Pre-Thanksgiving Tasting

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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Pale Ale Tasting with Beijing Boyce

(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. Read more…