If we were to say a new bar serves ‘beer from Wuhan,’ would that even register with you? Do you know anything about Wuhan’s craft beer scene? Do you know anything about Wuhan? Do you even know which province Wuhan is the capital of? Bonus prize to whomever emails bjeditor@urbanatomy.com with the answer.* But hey, regardless of your Wuhan know-how, we’re here to tell you: There’s a new bar that serves beer from Wuhan. The bar is Tiny, and this is huge.
Tiny Taproom and Izakaya is the latest to join Beijing’s craft beer scene, and it serves beer from Wuhan’s Bubble Lab, which you can’t get anywhere else in the capital. Fine, OK, the name ‘Bubble Lab’ sounds more like a tween lipgloss brand than that of a craft brewery – but these are serious beers. (We applaud both Tiny and Bubble Lab for their rejection of masculine-leaning names.) We in Beijing like to think we live in the craft beer capital of China – and, for the most part, we do – but Wuhan’s small scene is a credible threat to our title. The Bubble IPA is one of the best in the city. So get off your high horse, beer nerds – Bubble Lab makes brews on par with the best ones in Beijing.
Tiny, while small, isn’t exactly tiny. The taproom – which was shut out of its original location by, you guessed it, bricks – now hosts a cozy dining room, serving Japanese snacks and sukiyaki. The location is just behind the new Shang building, of Bottega and Q Mex fame, a part of town that is, dare we say, up-and-coming? Yet despite being meters behind two restaurants full of expats, Tiny has yet to penetrate the laowai scene (this is a good thing).
This is why, no offense, we kind of don’t want to tell you about it. Sorry readers, but sometimes you f*ck things up. Tiny is too casually cool to swallow up your drunken masses. But hey – we make this magazine for you, not us.
*There is definitely no prize for this.
See a listing for Tiny Taproom and Izakaya and read more Beijing Restaurant Reviews
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