The Beijing Craft Beer Challenge, Pt 2: Beijing and Beyond!

Vincent R. Vinci, Contributing Editor | Jul 18, 2022 6:52 pm | Add a comment | 203 reads

Beijing isn’t the only city in China making great beer, so how about trying the brews of Beijing and other Chinese brewing cities side by side? Now you can, with the sequel to our Beijing Craft Beer Challenge Pack!

This time around, we’ve got 11 beers for you to try, and not just from Beijing – there are beers from nearby cities like Shijiazhuang, to far flung breweries in Wuhan, Nanjing, Chengdu, and even Shenzhen. All of these, are once again, delivered straight to your door.

If you were to buy all of these beers separately it would come out to around RMB 280, but we're cutting that by 10 percent to bring it down to RMB 268 -- along with two special cozies and a one-of-a-kind craft beer challenge magnet bottle opener!

Plus, two of the beers in this pack (marked with asterisks), are packed fresh from the source, not bottled or canned, meaning you'll be getting beer as fresh as it gets straight to your door.

Each pack includes one of each of the following:

Wild Kite Brewing’s Sunset Blvd WCIPA (Beijing) – From one of Beijing's newest breweries (opened in September last year). Clean, refreshing IPA with raining US hops. Massive passionfruit, grapefruit, stone fruit hit and lingering mild bitterness nicely and balanced with fuller body that reminds you of a biscuit and brown sugar.

Master Gao’s Baby IPA (Nanjing) – Coming straight out of Nanjing from one of China’s oldest craft breweries, the Baby IPA is a classic. It’s not too bitter, but not too light, with floral and earthy notes throughout and a slightly bitter finish.

Master Gao’s Baby Osmanthus Pale Ale (Nanjing) – The second offering from this brewery is an English style pale ale that’s full of sweet Osmanthus aroma throughout with dominant notes of apricot.

Ye Brewing’s Fragrance of WuYue Tea Witbier (Beijing by way of Shijiazhuang) – Hailing from Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, this brewery opened up a flagship taproom in Dongsi in May 2022 (find them at 东四南大街雪莲亮点文创园106号, 106 Xuelian Highlight Cultural Innovation Park, Dongsi Nandajie) with over 24 draft beer heads, making it Beijing's newest brewery this year. This paticular brew combines a classic witbier base with alpine tea sourced from Wuyuezhai – aka Taihang Longjing – blasted together with cold brewing techniques to create an easy sipper with lots of tea flavor.

Redears' Mung Bean Pale Ale (Beijing) – Those who drink this decidedly local pale ale say they’ve “gone back to their childhood”, with memories of mung bean popsicles and soup. Mung bean on the nose, combined with a bright and refreshing flavor and sweet malt notes are what define this special beer.

Redears' Enter the Dragon New England IPA (Beijing) – Dark, tangy orange flavor mixes with tropical fruit for a glass of orange juice with a noted balance from malt and hop bitterness.

DaoBrew’s Mosaic Single Hop IPA (Chengdu) – Founded in a basement no more than 30 square meters big in 2009, DaoBrew continues to keep things small yet impressive, adding local flavors to their beer and being heavily involved in China's music scene, creating a special beer for leading concert and event promoter Modern Sky. They've got a few solid rewards under their belt as well, having been awarded medals in tasting competitions at European Beer Star, Brussels Beer Festival and WBA.

This particular IPA, brewed using only a single hop, mosaic hops, this brew is not only as simple as it gets -- staying true to that original spirit -- but it's loaded with lots of fruit notes, sweetness hiding sourness, making it like beer that's also like a crisp, refreshing cup of juice.

Colorful Life Brewing’s Osmanthus Witbier* (Beijing) – A different take on beer with Osmanthus flavor, combining sweet floral notes with a backbone of wheat for a crisp sipper that’s perfect for summer.

Colorful Life Brewing’s Guns & Roses IPA* (Beijing) – Brewed using three different hops, this IPA is heavy on the bitterness with notes of passionfruit and a sweet aftertaste.

No. 18 Brewing & Co's Into East Lake West Coast IPA (WCIPA) (Wuhan) – This beer promises to bring you straight to Wuhan’s East Lake, for a dip into tropical fruit aromas, crisp malt, with a hint of sweetness, fruitiness and crisp finish.

BrewingWave Beer’s Bitter Iced Americano Brown Porter (Shenzhen) – Founded in 2020 in Shenzhen BrewingWave promises to bring traditional brewing concepts to fun flavors, and this porter, which doubles down on coffee notes and flavors, is no exception.

*Beer comes fresh, not bottled or canned.

All these plus two Beijinger Zero Degree Policy beer cozies and one special Craft Beer Challenge 2022 fridge magnet bottle opener.

What are you waiting for? Stocks are limited to 100 packs, so get buying by joining our dedicated Beer Challenge WeChat group to order from tomorrow.

Plus, you can enter for the chance to win ANOTHER pack of beer**!

Competition rules:
Exclusive to members of our Beer Challenge group (instructions on joining below), all you have to do is send in a 60 second video talking about your favorite beer in the pack.

If you’re the only one with a video for a particular beer, you’ve won! If there’s more than one video for a particular beer, we will post them all to our WeChat Channels, and whichever gets the most views in 48 hours wins!

Deadline for video submissions is Wednesday, Jul 27***