Holy Monday!: Great Leap Brewing #12 Reopens, but There's a Catch...

We're delighted to be able to kick off the week off with some positive news, with the announcement that Great Leap Brewing (GLB) has reopened their #12 location in Xingfucun.

News of the venue's reopening comes as much as a shock as its closure did 14 months ago. The very popular brewpub was forced to cease operations on the site because the landlord no longer allowed tenants to use the property for food and beverage services. Despite the blow, the Great Leap team hung on to the venue, converting it into office space for GLB staffers as well as a cold storage distribution center. 

In this latest announcement, Great Leap Brewing's co-founder Carl Setzer states how that experience was "one of the lowest points of [wife and co-founder] Liu Fang and my entrepreneurial walk, but we worked hard to not lose the property and to do the difficult work of removing the kitchen and the brewery so we could reopen."

As such, Great Leap #12 will operate under the same conditions as their hutong-located #6 venue: there's only beer and peanuts on the menu but drinkers are welcome to order in food from their favored establishments and eat it on site. This compromise is sure to please the many legions of GLB fans that were left heartbroken when it was originally closed... as well as those hopeful souls who missed the memo that it was closed in the first place.

"I can honestly say that nothing but pain came every time we had to say that we weren’t open. Watching dozens of people a day (for a f**king year) come and pull on the door with a look of hope in their eyes only to be disappointed by the reality that we weren’t able to sell them the beer they wanted, ripped our hearts out every single time," says Setzer.

Great Leap are on a bit of the roll at the moment, having recently announced the opening of their massive, 18,700sqm Tianjin cannery capable of producing 15,000 cans and 200 kegs per hour. At the end of last year, they opened their newest venue GLB Lido and expanded their food menu, even including jianbings.

Although Sanlitun boozers won't have access to Great Leap's award-winning burgers, beer drinkers alike have a reason to rejoice thanks to the return of one of Beijing's most popular watering holes.

READ: The Opposite House's Sumptuous New Bar Union Wants to Let You in on a Secret

Great Leap Brewing #12
Daily, 5pm-late. 1/F, Zi Ming Mansion, 12 Xinzhong Street, Dongcheng District
北京市东城区新中街12号

Images: Trip Advisor, the Beijinger