What's Up in Beer: MaovemBEER, Craft Brewer Beer Fest, Fruityshop x Tiny, British Beer Fest

What's Up in Beer is our weekly rubdown of all things ale and suds. Lather yourself in the latest beery news, gossip, and openings all the while forgetting what exactly it was that you were meant to be doing. Don't worry, beer can fix that too.
 

MaovemBEER

Beijing's annual charity event trucks on and dedicates this Saturday's (Nov 17) happenings around town to beery fun. There are three breweries and three occasions to raise money for Maovember partners Library Project and Bread of Life Bakery (more on those here), including:

• Jing-A, 2pm: Head to Jing-A on Saturday for an afternoon pub quiz at their Back Bar. Round winners will get picklebacks (a shot of whiskey followed by pickle juice, as if you didn't know) and overall winners get merchandise, beer, and vouchers from the brewery. The RMB 100 fee per team of four goes to Maovember as does the RMB 25 for picklebacks. The first 25 brunch diners also get a free beer. Sign up via WeChat: Emmy_Andreasson.
• Boxing Cat, 3-7pm: Head to Boxing Cat in Xinyuanli where you can buy RMB 15 tickets to win merchandise and beer flights. There'll be RMB 20 300ml pours of TKO IPA throughout, beer flight tickets worth RMB 75 discounted to RMB 25 (to use on visits after Nov 17), and a takeaway beer deal. All goes to support Maovember.
• Arrow Factory, all day: Buy RMB 20 tickets for a draw that includes a 24-bottle case of Clone Easy Ale (pictured above), an Arrow Factory T-shirt and a RMB 100 gift voucher. Also, RMB 5 from every beer sold on Saturday will go to charity, including the buy one, get one free select brew deal.

Craft Brewer's Association Craft Beer Festival

Arguably the biggest beery event this week goes to the first ever Craft Brewer's Association of China Beer Festival – what a mouthful! As with similar festivals, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are divided into multiple drinking sessions – four three-hour lots, to be exact – with each session featuring 36 unique beers for 144 total beers total. The event takes place at TRB Copper and this is how the sessions are broken down: 

• Session 1: Friday, Nov 16, 6-9pm 
• Session 2: Saturday, Nov 17, 2-5pm 
• Session 3: Saturday, Nov 17, 6-9pm 
• Session 4: Sunday, Nov 18, 2-5pm

Sessions cost RMB 150 or go wild and get three sessions for RMB 400 or a deluxe weekend pass for RMB 500, should you have the stamina, need, and sheer will to try all 144 beers. Tickets are available online and there'll also be limited tickets at the door throughout the weekend. Find out which breweries are involved and how to get tickets here.
 

British Beer Festival

One beer festival is rarely enough, which is why this weekend we happen to have two! Yes, the First British "Abridge" Beer Festival is also taking place this Friday and Saturday, Nov 16-17, at Langyuan Vintage in the CBD. Things admittedly haven't been off to a great start with the first day of the festival, Thursday, getting canceled because of unforeseen circumstances. Hopefully all is well now though. As the name suggests, the event is dedicated to brews from Britain and will boast over 60 beer brands. It's also free to enter, with beers bought on the spot. If you follow the organizer's WeChat, you'll also get a free beer for your efforts – not too bloody bad! 
 

Fruityshop Opening Party x Tiny

Once tucked away in the hutong's of Dongsi, Fruityshop has relocated to larger digs in the somewhat far-flung region near Chaoyang Joy City. To celebrate the move, they've recruited Xinyuanli's eminent yet diminutive craft brew joint Tiny to provide the Juicy Rain IPAs on the day, specifically Friday from 3pm till late. DJs BiggZooo, V-Nutz, Watermelon, and the FruityGroup will also be spinning wax. Read about what we think about their new digs here.
 

Christmas Beers at Slow Boat

Slow boat is easing out their holiday selections, first with a Thanksgiving "Bread of Life" Pumpkin Pie special (available Nov 17-24), a hat-tip to the non-profit organization Bread of Life Bakery. Run by physically disabled young adults who have grown up in orphanages in China, Slow Boat has an ongoing relationship with the bakery, including serving their pies. Second, the Safe Harbor Christmas Ale (6.7 ABV, 25 IBU) is back on tap. A lightly spiced ale with clove, cinnamon, and orange peel, this beer was first brewed in 2012 and has made a return each Christmas season since, promising to wrap you with warm feelings of home, wherever that may be.

For all your afterparty needs, look no further than Beijing's most comprehensive nightlife round-up here.

Images: Unsplash, craftbeer.com, courtesy of the organizers