What’s Up in Beer: New Bar, New Imports, and ... New Tea?
Happy Friday, beerheads! How was your first week of 2017? Depressed from all the crappy weather? Still trying to get rid of the New Year's hangover? Food delivery’s taking more than one hour? Struggling to book expensive flights back home for the Spring Festival? Probably. In the post-2016 era everything seems acting in slow motion, same as the beer scene so far, which at lest gives us a little time to catch up and try and recollect just what happened over the past 12 months. On that note, sit back, pour yourself a beer, and have a look at what's on offer from this brief What's Up in Beer.
You may hear that we quite enjoyed the first visit of newly opened beer bar Out of Step, which currently has 10 beers on tap, all imported from small Canadian breweries. So far Out of Step has 10 beers on tap, all from four local breweries in Vancouver: Hearthstone Brewery, Black Kettle Brewing, Fuggles & Warlock Craft Works, and Postmark Brewing. Six out of the 10 beers fall on the heavier side, while on the fruitier side there's one pale ale, two IPAs, and a milk stout, with prices ranging between RMB 55-65. See our first impressions here.
El Nido has never let us down and recently have expanded their imported range with Hel & Verdoemenis (10.2 percent ABV) an Imperial Stout; Tsarina Esra (10 percent ABV) from Dutch brewery De Molen; 3 Bean Stout (13 percent ABV) from Norwegian brewery Lervig Aktiebryggeri; Founders Porter (6.5 percent ABV); and Rogue 7 Hop IPA (7.77 percent ABV).
Drunk Begining have announced that they have moved to B1 in the Topwin Center, and open for first rounds this Saturday (Jan 7). On offer they have bottled Oude Geuze Vieille (6 percent ABV) by Brouwerij Oud Beersel, Belgium, which is a limbic blend and has a pleasant bitterness with a sour and smooth character. The special tipple has won eight World Beer Awards and a further two at the World Beer Cup. They'll also have AleSmith Speedway Stout (12 percent ABV), an American double/imperial stout beer full of chocolate and roasted overnotes, and a coffee aroma. It also happens to be one of my favorite beers, especially to be enjoyed on a frigid winter's night. If you're not a fan of heavier beers, they also have Goose Island IPA, Chimay, Lindemans Peach on tap too.
C2H6O now has a pretty great happy hour deal (6.30-8pm): RMB 35 for pints of Crafty Dan 13 Guns IPA, Rogue Double Chocolate, Liefmans, Lost Coast Tangerine. That's certainly a great deal, and the atmosphere of this stunning bar makes it even more so.
If you happen to stop by at Pizzaview in Parkview Green, they have buy one, get one deal on all drinks during 6-9pm on Monday to Friday, including wines, cocktails, and Jing-A's Mandarin Wheat and Flying Fist IPA.
To ease your hangover this weekend, Slow Boat Brewpub (Sanlitun location) has begun selling hot drinks, such as Jasmine Pearls, Chill-Out Tea, Darjeeling Black Tea, Hot Chocolate (RMB 30), and hot cold-brewed coffee (RMB 25). The Jasmine Pearls has floral scent and beautiful color, Chill-Out is based on South African Rooibos and is a combination of chamomile, rose, dried dates, and cinnamon.
And with that, we say a hearty cheers to you all, Beijing!
More stories by this author here.
Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos courtesy of venues
