Like many beer drinkers who suddenly found themselves holed up at home when the pandemic began, I raided my stash of special beer while waiting for the pubs to reopen. Surveying my limited reserves yielded little of note, except for one item: a 500ml bottle of Cognac Barrel Aged Bare Knuckle Barleywine by Boxing Cat Brewery of Shanghai—hand-bottled, the attached tag reminds me, in May of 2016.
At that time, Boxing Cat was still a small, independent brewery and pub chain, and had a modest barrel-aging program. Brewmaster Michael Jordan—known as MJ—and his crew prepared the bottles, which were then sold exclusively through the pubs (that and growlers are the only legal distribution options available to breweries in China of less-than-massive size).
2016 was a good time for craft beer in Shanghai. Boxing Cat and a handful of others were producing world-class brews, while MJ and his fellow brewmasters organized small but excellent festivals that brought in beer from newer breweries elsewhere in China. It was a time when you could not only find a well-made beer in Shanghai, but you could frequently bump into the brewer himself in the pub, tip it back with him, and give direct feedback. There was a sense of camaraderie, of a small, slowly growing community around beer, which I hadn’t experienced since leaving the U.S. nearly a decade prior.
Then, in 2017, Boxing Cat Brewery became part of AB InBev, which also hired much of the other brewing talent in the city. Boxing Cat’s local brewing operations were shut down, and production was moved to ABI breweries elsewhere in China. MJ now spends more time at a desk, and mostly oversees brewing operations from afar. Members of his former team moved to jobs elsewhere in the country. The more intimate festivals were replaced by larger commercial events.
So here I am with this one last bottle, nearly four years old now. I still haven’t opened it. I remember this as being a very nice brew, but I’m worried its quality may have faded more quickly than my wistful memories. Perhaps I should crack it open in honor of those memories, but it’s difficult to let go of either.
I recently brought up the bottle while chatting with MJ himself, who replied, “Wow! You should probably open that up as soon as possible.” I suppose the word of the brewer should be heeded, although MJ did agree with my conjecture that, as a mildly hopped, 13.2% ABV Barleywine, it could possibly be maturing gracefully.
Perhaps some event will hasten its opening. Maybe a day of decisive victory over the COVID-19 virus. Perhaps MJ or I will move on to greener pastures, prompting the sharing of the bottle in farewell. Until then, I hope its character is as tenacious as my indecision.
Words + Photoby Paul Castle