What’s Up in Beer: Pizza Fest, GLB Goes German, Autumn Fest Beer, and Boxing Cat in SLT?

First thing's first: Pizza Fest will be held this weekend (Sep 16-17) at Wangjing Soho and pre-order tickets have officially sold out! So if you haven’t already ordered your tickets, you'll want to show up early to swerve lines and get in before the best slices find loving consumers. 

There will be 30 pizza vendors and approximately a dozen beer vendors including our old friend Drinking Buddies, Italian craft beer Viola, Australian Natural, De Refter, Duvel, Zeffer from New Zealand, Asahi, domestic brewpubs such as Urbrau, Dongli, Peiping Machine, Legend Beer, and Boxing Cat. Be prepared and see you there!

If you missed NBeer Pub’s oyster competition in late July, don’t worry – they have cooperated with Xian at East Hotel to organize various games and provide a promotion at The Craft Container on September 16 (3-7pm), during which the Pheromonal Oyster Stout will be RMB 25 per pint, and selected food from Xian will be on special for RMB 35.

Great Leap Brewing will be releasing two beers that remind you of Germany – the Heaven in Earth Kölsch and Honey Ma Lager. The Heaven in Earth Kölsch represents a tip of the hat to Cologne, where kölsch originated. Even though it's more ale in style, kölsch is very drinkable and tastes like a lager. Heaven in Earth Kölsch has a refreshing mix of light citrus notes, mild bitterness, and gentle hop flavors. The Honey Ma Lager is a hybrid of the flagship beer with Oktoberfest lager. It was brewed in classic Honey Ma-style with fresh Sichuan peppercorns and local date honey, and was fermented with lager yeast to gain the crisp mouth-feel and an especially refreshing finish. Both beers will be on tap at all three locations on Friday (September 15).

To seize the tail-end of summer and enjoy the outdoors while drinking and learning, Drinking in History returns to Great Leap original #6 (the hutong one) this Saturday (September 16) starting at 12.30pm, hosted by historian, raconteur, barroom hero, and our very own Jeremiah Jenne. This weekend he will regale you with tales of one of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind – the Taiping Rebellion. Email jimmy@greatleapbrewing.com to make a reservation.

Hatchery has organized the Australian Brewery Pop-Up for the whole of September (check the calendar above). They have transformed the Hatchery Bar into the Down Under Bar with following deals:

• On Mondays after 7pm, all-you-can-eat tacos with free-flow Seis Hermanos Lager for RMB 128;
• On Tuesdays after 7pm, enjoy half-price fish and chips for RMB 42.5 and add RMB 20 to get a beer;
• On Wednesdays after 7pm, order any chicken dish and get a free Australian Brewery beer for free;
• On Thursdays after 7pm, chicken parma with chips, salad, and a beer for RMB 85;
• On Fridays, all day, all Australian Brewery beers are 50% off;
• On Weekends 3-7pm, buy a beer and get a free hot dog;
• And throughout the week, get a selection of four Australian Brewery beers for RMB 120, and receive a membership card which gives you 50% off all their beers in 2017.

For the coming Mid-Autumn Festival, Beersmith at Hotel Jen will launch a special autumn festival beer on September 19, inspired by traditional German Oktoberfest beer (but not brewed in accordance with the controversial purity law, the Reiheisgebot). It was brewed with Pilsner, Vienna and Munich malts, then accented with mooncake ingredients, such as red bean, lotus seed, and red dates. The result is a “unique blend of toasted maltiness combined with notes of dark fruits and hints of marzipan.” This beer will be on an all day buy-one-get-one-free deal on September 19.

Slow Boat has also released a new beer – the Hole in the Hull Grisette, with 5.4 percent ABV – which is an “old French-style Saison brewed with wheat, oatmeal, and slightly more hops.” It was brewed with the “new Fermentis BE-134 yeast which was just released last month.” The taste is between their Belgian Wit and one of their Saisons, with medium body and aromas of pepper, light wheat sweetness, banana, and pineapple.

If you haven’t bid farewell to Fangjia Hutong yet, you'd better hurry up: the end is coming in 3, 2, 1 … Grab a drink at El Nido and Cellar Door (or even buy the fridge from either the venue), and have a meal at Ramo by September 17 to memorize the happy times you’ve spent here.

During our visit to Jing-A in 1949 last night, we were surprised to see that Traitor Zhou was replaced by a taproom just opposite Jing-A, and based on the logo outside, it is going to be Boxing Cat's. The news is enough to make several nearby pubs nervous, but as to whether or not it poses a real threat, let’s wait and see.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
Instagram: @flyingfigure

Photos courtesy of venues, Uni, Ollo Swan, Tracy Wang