What’s Up in Beer: Jing-A’s 8x8 Collab Fest, Beersmith Opens, Beer Mania’s Belgian Craft Beer Weekend

Tracy Wang, Senior Editor | May 25, 2017 5:35 pm | Add a comment | 2715 reads

Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner, which means many of you will have to work this Saturday. But all is not lost as there's plenty to do (check here for inspiration), and more specifically, plenty of (moderate and responsible) drinking to be had. So, let's get to it!

First things first, Great Leap Brewing comes together on May 27, 7pm, with TRB for their fourth istalment of their The Chef and Brewer dinner, this time in aid of celebrating the release of their 2017 Wall Builder Imperial Stout at TRB Copper. This beer belongs to the GLB's Great Wall Barrel Program, which has already seen the release of a number of beers brewed by the team and then aged out by everyone's favorite Chinese landmark. The Wall Builder is blended with their 2016 Beer Dictator, also barrel-aged, before undergoing its own aging process in scotch barrels. These give the beer notes of roasted malt and chocolate as well as a smooth finish and 10 percent ABV.

For the event, TRB will prepare a five-course-meal, with each course paired with a different GLB beer. Tickets cost RMB 488 (or RMB 438 for Collectivists) and get you dinner, a hefty amount of beer, and a bottle of 2017 Wall Builder Imperial Stout to take away. Beer lovers please note that this is the only way to purchase this one-time special brew, which won’t appear at any other outlets. RSVP via jimmy@greatleapbrewing.com.

In equally exciting news, Jing-A have announced the spoils of their 8x8 Brewing Project that we first mentioned last week, for which eight breweries from greater China will pair with eight breweries from a chosen region around the world and collaborate to make some delectable dranks. Now, the pairings have been announced and are as follows:

  • Cloudburst Brewing (Seattle) x Bubble Lab (Wuhan)
  • Gigantic Brewing Co. (Portland) x Moonzen Brewery (Hong Kong)
  • Breakside Brewery (Portland) x NBeer (Chengdu/Beijing)
  • 10 Barrel Brewing Co. (Bend) x Fat Fat Beer Horse (Xiamen)
  • Culmination Brewing (Portland) x Master Gao (Nanjing)
  • The Commons Brewery (Portland) x Taihu Brewing (Taipei)
  • Holy Mountain Brewing (Seattle) x Jing-A Brewing Co. (Beijing)
  • Parallel 49 Brewing (Vancouver) x TAPS (Shenzhen/Chongqing)

At the testing event itself, to be held on November 3-4, there will be two sessions per day, with each session serving 40 beers (32 beers plus eight collab brews), adding up to a whopping 136 different beers total throughout the event. Each session is three hours long, during which you'll get free-flow beers at UCCA. Each session is RMB 300, but if you use the coupon code EARLY1, EARLY2, EARLY3, or EARLY4 you can save RMB 42 for the relevant session (only available for the first 50 tickets sold). Also, registered members of homebrew associations throughout China can get 10 percent off the full all-session pass (RMB 988) when using the code HOMEBREW, and the same goes for Jing-A Mug Clubbers, using MUGCLUB. Rich kids and drunkards, can opt for a VIP pass for all sessions (RMB 1,188), which also gets you a special bottled beer tasting with the brewers, and a T-shirt. Tickets for the 8x8 Collaboration Festival are available now, and can be purchased here.

 

The beer gods must hear our cries given that Beersmith, the gastropub at Hotel Jen has now officially open daily 11am-2am (ahead of schedule) and in cleberation are offering 50 percent off craft beers and food until June 4. Currently they have eight different beers and a hopped cider on tap, as well as a delicious Wagyu burger. If you just want the beer then head downstairs to San Wu Tang on the first floor, who are also offering 50 percent off their Chinese and Southeast Asian fare.

From Friday (May 26) to Monday (May 29), Beer Mania will be holding a live music night from the likes of The Nightcrawlers, A Girl from Tianjin, The Paper Tigers, Yasin Artan, Uyghur Flamenco, and Hot Club of Beijing. Ten new Belgian beers will be released during this mini festival with a daily package price of RMB 120, which puts you in the running to win a 20L keg of Belgian beer.

Elsewhere, Jing-A have launched their new Lychee Chabuduo IPA (5 percent ABV), part of their new series of summer session IPAs. It has a pale straw color, a dominant lychee aroma, a significant bitterness and a dry finish.

Now down to one outlet, Slow Boat have had time to brew up three new brews, including a Luchador on a Boat (RMB 40, 5.9 percent ABV), a Mexican saison brewed with avocado honey, lime peels, and dried chili; West Coast IPA (RMB 48, 7 percent ABV), a hoppy and citrusy Belgian-style IPA; and Sea Monster Seaweed Pale Ale (RMB 38, 4.6 percent ABV), a light and crisp sipper brewed with seaweed. What does it taste like? You'll have to try it to find out.

And finally, hidden in the tranquil yard, south of the ongoing madness on Fangjia Hutong, Peiping Machine is launching a new range of draft beers, such as ToØl’s Triple Trouble (7 percent ABV) and Roses are Brett (6 percent ABV), Firestone Walker’s Nitro Merlin (5.5 percent ABV), and Flying Dog’s Imperial Porter (9.2 percent ABV).

Thanks for the patience in getting to the bottom of this mega-beer-blog. Now go and hydrate yourself with a few beers and have a great Dragon Boat Festival!

More stories by this author here.

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

Photos courtesy of venues