What’s Up in Beer: GLB's Canned Honey Ma, Jing-A's New Jing-Jing Pop-Up, Slow Boat's New Crowler Label

Yes, we know it’s humid. Yes, we know the bloody rain won't stop. Yes, we know your flat's ceiling is leaking. But, thankfully, there's plenty of tempting new craft beer options around town to cure your summer-time blues.

Let's kick things off with Great Leap Brewing, which recently began selling cans of their Honey Ma Gold (see the main image), a co-brew between the local craft beer purveyor and one of our favorite Nordic breweries, Lervig. This 6.3 percent golden ale was brewed with floral Sichuan peppercorns and Scandinavian honey. We found it to be a very easy-drinking brew that's perfectly suited for muggy summer weather when we ordered a few cans at 3 Little Pigs last Friday.

As we mentioned last week, Jing-A has teamed up with Jing Yaa Tang to bring a Jing-Jing pop-up beer garden to The Opposite House. For anyone mourning the loss of Jing-A’s 1949 location, this beer garden makes for a strong substitute thanks to its 12-tap bar and rusty logo. Jing Yaa Tang's Chef de Cuisine Li Dong serves a range Chinese snacks (RMB 18-48) that go well with the brews, including spied pork knuckles, spicy Sichuan cold noodles with chicken, and popcorn chicken with chili and peanuts. The beers on offer include Flying Fist IPA, Suan Mei Tang, Dongbei IPA, and Airpocalypse DIPA. There are also draft cocktails like margaritas and their Hutong Party Punch, along with a sour plum drink, Chinese herbal tea, and oolong tea. Opening hours are Tue-Sun, 5-11pm and happy hour runs Tue-Fri, 5-7pm (RMB 10 off on all beers and cocktails).

Aside from local craft brewery news, we were excited to see that Drinking Buddies’ July beer package just arrived. It features several fruity and colorful beers that'll remind you of sunshine and tropical islands, including Brewski (Sweden), Wylam (England), North Brewing Co (England), and Amsterdam Brewing Co (Canada). The full line-up is as follows:

  • Wylam’s Hickey the Rake: a refreshing tarty lemon pale with high levels of citrus.
  • Wylam’s Jakehead IPA: a milder, malt-forward IPA that is rich and smooth.
  • Brewski’s Pango: infused with a tropical fruit basket of mango, passion fruit, and pineapple to create a wonderfully easy-drinking IPA.
  • North Brewing Co’s Transmission IPA: a classic light and bright West Coast IPA loaded with hops.
  • Brewski’s Sweet Cup Milkshake: a thick milkshake like experimental Berliner Weisse beer that glows as bright as a pink highlighter.
  • Amsterdam Brewing Co.’s Downtown Brown: the only traditional beer in this box offering smooth caramel-toffee and dark fruit aromas and flavors.

Join the beer club to receive this July beer box, along with exclusive pricing on beer reorders, via DB's WeChat shop (啤友汇DrinkingBuddies), call 137 1808 0725, or email hello@drinkingbuddies.cn.

Slow Boat has released their new crowler label, a limited-edition watercolor snapshot into Beijing life by the ever-creative Liuba Draws, which includes the brewpub in Sanlitun and Slow Boat's old taproom on Dongsi Batiao, along with their mash-lauter tun and kettle-whirlpool, and a delivery man's sanlunche. Get any draft beer canned on the spot in 500ml cans to take away.

Slow Boat is also kicking off Wednesday promotions at Wudaoying hutong Mexican restaurant Pebbles Courtyard. Get three pints for either RMB 90, RMB 100, or RMB 120, depending on the type of beer you order, along with free chips and salsa.

Finally, one of our other hutong favorites, The Great Outdoors on Fangjia Hutong, has some new imports, including Metamorphosis IPA, Krush American Pale Ale, Cthulhu Black IPA, Aftermath DIPA, Robohop Golden IPA, Hopped Out Red American Amber Ale from Kaiju!, Anytime IPA, Bicycle Beer American Blond Ale, and Okinawa Sour Ale from Temple, as well as Mexican juices from Jarritos.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
Twitter: @flyingfigure
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Photos courtesy of venues