10 of the Most Special Brews You'll Find at CBD Craft Beer Fest

With the CBD Craft Beer Fest just a few days away, we’ve given you a look at all the food, entertainment, and beer and drinks this weekend-long event has to offer, but with so many beers in store, we decided to take a closer look at the ten we felt were really special styles worth a try when you visit.

If you haven’t already, get your tickets to this event with 40+ beer and drink vendors, then get to reading.

Iced Americano Coffee Ale – Lizao Brewing 狸造精酿

This brown ale is taken up a notch with espresso, which is roasted on-site at the brewery before being added during the brewing process. Imagine if suddenly cafes swapped out whatever’s in vogue in American land right now – Americanos with coconut water? – and it’s an iced Americano with brown ale added in. We’re not sure if, much like an espresso martini, this’ll wake you up, then fuck you up, but it sure sounds refreshing.

Surfing in the Smooth Sour Ale Smoothie – DaoBrew 道酿

Perfect for summer, DaoBrew’s Surfing in the Smooth Sour Ale Smoothie is a fruity little number that’s bursting with guava and peach flavor. Its smooth, thick consistency creates a rich taste and the fruit gives it a sweet, yet still sour flavor that comes and goes in waves.

Mango Dragon Fruited Kölsch – Beersmith 鲜啤吧

Picture this: It’s the height of summer in Beijing, with the heat of the tropics seemingly here to stay. Given the balmy weather, a fruity session ale seems called for. Enter the Mango Dragon Fruited Kölsch – an extremely clean and crisp pale ale fortified with a healthy dose of fresh NFC mango and dragon fruit juices, with enough of the latter for a bit of complexity plus a beautiful pink hue.

Rice Wine-Infused Gose – GOU TAPROOM 苟市

If there are any beer styles to be found everywhere in Beijing these days, its gose – a light wheat beer with a distinct salty and sour flavor – and a myriad of other sour varieties – sour ales, sour IPAs… so we like to see these styles at Beer Fest. GOU is bringing out an extra special gose that’s been infused with Chinese-style rice wine. The Rice Wine Gose was brewed in honor of Lumicang Hutong, once the site of the national granary during the Ming and Qing dynasties and today home to GOU TAPROOM.

Slow Brew – Barublackhat

Barublack’s beer, called Slow Brew, is made using only wheat from Hokkaido, Japan, and unlike typical beer restaurants, it’s designed to be like a simple bar from which you can watch your glass filled from a golden faucet. Keeping with this simple presentation, they brew a simple, five percent ABV wheat that’s organic and easily drinkable.

Fruit Yogurt Berliner Weisse – RUHR x GOLDEN HILL 鲁尔×秋山 

One of the beers brewed up as a result of a team up between RUHR and GOLDEN HILL ALE HOUSE, the Fruit Yogurt Berliner Weisse is a decidedly summery take on the Berliner Weisse style – a white wheat ale hailing from Berlin with a mild tartness and fruity character. To this traditional German beer they’ve added ten tropical fruit flavors, resulting in citrus, passion fruit, and floral notes with a hint of yogurt creaminess.

Barley Wine – HUZI Craft Beer 虎滋精酿餐吧

While they may be bringing their Awakening DIPA as a highlight, one beer on HUZI's menu that caught our attention is their Barley Wine. But wait, you ask, isn't that a wine? Not really. A barley wine is actually a strong ale (more on that below) made from fermenting the sugars extracted from grain, resulting in a dark, malty beer with flavors of molasses, and toffee that get better when aged, much like a fine wine.

Dracarys Strong Ale – PartnersBrew 伙伴部落

As the name of this beer implies, strong ales are pretty strong, usually clocking in anywhere from 7 percent to 20 percent ABV. Staying true to the traditional recipe for this style, PartnersBrew’s Dracarys Strong Ale is rich with complex flavors of barley, nuts, and fruits, with a nice alcoholic backbone.

Colombian Santa Marta Coffee Ice Pear Saison – Hidden Beauty 隐果关系

This brew, made in collaboration with 10th Masters Cup Grand Champion Ma Haitao, was selected in the 2022 Masters Cup for Gold Medal in Specialty Beer category. Using a sour saison and Colombian coffee as a base, the result is a sweet and sour, refreshing and juicy, three-dimensional beer that’s like a cold sorbet coffee bomb in the mouth.

Hawthorne Ale – Everest Foam Brew 酔野泡沫

Everest Foam have taken the traditional Belgian ale style and added a particularly Chinese element to it – Hawthorne. This tart fruit is popular during the wintertime in Beijing and other parts of northern China, but we’d expect it’s drinkable in beer form just about any time of year, especially in the heat of summer.

The CBD Craft Beer Fest is happening from Fri, Aug 25, to Sun, Aug 27, 3pm-9pm (Fri) and 11am-9pm (Sat-Sun). Tickets are RMB 30/person (early bird, includes free gift) or RMB 40/person (at door). Scan the QR code above or in the poster to get your tickets today!

READ: Early Bird Tickets On Sale for the 1st CBD Craft Beer Fest

Images: Unsplash, theBeijingers, courtesy of the vendors