Booze News: Slow Boat's Nautella Imperial Milkshake Stout, Jing-A's Gaige Kaifang Triple IPA, Guillermo at El Barrio

Booze News: Slow Boat's New Nautella Stout, Jing-A's Gaige Kaifang Triple IPA, and Spicy Fest Drinks

Kyle Mullin | Apr 19, 2019 2:30 pm | Add a comment | 577 reads

Feeling thirsty? Wet your whistle with Booze News, our weekly wrap-up of the week's best bar deals, parties, drink concoctions, industry gossip, and more.

New Dessert Beer and Discounts at Slow Boat

Slow Boat brings us two indulgences in one with their new Nautella Imperial Milkshake Stout (Nutella + Slow Boat = Nautella, geddit?). The strong (8.2 percent) "dessert beer" has dark chocolate and hazelnut notes and a creamy mouthfeel, making for a hearty stout that tastes like everybody's favorite chocolatey spread and a milkshake all in one.

As if the dessert stout wasn't enough, on the 19th day of every month, Slow Boat's WeChat store will launch a special promotion. For Apr 19, you can get one case of Monkey's Fist IPA (24 bottles) for RMB 423 or two cases (48 bottles) for RMB 793; one case of Zombie Pirate Pale Ale for RMB 399 or two cases for 749; or one of each for RMB 771.

Open Your Palette With Jing-A's Gaige Kaifang

Xingfucun brewers Jing-A have just released this year's batch of Gaige Kaifang Triple IPA, a brew whose name refers to China's "Reform and Opening Up" economic program. With a frankly indecent ABV of 12 percent, the IPA is supposed to "reform your palette," (or liver), "and open up your mind to new hoppy possibilities" with a dose of bitter orange marmalade, grapefruit peel, black pepper, and licorice. Undeterred by the potential for an unmanageable bar full of paralytic Gaige Kaifang-drinking animals, the Jing-A Crew go on to say that "on the palette, resinous hops, and a spicy bite of alcohol rule over the rich and chewy malt."

Aside from the Gaige Kaifang, Jing-A is also promoting the latest in their “Death By...” series in which they meld low bitterness beers with a fruit of their choosing. This time it's passionfruit that gets the treatment. The result? Death by Passionfruit hazy pale ale, a veritably juicy and sweet sipper. Both beers are now on tap.

Say "Hallelujah" With Spirits Evangelist Ethan Liu at Mulan

Elegant Shuangjing lounge Mulan host well-known spirits expert Ethan Liu this Friday. While The Proof and Company "spirits evangelist" works with just about every cocktail bar in town on the branding side of things, he's no slouch behind the bar and will shake up the menu at Mulan with RMB 90 tea highballs, coconut old fashioneds, and other creative cocktails for one night only.

READ: A Drink With: Ethan Liu ‘Spirits Evangelist’ at Proof and Company\

Side Street Launches New Cocktail Menu

Although most patrons of hutong bar and restaurant Side Street pop in to lay down a solid foundation of brews and burgers before heading off elsewhere, the Jiaodaokou bar's new array of cocktails may convince people to stick around long into the night. Highlights include the very reasonably priced whiskey-based Silk Road (RMB 65) made with scotch, mandarin oranges, sweet vermouth, and cherry liqueur; a rum-based mango lassi (also RMB 65); an espresso martini (RMB 55), and more. If you're desperate to try them all in one sitting, we recommend visiting on Thursdays, when all cocktails will be buy one, get one free.

What to Sip at This Weekend's Hot & Spicy Fest

Finally, while food is certainly the focal point of this weekend's Hot & Spicy Fest, there will also be plenty of delicious beers, cocktails, ciders, and innovative spirits on offer and to cool off your tastebuds in between bouts of spicy binges. Below you'll find a rundown of what drinks (some spicy, some not so spicy) will be on offer (in alphabetical order):