Having been open for around 3 months, Spring Mountain Taproom is one of Nanjing’s newest craft beer venues and perhaps its most unusual. It occupies part of a 16,000-square-metre cellar beneath an old factory in a newly developed chic area just west of Chaotian Palace.
During the Mao Era, the cellar was an air-raid shelter and then became a social area for the factory workers. Many of the original features remain, including heavy steel doors, floral motifs in the plasterwork, original paintwork, vaulted brick ceilings and glass-paneled doors.
The extraordinary venue includes a wine cellar of some 50,000 bottles (ranging from less than ¥100 to more than ¥100,000), tasting rooms, a dance hall, a coffee and cocktail bar, and art exhibition spaces. The owner’s main business is wine, and he has a winery in northwest China (Chateau Witch). In addition to selling wine (from all over the world), he runs accredited training courses for wine sommeliers and bar staff. The craft beer venue was opened as a bit of a hobby on the side and it fits in very well with this eclectic, multi-purpose venue.
The beer bar features some retro arcade games (they will give you tokens if you fancy a go), vintage computers, neon lighting, a live performance stage and a couple of private rooms. The eight taps feature domestic beers and there are some excellent imported canned and bottled beers, such as Nøgne (Norway) and Põhjala (Estonia). Snacks are basic and include chickens’ feet (none of their beer is strong enough or available in sufficient quantity for this to tempt me), onion rings, noodles, fries and dumplings, all at modest prices.
I am told the changing art exhibitions aim to ape those found in Shanghai’s trendier locations. The venue’s art director trained in London, which certainly has no shortage of avant-garde galleries and bars. One of the current displays has dark green walls covered with spoons, an ancient computer (you can program it if you know BASIC) alongside a typewriter, old telephones on plinths and in booths (they can call each other), unusual chairs and a plethora of curiosities too strange to mention. Talking of strange, there is currently a “Stranger Things” theme, with a grandfather clock and cinema room playing it on a loop. Strange indeed…
I like it for its uniqueness, even if I am not their target market. It’s a place you have to see for yourself really. It’s like a curious dream. Yes, there is beer, so it is fundamentally a happy dream, but the rest is like a nostalgic 80s flashback, interrupted by slightly disquieting dashes of Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Salvador Dali.
The venue opens from 09:00, principally for their wine business and training courses. The beer bar opens officially from 18:00 to midnight but, critically, they are happy to pour a beer at any time of day if thirsty customers turn up and request it. A private tasting room is available for hire and is the only part of the venue that allows smoking. There are regular swing dancing sessions at the weekend and other random events. If you are interested, give them a call.
Spring Mountain Taproom is located at 329 Mochou Lu 莫愁路 329号. Tel: 17384464996.
