What’s Up in Beer: Home Brewing Class, Tour de Jing, Hitachino Nest Beer Tasting

How do you get rid of the annoying catkins that get stuck in your throat after accidentally swallowing them? You flush them down with beer, of course! Where exactly are you going to do that? Read on, our loyal beer lovers, read on ...

Envy homebrewers' unending supply of beer? You can now learn to do the same at these two classes hosted by Beijing Homebrewing Society at Peiping Machine this weekend (Apr 22-23), from 9.30am-4pm. Learn the basics from John Hanrahan (pictured above) of Arrow Factory in English on April 22 or in Chinese on April 23. The class costs RMB 880. Call 151 2009 0688 to register.

If you missed the famous Danish Mikkeller beers at Great Leap Brewing’s Beijing Invitational Craft Beer Festival in March, don’t worry, they're holding a two-day party this weekend (Apr 22-23). On Saturday, head to Great Leap Brewing #6 (2-9pm), for nine beers on tap, RMB 35 each (including Beer Hop Breakfast, Crooked Moon Tattoo IIPA, Dim Sum Beer, Drink’in Berliner Passion, Green Gold, Peter, Pale and Mary, SpontanBerliner Yuzu, Stateside, The Beer of Milk & Honey), and 10 bottled beers, RMB 30 each (including Beer Geek Breakfast, Cream Ale, Drink’in Berliner Passion, Hva’Saa, No Cow on the Ice, Peter, Pale and Mary, Stateside, Vesterbro Pils, Vesterbrown Ale, and White Lung). Andy or Andy's Craft Sausages will also be cooking up some mean BLTs in the yard. Cheers' Fenghuanghui store joins in the fun with four draft beers and all of the bottled selections from 2-7pm.

Jing-A is organizing the Tour de Jing again on April 22, which kicks off at the Hatchery at 1pm and runs till 9pm. During this craft beer crawl, you will taste (or a series of tastes) the liquid offerings of eight bars in the hutongs, including Hatchery, DDC, Gulu Bazz, White Tiger Village, North Capital Pub, Natooke, Tiki Bungalow, Peiping Machine, and 4corners. Each stop pour a different Jing-A brew for RMB 30 along with a bar snack priced at RMB 20 or less. Collect eight stamps at each of the venues and you'll get a free T-shirt for your troubles. 4corners will be hosting the sure-to-be afterparty with live music. The schedule for the entire day is as follows:

  • 1pm: Hatchery, Mandarin Wheat
  • 2pm: DDC, One Beer Two Systems
  • 3pm: Gulu Bazz, Hutong Clan CDA
  • 4pm: White Tiger Village, Duck Rye'der
  • 5pm: North Capital Pub, Koji Red Ale
  • 6pm: Natooke, Flying Fist IPA
  • 7pm: Peiping Machine, Suan Ge Pi
  • 8pm: 4corners, Worker's Pale Ale

Pizza Buona, the Dongsi-adjacent and homey pizza place with a pleasant yard has two new homebrews on tap: a passion fruit flavored wheat beer (5.3 percent ABV), and a blonde jasmine ale (6.5 percent ABV).

Next to jump on the hazy/New England IPA trend, Nbeer Pub has released a Muddled Fixation IPA at their Huguosi and Wukesong locations.

Last but not the least, Hitachino Nest is holding a beer tasting at Arrow Factory Liangma River location on April 27 at 7.30pm. The event will be hosted by Hitachino's founder and brewer Toshiyuki Kiuchi (see our interview with him last year) and RMB 120 will get you four Hitachino Nest beers, including the award-winning white ale, lager, IPA, and stout, and finger foods prepared by Arrow Factory (sausages and nachos are expected). You'll have the opportunity to ask the master brewer the tricks of his trade. To register, add the organizer on WeChat (ID: GregorioMagno) and grab your spot quickly as there are only 30 seats available.

More stories by this author here.

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

Photos courtesy of venues