Each year, the 8x8 Brewing Project pairs 8 breweries from Greater China with 8 breweries from a chosen region around the world to brew eight kick-ass beers together. Our goal with this (beyond throwing a huge party) is to introduce new beers to thirsty Beijingers and build connections between brewers.

It culminates this weekend with all 16 breweries gathering for a 2-day beer festival in Beijing to launch their collaborations. Each brewery will pour two of their own beers, plus the collaboration brews, giving you a total for 40 different free-flow beers to enjoy at each session.

Every session has a mix of hoppy IPA's, crushable craft lagers, hearty stouts and porters, fruity sour ales and other specialty beers. All beers (except the collaborations) change between sessions, giving you a total of 136 to try!

Food vendors will be on-site to help you balance all that beer: Burgers and fried chicken from Jing-A, dim sum and sandwiches from Furongji & Bake Shop, loaded jianbing from Avocado Drum, spicy crayfish dumplings from HuDa, sushi from Hatsune, and special beery recipes from Lingxia Gelato!

Tattoo artists and speedy sports massage will also be making a return this year, with vinyl-spinning DJs (Jay 1,2 / ADDJ / Tanner) providing the soundtrack for every session.

This year's participating breweries drawn from the Northeast US and Canada and Greater China are as follows:

Bravo Brewing Co. x Lamplighter Brewing Co.
E.T. Brewery x Graft Cider
Heroes Beer Co. x Finback Brewery
Jing-A x Stillwater Artisanal
Mingri Brewing x Alewife Brewing Company
Nanmen x Collective Arts Brewing
Taihu Brewing x Brooklyn Brewery
Yun Brewing x Thin Man Brewery

Some of the collaborations to look forward to this year include:

• Yun Brewing x Thin Man Brewery's "Nu York Shizandra Berry Gose" featuring the mysterious five-flavor berry from Yunnan.


• Jing-A x Stillwater Artisanal's "Chinese Medicine" a 10% abv Imperial Cola & Ginger Sour Ale, inspired by the Chinese tradition of drinking hot Coca Cola boiled with ginger as a cold remedy.


• Heroes Beer Co. x Finback Brewery's "Long Distance Relationship" a super-fresh hazy double IPA


• E.T. Brewery x Graft Cider's "Red Halo Berry Gose" with juicy flavors of raspberry, strawberry, and coconut.

If you're a drinker and a scholar - or a scholar of drinking, look out for Garrett Oliver, Brooklyn Brewery's Brewmaster since 1994, who wil lbe pouring a collection of rare bottles from their barrel-aging program in Williamsburg. A James Beard awarded writer of multiple books on beer, including the Oxford Companion to Beer, he's a preeminent expert on the subject.