Return of the Champ: Slow Boat Earns Fifth Title with 2021 Burger Cup Win!

Vincent R. Vinci, Contributing Editor | Oct 13, 2021 4:44 pm | Add a comment | 979 reads

The voters have spoken and a champion has returned: Slow Boat Brewery regains the title of Beijing’s Best Burger. Plus, with this being their fifth title, they continue their streak as most decorated winner in Burger Cup history!

This means Q Mex, who made it to the top with Slow Boat, ranks second best in Beijing. As for the runner up contest between Home Plate BBQ and Slider Nation, Home Plate has come out on top. This means Home Plate is Beijing's third best, while Slider Nation ranks fourth.

The path to the championship began with the Burger Fest. Crowds gathered around Slow Boat’s booth for all three days of the fest, where their top burger – the legendary Fryburger, a perfectly cooked beef patty with a slightly pink center, covered in melted cheese, beer battered French fries, Slow Boat’s signature “ayi-oli” sauce, all sandwiched within a sesame encrusted bun – remained the star of the show.

The question on everyone’s mind this year: would Slow Boat reclaim their title, would they lose again to 2020 winner Side Street, or would both be struck out by some unlikely underdog?

The Road to Victory

The Burger Cup kicked off with smooth sailing for Slow Boat as they entered the Round of 64 in a top seed. As the rounds progressed, they battled and sank a number of other quality burger slingers: Panda Brew, Miam Miam, The Local and Jing-A.

From the Sweet 16 onwards, though, there was a storm on the horizon. Upstart Slider Nation – who was no newbie to Burger Fest, having been there in previous years as Sliders by Henry – had taken out former champs Side Street in a surprising upset, before doing the same to Great Leap Brewing to advance into the Final Four.

Would this victory – which was shaping up to be a Cinderella Story – spell another loss for Slow Boat?

In a sudden turn of events, Slider Nation got knocked out by Q Mex, a bit of good news for Slow Boat. But now they’d be pitted against a fellow veteran and bitter rival, as Q Mex had stolen the crown from them back in 2017.

This boat’s engines are strong as hell, and Slow Boat pulled through in the end. To sum up the victory, co-owner Chandler Jurinka compares it to brewing a quality beer: "In brewing, we say to brew a great beer once is easy, but to brew a great beer over time takes a lot of skill", and much like that well-crafted beer, Slow Boat has come through with a well-earned Burger Cup win.

In the end, though, it doesn't matter to us who came in 1st, 2nd, or 5th – we're most proud to see so many worthy competitors presenting Beijing with the most creative and delicious burgers they have to offer, lifting this city's burger scene far above the boring old fast food trash and propeling it way up as close as humanly possible to burger heaven.

Burger Fest & Cup by the Numbers

It goes without mentioning, this year’s Burger Fest brought Beijing even closer to that heaven. 92 percent of voters we polled said they’d found a new place they’d never heard of before, while a whopping 88 percent said they went out and expanded their burgerizons by trying one or more of them.

Although this year’s winner has a familiar name, the Fest and Cup changed the hearts and minds of the people: 72 percent of those polled say they’ve changed their opinion this year on what burgers rank best.

Plus, in news that’ll surely delight local fitness instructors and gyms, 84 percent of our voters say they’ve eaten more burgers than usual over the past month, while 70 percent have consumed more beer. Time to hit the treadmill and get your diets in order too, because Pizza Fest is right around the corner!

To round off our caption contests, here are your takes on dialogue from yet more scenes from Korean drama Squid Game:

And this comic strip:

To our Korean interpreters and our comic writers (you know who you are), use the address you put down in the voting survey to email info@truerun.com and claim your prize (sorry, delivery to Beijing addresses only).

And, the final rankings of the top 100 burgers in Beijing are as follows:

1. Slow Boat Brewery 悠航鲜啤
2. Q Mex Bar & Grill 库迈墨西哥餐吧
3. Home Plate BBQ 本垒美式烤肉
4. Slider Nation 小堡邦
5. Great Leap Brewing 大跃啤酒
6. Jing-A 京A
7. 3 Little Pigs by Andy's Craft Sausages 三小猪
8. Beersmith Gastropub鲜啤吧9.
Side Street 街旁
10. Blue Frog 蓝蛙
11. Arrow Factory Brewing 箭厂啤酒
12. Fatburger 特福客汉堡
13. Burge's Bistro & Bar 小伯格酒馆
14. The Great Outdoors 野友趣
15. The Local
16. Niu Burger 橘气牛蘑王手工汉堡
17. Shake Shack
18. Miam Miam咪吖咪吖
19. DE REFTER比利时啤酒•餐吧
20. NBeer Pub牛啤堂精酿啤酒餐吧
21. Paddy O'Shea's爱尔兰酒吧
22. Lily's American Diner
23. KATCHUP
24. Kitty & Daniel Hollywood Grill & Bar大牛好莱坞餐吧
25. Peach by Hulu
26. Plan B
27. Hulu by TRB琥禄
28. The Roots香海西厨
29. Fat Tiger Burger胖虎汉堡
30. Messy Burger汉堡探索中心
31. Bistro 108巴黎餐吧
32. Fire Works北焰扒房
33. The Cheesecake Factory芝乐坊
34. Peiping Machine北平机器
35. Turkish Feast西庭•秀色
36. Tiger's老虎西餐
37. L'Fête de Bistro 105法式小餐馆
38. Bistrot B怡庭
39. Market Café, Hyatt Regency Beijing, Wangjing北京望京凯悦酒店•咖啡厅
40. Panda Brew熊猫精酿
41. The Music Bar, Hyatt Regency Beijing, Wangjing北京望京凯悦酒店•音乐吧
42. Lenbach兰巴赫西餐啤酒坊
43. Angel Burger天使汉堡
44. Grandma's Kitchen祖母的厨房
45. EAST Beijing北京东隅酒店
46. Let's Burger Plus非常创意汉堡
47. 4 Corners肆角餐吧
48. Station Grill
49. La Rosee枫丹露原•福楼新概念
50. Commune Reserve
51. Migas Mercado米思家
52. Cafe Ruhe 如何餐厅
53. BLT American RestaurantBLT美式西餐厅
54. Manchester United Theater of Dreams Restaurant曼联梦剧场餐厅
55. Lush
56. The Rug Café
57. Leo's Butcher小李肉铺
58. Panorama葩诺
59. LAKER'S湖人俱乐部
60. Salt Lake Inn盐湖酒廠
61. XL Bar and Restaurant
62. WasPark
63. GLOU Bar & Kitchen
64. QS奎妮精选
65. Aurora
66. Spacelab 失重餐厅
67. Park Side 园景
68. CHAR Bar & Grill 恰牛扒房
69. Veggie Table 吃素的西餐
70. Legend Beer 老牌酒廠
71. Bodensee Kitchen 德南餐厅
72. Meat by Ernest 吃肉西餐厅
73. Eudora Station 亿多瑞站
74. Peking Garden 北平花园
75. Wubei at City Walk 五杯美食精酿餐厅-城市大道店
76. Wiggly Jiggly 欧也
77. Shaking Crab 波士顿手抓海鲜
78. Tough Tongue 硬舌酒肉
79. FAMOUS 墨西哥餐吧
80. Park Square Restaurant & Lounge 园庭
81. RE 而意
82. Café Flatwhite
83. Panino Teca 品味
84. Su Zui 素醉精酿
85. Dongli Brewery 东里手工啤酒
86. Alpha Omega Club 甲丁坊新德餐吧
87. World of Beer WOB 北京精酿餐厅
88. Wobbit 窝边草
89. Living Room•CHAO
90. Space & Bar 盲区
91. Houlai Burger Restaurant & Bar 逅来后来美式手工自助汉堡餐吧
92. Windy City 风渡嘉荷西餐厅
93. He Kitchen
94. Hey Burger 堡嗝汉堡
95. Bunny Drop 白兔糖精致烹牛•精酿啤酒
96. The Virtue 五德酒场
97. Uncle's Kitchen UK大叔的厨房
98. Burgermood 堡格曼
99. Foam Lab 泡沫实验室
100. The Bell x TERRAZZA MARTINI