What’s Up in Beer: Christmas Dinners, Parties and New Brews

What’s Up in Beer: Christmas Dinners, Christmas Parties, and New Brews

Tracy Wang, Senior Editor | Dec 23, 2016 6:02 pm | Add a comment | 1601 reads

It’s Christmas time, no matter whether you are genuinely enjoying the holiday spirit, or have been forced to put on your ugly sweater and bear the endless Christmas songs at all the shops, supermarkets, and department stores, there’s always a getaway: alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol. The spirit of the holiday is to share and enjoy with family and friends, if you are a beer lover and don’t plan to head off home, celebrating with friends at a brewpub is a great idea. We hope these events and beers will make you happy, and hope you have a good time. Merry Christmas, beerheads!

After releasing the new sea hag mumme last week, Slow Boat will hold a three-course Christmas Eve Dinner (Dec 24) and Christmas Day Brunch (Dec 25) at their Sanlitun location. You can choose from three starters, two main dishes, and three desserts (RMB 280 per person). They kindly recommend different beers with each dish, so you can also add three 450ml tasters for RMB 75 or three 100ml tasters for RMB 50. You do the math. Since the seats are limited, make a reservation by calling 6592 5388, or send an email to kyle@slowboatybrewery.com

Great Leap Brewing #45 (the pizza one at Xinyuan Jie) will host a family-style Christmas Dinner on Dec 24 and 25, with braised beef served with an all-natural jus, a lot of mashed potatoes, roasted fennel, a side salad, and fresh baked date bread topped with ice cream. RMB 200 per person, make a reservation by emailing jimmy@greatleapbrewing.com.

Don’t forget they are also hosting their 12 Beers of Christmas event at GLB all three locations until Dec 25. RMB 10 from every selected beer will be donated to Beijing New Life Center, helping the kids to have a better education.

For those of you who have been wearing ugly Christmas jumpers all month (we've seen you around!) an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party at Arrow Factory (Liangma River location) on Friday, December 23 from 6-10pm might be just what you need. Everyone who sports an ugly sweater will be welcomed with a shot, then they will give away prizes for the ugliest of all that is holy and ugly at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm, and 10pm.

On Saturday (Dec 24), there’s deal on the Turkey Rueben at Arrow Factory Brewing too, their holiday meal with turkey meat and ham on top of stuffing, rye bread, and sweet potato fries for two. The Turkey Sandwich goes for RMB 70 and you have the option to add RMB 20 for any of their beers after 6pm. To top it all off, they will be tapping a Christmas Keg as a Christmas gift to all the boozers after 4pm for free. That’s not all, they will release a new beer, called the Final Bell, on Christmas Day; a rich Barley Wine for the holiday.

Also, as we reported last week, in memory of the beloved Sam Cornthwaite, his two favorite Beijing brewpubs Great Leap Brewing and Slow Boat Brewery collaborated and brewed Sam’s Latte Stout together. It has 6 percent ABV, and was brewed with GoodWorks Emperor’s Roast blend, Slovenian General hops, and lactose. RMB 15 from each pint (RMB 50) will be donated to GoodWorks.

Don’t forget that there’s a Christmas Craft Beer Festival at the brand-new Heaven Supermarket in the basement of Worker’s Stadium Tango KTV. RMB 50 (presale) or RMB 80 (at the door) will get you a cup of beer and some snacks. The beer festival is on both December 23 and 24, from 7pm to late.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos courtesy of the venues