Booze News: Janes and Hooch Closes, Italian Wine Tasting, Maovember Wrap-Up Weekend

Thirsty? Wet your whistle with Booze News, our wrap-up of the week's best bar deals, parties, drink concoctions, industry gossip, and more.

Janes and Hooch quietly closes

After several weeks of uncertainty, it seems Janes and Hooch (also pictured at top) has finally closed. Over the past week, cocktail fans looking to sip at the Courtyard 4 establishment have been met with barricaded doors and no sign of life. Opened by Warren Pang and Milan Sekulic, the bar ranked on the World's Best 50 Bars List in 2017, and lauded for its "striking space where the city's young and beautiful come to be seen and sip on classic cocktails with a twist." It was also one of the first reliable cocktail bars to open in Beijing, quickly amassing a following thanks to its neat and friendly staff and good, stiff drinks – a combination that was to become ubiquitous across the city in the following years. RIP.

Maovember wrap-up weekend

This weekend marks the conclusion of Beijing's month-long Maovember charity fundraiser. Thrown in aid of the Library Project, which since its founding in 2006, has furnished more than 2,000 Chinese libraries with books and furniture, the party starts at Paddy O'Shea's this Friday at 9pm with Jameson picklebacks, darts for charity, and much more.

But that's not the end of it, on Saturday the crew will descend on Buddy's in Lido from midday onwards (though get there earlier for practice) for Maovember's annual cornhole tournament. An American classic, cornhole "takes about 30 seconds to learn and is highly addictive and consists of tossing 400-gram bags of corn at a hole eight meters away." This year’s event will feature 16 teams of two or more people and the entry fee of RMB 200 per team includes two welcome shooters, two raffle tickets, two Maovember pins, and if you win, some great prizes. Tsingtao's will be RMB 15 throughout the day. All of the money will go to The Library Project so get down and lend your  support.

Wine tasting with Clemente Zecca

This Sunday, midday to 3pm, Buona Bocca welcomes Italian winemaker Clemente Zecca (pictured above), founder and owner of Zecca Wineries, for a guided wine tasting of some of the best varieties coming out of Puglia in southern Italy. For RMB 198, attendees will be able to taste several of his wines as well as learn the difference between negroamaro and primitivo grapes and the wines they produce.

All-you-can-drink men's night at Ban Ban Bar

New Dongsishitiao-adjacent bar Ban Ban is putting a spin on the usual ladies' night, namely, by making it a men's night. Every Thursday and Sunday, 8.30-11.30pm, men can enjoy unlimited gin tonics, whiskey sours, and whiskey highballs for RMB 110. If that sounds like trouble waiting to happen, we'll report back soon after having given it a whirl. Find Ban Ban at 1/F, 18 Xinzhong Street (across from Jiatengwu restaurant), East Second Ring Road, Chaoyang District.

Guest bartender at Baojian Pharmacy

Another new bar, Baojian Pharmacy at 63 Baochao Hutong in Dongcheng District, will also be home to a guest bartender this Friday, 9pm onwards: John Hung. Hung, brand manager of independent Scottish whisky distillery Douglas Laing & Co. and former Pickering's Gin brand ambassador, will mix up four exclusive cocktails with three different regional whiskies.

Slow Boat re-ups their merch ahead of eighth anniversary

As we all know, eight is about as auspicious as it gets around these parts, and Slow Boat intends to make the most of their time in the craft brewing game with a new range of swag, including various tees and a hoodie. Best yet, if you wear the apparel to one of their venues you'll get RMB 10 off the bill. Stay tuned for more info about the celebrations as the big day approaches.

Additionally, their Safe Harbor Christmas Ale (6.7 percent ABV) has returned to taps just in time for Thanksgiving, as per tradition. The limited brew, lightly spiced with cinnamon, clove, and orange peel, will be available at both Slow Boat locations until it runs dry.

Didn't hear the big foodie news?
Michelin just announced their top Beijing restaurants for the first time ever.

Images courtesy of the venues, Peddlers Gin Co.