beer amber part way through. If you're looking for something rich and creamy, we'd suggest the far superior Money Shot Cream Ale instead.
The food had attendees at the opening cooing every bit as much. Cushy flatbreads, which run from RMB 58-78 per plateful, are a down-to-earth rival of gourmet pizzas thanks to toppings like fresh Berkshire pork Italian sausage, red curry sauce with pumpkin, and truffled mushrooms. Snacks like tostadas (RMB 38), along with succulent cold cuts, left us yearning to come back and give the menu a proper, waistline-expanding try. None of that should come as a surprise given that the kitchen is headed up by Simon Sunwoo of Liquid Laundry fame, which is quickly becoming an institution in Shanghai not only for cocktails but also for its bountiful brunches. Before his current gig, Sunwoo studied under big names like Wolfgang Puck and former three Michelin star chefs Jean Andre Charial and Santi Santa Maria, teaching him the know-how to apply high-end flourishes and panache to the more casual pub food that he’s now cooking up.
All this packs a significantly more powerful punch than the pugilistic-themed brand’s prior Beijing foray. That makes sense, since this is their first proper store and their opening at Courtyard 4 last year was only a pop-up, but the earlier venture left us a bit underwhelmed at the time. That sentiment was compounded for some by Boxing Cat being bought by beer giant AB InBev, leaving fans fearing their once favorite contender was going to bow to corporate pressure to create something more crowd-pleasing.
As if to address such concerns from the get-go, patrons entering the new store will notice brew tanks and other hardware prominently visible from display windows behind the bar. To the side of that sits an open kitchen with a visible Italian-style pizza oven for the flatbreads, again to give the joint another glint of personality (all of which is a major step up from last year’s zero-frills pop-up).
When we asked Michael Jordan, the brewmaster and brains behind the operation, about the skeptics’ corporate concerns, he pointed out just how many resources the AB InBev deal offers Boxing Cat. “On the deep level technical side, in terms of things like fermentation and analysis, we have so many more resources than we wouldn't have had by ourselves. So I think it gives us a testing ground for creating better and better food and beer.”
Sunwoo, meanwhile, says: “People can say what they like, but the number one thing is we’re still brewing craft, still making craft food. We’re making everything from a small resource batch that’s very very controlled, and we’re trying to do everything in-house from scratch, making our own bread and dough. Just like with Liquid Laundry in Shanghai, we want to maintain that ‘start from scratch’ mentality.”
They both went on to say this Beijing venture would’ve happened much more slowly without the AB InBev deal. Jordan was also quick to give shoutouts to Beijing brewers, saying: “Slow Boat, Great Leap, Jing-A, and others really paved the way here. We’ve always wanted to be in Beijing, and be part of this awesome community.”
“The beer culture here in Beijing is stronger, the appreciation really is there,” Jordan adds, and as he glances at the enthused crowd milling about and gulping away at the new Xinyuanli location, that point seemed more than evident though only time will tell if Beijingers will take to this Shanghai import as fondly as they have latched on to their city's homegrown products.
Boxing Cat Brewery
Sun-Thu 11.30am-1am, Fri-Sat 11.30am-2am. Room 109, Jinshang Shouceng, 20 Xinyuanli Xili, Chaoyang District (6461 6737)
朝阳区新源里西里20号楼金尚首层109
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Photos: Uni You
