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(UPDATE: City Weekend article here)
(UPDATE 2: Beijing Today’s article, in PDF format. May 14 – 20, 2010 Issue, page 17)
In late April, I was proud to showcase a few select beers for several invitees from the English-language media in Beijing. Amongst them were Annie Wei from Beijing Today, Gabriel Monroe from Agenda, and Greg Williams from City Weekend. We were also joined again by Jim Boyce and by Frank Siegel, who graciously hosted the event at the new Kerry Center location of Sequoia Cafe.

There were six beers featured, with three of them available in Beijing and the other three which I hand-carried back from the states:
- Inedit, by Estrella Damm (Barcelona, Spain). A spiced, wheat ale designed in collaboration with three-star Michelin chef Ferran Adrià and his staff at El Bulli. Available in Beijing
- Chateau Jiahu, by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery (Delaware, USA). Inspired by a 9000 year old beverage found at a Neolithic archeological site in Jiahu, Henan Provice. NOT available in Beijing
- Dead Guy Ale, by Rogue Ales (Oregon, USA). Descended from the German Maibock style, a strong springtime lager, but brewed with Rogue’s house ale yeast. Available in Beijing
- John John Dead Guy Ale, by Rogue Ales (Oregon, USA). A special batch of Dead Guy Ale that was aged in Rogue’s own whiskey barrels. NOT available in Beijing
- Imperial Stout, by Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster, England). A classic Russian Imperial Stout. Available in Beijing
- Bourbon County Brand Stout, by Goose Island (Chicago, USA). An imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels. NOT available in Beijing
(DISCLOSURE: I am currently a sales representative for DXCEL, the importers and distributors of Estrella Inedit and Rogue Dead Guy into mainland China.)
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In mid-April, I conducted a tasting flight of saisons, and finished with some barleywines paired with Stilton cheese. We were hosted at Sequoia Cafe (Guanghua Lu shop), and attended by the same participants of my holiday beer dinner, as well as Alain Leroux of the Taillan winery in Hebei.

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Just prior to Christmas 2009, I organized a holiday-themed beer dinner at the Astor Grill, with the immense help of the F&B Director of the St. Regis Hotel, Oscar Martinez. In attendance were: Jim Boyce (aka Beiijing Boyce), Frank Siegel (of Sequoia Cafe), Brandon Trowbridge (executive chef at NOLA), and David Gray (photojournalist on assignment with Reuters, and wine enthusiast). The goal of the tasting was to introduce some of the food-pairing potential of beer with a turkey-centric holiday dinner.
   
Menu:
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Just before Thanksgiving 2009 [US edition, Nov], I held a private tasting at my apartment in Haidian with two blog readers and also joined by my flatmate, Dan Rosen. Nan Chen (USA) and Chris Kolbu (Norway) were both in Beijing studying Chinese for the fall/autumn semester, and came across my blog. Unfortunately, Shannon (from my previous tasting) had to cancel at the last minute. We of course did what we could to enjoy ourselves in his honor…

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(UPDATE 10/1/09 : Boyce has posted a small write-up of this event as well, with links to this entry.)
Back in Mid-July, Jim Boyce aka Beijing Boyce graciously hosted a beer tasting led and supplied by yours truly. It was a broad sampling of beers within what can be called the “pale ale family”. Nearly half of them are actually available in China, while the rest were personally brought back from the US for the purposes of tasting events like this.
The goal was to introduce people to the range and diversity within just one branch in the grand family of beer, even amongst those that are available in Beijing. As a side-benefit, Jim also provided both a sharp cheddar cheese and a blue cheese, to help me offer a glimpse into some of the food pairing potential of these beers.
Besides Boyce and myself, attending were beer enthusiast Shannon Roy (a “software/investment guy” by day) and chef Zach Lewison of Beijing’s Union Bar and Grill.
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