A Roundup of Beijing's Newly Opened Brewpubs You Won't Want to Miss

It’s a great time to go out and drink, in case you didn’t pay too much attention to our drinking column (I’m not angry, not … angry at all), here is a roundup of the newly-opened brewpubs or related news that you might have missed over the last month. 

Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing 滚滚精酿
A young Chinese couple soft-opened the Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing (滚滚精酿), intending to break the impression that "it’s brewpub-less in south Beijing," said owner and brewer Chen Chen. They have six microbrews on tap, as well as some draft beers from Boulevard Brewing and Vedett, and Brewdog bottled beers. Their four-part mixed beef burger (RMB 45, comes with fries) is worth a try.

Read our first impressions here.

Koli's Camp (蜂朝精酿主题西餐厅) 
Since Charcoal experienced a bitter break-up with Arrow Factory (with Arrow Factory moving all its brewing equipment out in November 2015 ), an ambitious new team took over the Shunyi venue in January, renaming it Koli’s Camp. Koli's owner Yang Shaojun, a veteran of the IT industry, told the Beijinger, “it’s my first time to use a 1,000-liter brewing facility, but I’m confident that my beers are above average.” This week, three of Koli's beers are ready to ship under the brand Y’RNEST: a lager, a weissbier, and a lager IPA. For those want to try something imported, they also provide wines from around the world and bottled beers from Scotland and Germany.

Read our first impressions here.

Drunk Begining 醉开始
Drunk Begining [sic] has moved ... but only several meters away from its original storefront.

Why is this noteworthy? Because even such a short repositioning must be hard work given that the bar boasts one of the widest selections of bottled beer in all of Beijing – at last count, over 100 from all over the world. What's even more of a mean feat is fitting such an all-encompassing selection into a mere 20-square-meter space.

If you're new to Brewdog (and sampling all 15 is beyond your limit), Yue recommends you start with the Punk IPA. all the beers are buy-two-get-one free during happy hour, 6-8pm every day.

Read our first impressions here.

W CoBar
W CoBar (a portmanteau of coffee and bar) is the product of two young Beijing-based girls who love travel and wanted to combine their experiences into a somewhere to call home while in the Big Smoke. Dipping down into the basement floor of the Jiaming Center, next to the East Third Ring Road, the café is perfectly poised to catch foot traffic from Bayer and several other nearby big name companies. Opened in December 2015, the café and bar offers breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner set, as well as some cocktails, wine, spirits, and of late, imported beers on tap.

Read our first impressions here.

Flow Brew 如流精酿
The Beixinqiao area recently welcomed another brewpub to its growing arsenal: Flow Brew, which opened last month as a cooperation between three friends. They currently have eight brews on tap, six of those are brewed themselves in Haidian’s outer hills, and two of them are from Slow Boat. As for the grub: Japanese beef and chicken yakitori are on hand to soak up some of that beer, as well as barbecued miso pork. and french fries also make an appearance.

Read our first impressions here.

Dongli Brewery 东里手工啤酒 (pictured at top)
Have you ever gone for your visa health check in Xierqi, and afterwards thought, gee, I could really go for a pint right now? So have we. And now we're in luck as Dongli Brewery soft-opened in February in Shangdi at the far end of Haidian , amidst the offices of IT giants such as Baidu, Sina, and Tencent which also occupy the area. They currently offer seven beers on tap, such as Baiyilu wheat, Hero Stout, (an imperial stout 10 percent, RMB 45); the Amber #21 (5.8 percent, RMB 40), and the Dongli IPA (6.6 percent, RMB 45), all brewed in their ow 500-liter fermentation tanks. Dongli also serves German-style dishes, such as sausages, pork knuckle, and fried chicken.

Read our first impressions here.

El Nido Has 12 Beers on Tap
Xiao Shuai from El Nido couldn’t be more pleased to show off his new “toy,” which features 12 taps, including Mikkeller USA Live, Rogue Yellow Snow, Cider Republic Cider, 8 Wired iStout, 8 Wired Double IPA, 8 Wired Hopwired IPA, Yeastie Boys Digital IPA , Mikkeller Peppercorn Smoked IPA, Nøgne Ø Two Captains Double IPA, Mikkeller Pils, Linderman Peach, and Chimay.

More stories by this author here.

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

Photos courtesy of Tracy Wang