What's Up in Beer: Maovember Brew Events, Beer Mile at Jing-A, Winter Warmers at Slow Boat

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.


Maovember

What's better than drinking beer (and everything else) for a good cause? Nothing we can think of. It's also something that the annual Maovember event does very well, teaming up with F&B establishments across Beijing to get you out and partying, sound in the knowledge that a portion of your hard-earned cash will make its way to helping someone in need. Maovember officially kicked off last night and continues with two events this weekend:

First, there's the pup-friendly Dog Pub Crawl on Saturday, Nov 3, whereby the furry owners and then stupid human underlings walk between some of Beijing's finest watering holes, including De Refter, XL, Jing-A, and Paddy O'Shea's. Humans get one drink per stop for the RMB 100 ticket fee while dogs will snack on treats provided by Penny's Food Studio. The walk will congregate at De Refter from 3pm onwards before weaving north.

Then there's MulledVember on Sunday (Nov 4, 6pm), a celebration of all things mulled but mainly cider. That's because Mike the Cider Guy from Orchard Pig Cider will be on hand to help you drink mulled cider (as if you need help) and conduct a generally warm and inviting evening of music and games, tangentially in the name of Guy Fawkes night.


Jing-A's Halloween Beer Mile

Though we're pretty sure holding a Halloween party after the fact goes against all the rules of Paganism and those who dabble in such may meet a similar fate to Edward Woodward in The Wicker Man, Jing-A is intent to get their spook on this weekend. The crew once again hit the mean streets of Xingfucun for this year's fourth annual Halloween Beer Mile on Sunday, Nov 4 from 2.45pm.

The idea is simple: don your spookiest, kookiest, or weirdest outfit (one that you don't mind at best getting beer on, and at worst soaking up dinner), head to Jing-A's Brewpub on Xingfucun, and complete four 1/4 mile laps up and down the road behind the Brewpub. At the beginning of each lap, drinkers will be handed a full cup of beer which they must down before they start running. There'll be a men's and women's podium with prizes and glory for the first three runners to finish from each group. Registration costs RMB 100, which guarantees you a spot in the race and four beers.
 

New Beers and Dishes at Great Leap

Over at Great Leap, they've two new Homegrown Series beers two their roster, bringing the series to seven in total. The first, dubbed October Sky Amber Wheat (6.1 percent ABV), is "amber in color with notes of fruit on the nose from an addition of osmanthus tea" with a "subtle sweetness ... that finishes full and delicious." The second is their Stanford Pines Smoked Stout (4.5 percent ABV, pictured above), featuring lapsang souchong – a black tea from Fujian province with a smoky flavor and aroma. They've also thrown in basil to give the beer a fresh and herbal quality. Both new beers are available now for RMB 45 for 440ml.

The GLB kitchen has also been hard a work, releasing three new dishes to pair, including smoked trout croquettes with lemon basil aioli (RMB 35), pork spare ribs with lapsang barbecue sauce (RMB 50, pictured above), as well as a dessert of lemon pannacotta with yangmei jelly (RMB 30). The dishes will only be available for as long as their new Homegrown Series brews are on tap, so head over sooner rather than later. Read more about each of them here.
 

New Hot Drinks at Slow Boat

And finally, Slow Boat throws a curveball, releasing two hot drinks over the usual beery goodness. From this week onwards, you'll be able to sip on spiced wine and hot buttered rum to keep you warm through the winter evenings. Head over in the week to enjoy RMB 10 off each between 4-8pm.

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

Images: Kirill Zmurciuk, courtesy of the organizers