Beijing Boyce

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Former The Brick owners Ryan Johnston and Cici Feng Johnston have opened their shop The Drive-Thru in Sanlitun Soho. The focus is on beer and spices, particularly on delivery, although the shop has everything from custom-made bicycle to shawls to pipes. The beer list is already big, and growing, and Ryan Johnston says he aims to get Slow Boat Brewery and other local craft beers. He is also busy dehydrating basil, parsley, mint and chipotle peppers, grinding nutmeg, mulling uses for these blocks of rock salt, and planning to reduce beers such as Guinness to powder. The Drive-Thru is on the north side of the third floor of building 5. The phone number is 8590-0390.

Speaking of Slow Boat Brewery, Seth Grossman of Home Plate BBQ says his joint just off Xiaoyun Road should have its beers on tap just after Chinese New Year. Home Plate will hold its monthly beer, blues and BBQ night on Thursday. And Grossman says to look for new stuff on the menu once chef Adam Murray returns from his vacation.

And speaking of craft beer, Great Leap Brewery has closed its hutong location off Nanluoguxiang for the winter. A press release says the decision was made “to focus on the bigger picture” of “building a brand” though some might wonder about the timing given Great Leap finished enclosing its courtyard a mere two weeks ago. Great Leap was also recently forced to withdraw its beers from Paddy O’Shea’s, The Brick and other bars due to the lack of a license but it looks like fans of the place can still get their fill given plans to do “pop-up events” and provide kegs for private parties.

Finally, Gung Ho has a third outlet? Well, no, but patrons of Frost, co-owned by Jeff Powell — who consulted on the initial Gung Ho recipes — have been gobbling down pies. Powell says he’s is averaging better than a dozen a day, with the high being more than 30 pizzas. Patrons can also order salads and Powell will throw them into a bowl. And he says he is planning to introduce bratwurst in the next couple of weeks.

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After having a “bar-wrecking party” on December 23, Jun Trinh of soon-to-open Four Corners, in the former Orange Tree space near the Drum Tower, says the next obstacle to be overcome is the kitchen wall. Thus, a second bash is slated for tomorrow night at 8 PM to make it easier for the cooks to get out of the kitchen. The event will include free Beijing beer, three-for-two Vedette and half-price Caipirinhas, says Trinh. Look for Four Corners to be used initially for events before fully opening.

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I’m not sure what is in the water at the Beijing Hilton but the staff there cranks out a steady stream of fun events, from the annual wine fair to pole-dancing contests to the rodeo to charity boxing. Next up: the Third Annual Pancake Race. I was skeptical when I went last year but it turned out to be a fun event with an extremely challenging course that included contestants using hula hoops on the concierge table (see above photo of guy flipping out). Plus, there was cheap beer for those of us content to sit back and watch the action.

From the press release:

Whether you are an owner of a restaurant, a food critic or you simply love food so much that no word can describe, bring it on and join this spectacular event to experience a different satisfaction that food has never brought you before! During Shrove Tuesday, the Hilton Beijing lobby will be transformed into a carefully created and challenging obstacle course where the celebrity contestants will navigate their way round whilst tossing a freshly made pancake.”

Contestants will be judged based on speed, style, costume, how many times they toss the pancake and, crucially, how many times they drop it. “Crash helmets provided,” says the release.

The race is February 21, 7 PM to 9 PM. Space for up to 20 contestants. Free entry. For observers, pancakes are rmb10 and beer is rmb25, with an after-party in Zeta Bar. If you want to enter, contact Emile Otte at emile.otte@hilton.com.

 

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I get more than a dozen queries every day due to this blog. What is the best whiskey bar? (I’d say Nashville for happy hour, The Malt for selection, Ichikura for overall atmosphere.) Where can I get Clamato juice so I can make Bloody Caesars? (Check Marketplace or Jenny Lou’s.) Where is Chocolate? (I tend to get those calls after 2 AM on school nights.) Do you have a SCRAM bracelet that forces you to stay in Sanlitun? (No, I have an INERTIA bracelet that keeps me there.)

I also get questions about how much money this blog makes or how many free drinks I get or whether or not I can help with media contacts. I’m going to address those questions here and simply refer future requests to this page. That will free time for writing about bars as well as for drinking Alfonso Specials, watching Glee, and polishing the seven Ferraris I bought with cash earned from this blog — one for every day of the week, baby! Those Ferraris are a good place to start…

How much money does this blog make?

I am asked this question more than any other, typically at least once a day, which translates to more than one thousand times since I started to write about Beijing nightlife. When I answer that this blog loses money, I get the second most-asked question, usually delivered with a tone of disbelief: Why would you spend so much time writing it? Because, as noted in the about section years ago, I go out a lot, I like writing, and bars and drinks are topics about which most everyone has an opinion. The only revenue I get from this blog is due to occasional articles I write and that doesn’t keep me even in coffee and taxi fare.

Do the suspicious types really believe the bars I tend to like, such as Mao Mao Chong, Twilight, 1F and so on, have marketing budgets for bloggers? Have they noticed my wardrobe, middle-of-the-road laptop and preoccupation with value, namely, that I want the money I do have to go as far as possible?

Anyway, people will believe what they want so all I can say is: I don’t take money from bars, I do spend quite a bit of money going out, and I lied about the Ferraris. And about watching Glee. I’m more of a Family Guy guy.

But you get money from Fubar, right?

Of course… every time I buy a drink… it’s called “change”. (Rim shot) I have been asked about this bar more than any other over the past couple of years. No, I don’t get money from Fubar. I don’t like everything about Fubar, including the smokiness and the giddy types showing their friends the secret sliding door, but I have written a lot about the place because the drinks are decent, the layout is cool, I know the owners and, crucially, it is across the street from my pad.

By the way, Fubar is just one bar people have suggested I have taken money from over the years. Here is a partial list of other places: The Stone Boat, First Café, Midnight, Rickshaw, Browns, Q Bar, Le Petit Gourmand, Union Bar & Grille, George’s, Flamme and Apothecary. (That last one is ironic since, on my last visit, one of the owners yelled at me in front of a writer I took there during a tour of some Beijing bars. Yep, all part of our master plan to cover up those under-the-table payments.)

Anyway, it would be nice if those who accuse me of taking money provided proof. But they haven’t because they can’t. Also, if someone knows a way for this blog to make money without taking money from bars and restaurants, I’m all ears.

But you don’t pay for drinks, right?

Yes, I pay for drinks. Do I get freebies? Yes, usually at places where I am a regular and spend money and thus occasional freebies are part of business, or when I am asked to be a guinea pig and try new drinks, or when I am at an event – like the bar awards parties held by magazines – where drinks are free for everyone. In any case, my general rule is to pay for drinks.

I work for a consulting company and have to write a report about the [wine / spirits / beer] sector in China. Would you send me detailed answers to the following [10 / 20 / 50] questions by 5 PM today? Thanks in advance!

Do I mind spending eight hours answering your questions so you can take the information, pass it off as your own, and make money? Of course not, except you already thanked me, so where is the incentive? By the way, if you need help cleaning your house, financing your children’s education, paying off your mortgage, or simply wiping your ass because you are just too lazy to do it, don’t hesitate to ask. [I exaggerated that example but I do get an awful lot of emails from people looking to offload their work.]

I’m organizing a [wine / spirits / club / bar] event and need media contacts. I’d appreciate it if you would send me the [email addresses / phone numbers] of 20 or 30 key journalists.

Sure, because journalists with whom I’ve spent years developing relations love it when I give their phone numbers to total strangers who will cold call them about an event that, given the email above, is woefully short on details. (I can hear it now: “Boyce promised you would write a story.”) They will love it even more since anyone who relies on a blogger he or she doesn’t know to get dozens of media contacts is likely to have the same approach to running an event. Some advice: you are better off to explain the nature of the event and to ask for a couple of media contacts. I suggest something like this:

I just moved to Beijing to work with a local events company called PandaTastic. My boss asked me to organize a launch party next Saturday night in Shuangjing for this new caribou-flavored vodka called VaMoose that we plan to pair with a half-dozen donkey meat dishes. Would you know a few people in the media who might be interested?

Are you kidding? Yes, I do, and please send me an invite, as I not only want to see what the stuff tastes like but also expect a strong unintentional comedy factor.

What makes you think you are an expert on the bar scene?

Nothing. I have never claimed to be an expert. I have always claimed to write as a consumer. Two years ago, Time Out magazine asked me for a “150 word first person account” to serve as advice for others who might want to write a blog. This is what I wrote:

My nightlife blog has a modest but strong readership and I think that is because I write frequently, critically, and publicly. Frequently means at least one post per day on average; critically means giving my honest view on a given bar, no matter whether I like the owner or manager or not; publicly means using my name, rather than posting anonymously — I think later facing the bars I criticize increases accountability. Finally, I assume readers are smarter than me — if you write bullshit, at least some of your readers will call you out… or simply stop reading.

In other words, I write a lot, I try to be fair and I use my own name. And I would add that I never claim to be an expert. I know many people in Beijing who know more about cocktails or beer or wine or bars than do I — trust me, some of them remind me of this all the time. Anyway, the Internet is a crowded space, with all kinds of e-newsletters, websites, blogs and social media accounts talking about nightlife. This blog simply provides my perspective as a consumer on what is happening out there.

How many hits does your blog get?

Why? What could that number possibly mean to you? Do you want to advertise? Seriously, I get asked this by dozens of people that I doubt would even be able to interpret what the numbers mean. When I point this out, I often get the slightly threatening response, “I know how to find out!” Then please go off and do that so I can have your seat at the bar. By the way, there is a difference between getting a lot of hits and attracting quality readers – I will take the latter any day.

Why didn’t my comment appear on your blog?

I set this blog up so that I have to approve comments. That allows me to minimize spam promoting Viagra and porn sites, personal and/or mean-spirited attacks, and entries from bar owners anonymously slamming their competitors.

Even though people who leave a comment get the message, “Your comment is awaiting moderation”, I nevertheless get emails that charge me with ‘censorship’ because a comment has not instantly appeared. My favorites are people who send such an email an hour or so after leaving a blog comment at, say, 3 AM. Duh, it’s hard for me to approve a comment when I’m asleep.

Anyway, if your comment isn’t offensive, spam et al and doesn’t pop up right away, it’s probably because I am too busy to deal with it or am taking a few days off or it got lost among the thousands of messages in the spam folder. Then again, perhaps the sole reason I have spent more than six years writing hundreds of thousands of words about Beijing nightlife was simply to put myself in position to censor you. You decide which reason makes the most sense.

(By the way, I’ve noticed the people who tend to leave anonymous obnoxious message are also the ones most likely to squeal about “freedom of speech” when that message does not show up right away. Being a jackass and having a sense of entitlement often go hand in hand.)

Why didn’t you respond to my email?

As mentioned, I get more than a dozen queries related to this blog every day. From people looking for wine recommendations, or for jobs or employees, for or possible venues for a party or for directions to a bar or club, or for media contacts, proofreading help or advice on a promotion, or for suggestions on where to get a particular beer, whiskey, vodka or whatever, or where to take their best friend’s lactose-intolerant grandma to get her the closest thing to a White Russian (OK, maybe not that last one).

Sometimes these end up in the junk mail box and I don’t see them until it is too late, if at all. Sometimes I read them and decide to answer later and then forget. And sometimes I get so far behind in my emails that I simply never get to them. I do my best and would guess I answer about 80 percent of these emails.

And I do appreciate the interest in the blog, especially those emails from readers about new bars they have spotted or drinks they have tried or suggestions to improve the site. I never intended to start a blog and the fact it has endured is a tribute to the people who have taken an interest in it. Above all, this blog has been a group project.

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Seven memories from a relatively laid-back New Year’s Eve…

(1)
The field of scientific knowledge broadened: We now know that as garlic is to vampires, penicillin is to syphilis and nuclear war is to cockroaches, my DJ Press/Play set is to hipsters.

True, they might be able to endure a single play of something such as “Unbelievable” by EMF. But “Let’s Get It Started” by Black Eyed Peas, “Pump up the Volume” by Marrs and “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake back to back to back? Not likely. Throw in the likes of “Two of Hearts” by Stacey Q, “Le Freak” by Chic, “We Got the Beat” by The Go-Gos, “That’s Not My Name” by The Ting Tings and “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C+C Music Factory, and it’s game over. (If I had the B*Witched version of “Mickey“, from the Bring It On soundtrack, that set would go from being mere garlic to being a stake through the heart.)

Fubar owner Chad Lager noted that my subconscious must have been at work since the play list reflects the music I listen to when cleaning my apartment. Pondering a name change from DJ Press/Play to DJ Big-Nose Ayi…

(2)
I found this message on my cell phone: “Those chickens were not real, they were made of rubber.” No idea…

(3)
I had an hour-long debate with Mark D at Q Bar about how we would fare against 200 ganbei-loving Wuhan wedding guests if we were a) the only foreign attendees and b) on their home turf. His position: We would suffer somewhat but emerge in reasonably good shape due to solid drinking strategies. My position: We would die. Nice to have some intellectual discussion on New Year’s Eve.

(4)
During the two minutes I spent in the DJ booth, a woman gave me a package with ~50 chocolates in it. Because of the music? Alas, no. It was due to a long talk we had about wine the night before when I organized a “bjtweetup” at Modo as part of some very early New Year’s Eve pre-gaming. Anyway, many thanks as that chocolate high extended the night by a good hour. Unfortunately, Mike D at Q Bar did his best to eat most of the candy. Tip for Mike D: remove foil before inserting chocolate in mouth.

(5)
The crowd at the Beijing Beatles gig at George’s ranks – I am guessing – in the top half when it comes to income level, IQ scores and career paths but near the bottom in dance skills. And I base that last judgment solely on the people who banged into me. If someone is going to bang into me, I prefer he or she do it in rhythm to the music, not with the grace of an octopus being electrocuted. On the other hand, I’m happy to see I’m not alone — I’m talking about in the out-of-rhythm dance skill department, not those other things. And kudos to the Beijing Beatles: I didn’t catch the show proper but was there at 1 AM when the by-then Fuddled Four did an impromptu encore and played until lead singer Ian Burns voice was cracking more than a dozen S&M fetishists at a bull whip convention.

(6)
We marked midnight at Fubar with “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” by R.E.M., as suggested by Jamie Welton. By the way, given his reaction to DJ Press/Play, don’t be surprised if the next cover act he gets involved in — he’s still the front man of Dirty Deeds — is for a certain guy who sings Sexy Back.

(7)
Finally, First Cafe – my favorite all-time bar in Beijing – is long gone but my nightlife enjoyment is still influenced by it. Two of the three bars I visited Saturday night are run by former First Cafe bartenders George Zhou (George’s) and Echo Sun (Q) and one of the first people I met there, Ping, came out for New Year’s Eve. Good times!

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