Talking Pints: Great Leap Harvest Fest, Akon News, DJ Die and More!
Anyone who was at the Beijinger Beer Festival at Villa Castanea in July will remember melting away under an unforgiving sun on probably the hottest day of 2011. Conditions at Great Leap's Harvest Fest this weekend in Huairou will certainly be more comfortable (you might even need to layer up), but it should be an equally good day out.
It's all you can drink on three Great Leap beers, with food also available - a pig will be roasted, fish will be grilled, and we're told all of it is locally sourced by farmers and producers from the villages nearby Great Leap's Mutianyu brewery. If you're interested in going, tickets are RMB 400, RMB 700 (couples) and RMB 150 (children) - get your tickets at Great Leap's bar or contact Nathalie Johnston at 156 1121 8019. Incidentally, Great Leap's Honey Ma has just gone on sale at the Black Sun.
If you're already excited about Halloween, check out our party roundup and tips on where to get costumes. We'll have an updated roundup of parties for you next week, so look out for that. And you've still got a chance to win a pair of seats at the Westin Chaoyang's Spooky Bubbalicious brunch on October 30, so click here if you want to get dressed up as a witch and drink a ton of champagne.
You might have heard Akon is coming to town for a gig on November 4. Want to win a ticket? Look out for our upcoming contest, but in the meantime check out our interview with the man. If you want to secure your tickets, check out Sendmetickets.com, where you'll get free delivery anywhere in Beijing if you buy more than ten tickets. Sendmetickets.com have another deal (or D.E.A.L, as they're calling it - Deals Everyone Always Loves) on Above & Beyond's Halloween party on October 29. The first 500 people who buy a ticket for Above & Beyond will get a free ticket for Markus Schulz on December 2.
Drum & bass fans have got Bristol's DJ Die to look forward to on Friday night - he's on at Tango (RMB 80). Funk Fever are at Migas (free entry), with Gao Hu, Tobias Patrick and other DJs getting rowdy. Lantern has just about recovered from last Friday's Acupuncture anniversary party, but no rest for the wicked - Beijing legend Mickey Zhang is manning the decks. No cover charge there either. Finally, Wasabi Sound are at Mo Lounge, with Shen Yue and Pancake Lee in command - free entry there as well.
On Saturday night, Beer Mania is teaming up with Grand Marnier to give away piles of Beer Mania T-shirts. Well, they're not giving them away, but if you buy one for RMB 28 you'll get 20 percent discounts all day on Belgian beers and Grand Marnier cocktails. If you want a dance, Eddie Lv is at Mo Lounge (free entry), and Japanese techno head Q'Hey is at Lantern (free entry). And over at Scarlett, it's buy one get one free on Mojitos.
