Event | Mr Maovember contest at Home Plate BBQ

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Best natural mustache? Best business beard? Just two of the categories in the Mr Maovember Contest slated for this Saturday at Home Plate BBQ. Along with a world of award-winning whiskers, the festivities include a free keg of Jing-A beer plus Fireball and whiskey shots at rmb25 and Karl Strauss and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale at rmb40, with proceeds to charity. If you are so inclined to throw a few kuai into the donation box in exchange for your free brew, even better! The contests starts at 3 PM. The memories last forever.

500 Mao Club | A Collage of Pin Buyers

This ‘500 Mao Club‘ page includes photos of people who bought, or even had a friend buy for them, a Maovember pin for 500 mao (50 yuan). Here are some of our club members from 2015, with more collages to come.

Super VIPs | Peters, Winchell and Jennings

mike peters martin winchell alex jennings maovember 2015 super vips.jpg

As noted here, we consider anyone who spends 50 kuai for a Maovember pin to a VIP, specifically, a member of our ‘500 Mao Club‘. But some people want to donate enough to fund one eye surgery — rmb800 — and, after some heavy marketing strategy meetings, we decided to call them ‘Super VIPs‘.

These included the three people pictured above. Mike Peters (left) is an editor and writer for China Daily. Martin Winchell (center) is a logistics industry executive and chairman of Tianjin AmCham. And Alex Jennings (right) is a teacher at Muffy’s and an adviser for this year’s Maovember. All of them have committed to funding cataract surgeries for this year’s campaign.

If you want to sponsor an operation — you can it online here or in person — or have questions about maovember, email nihao (at) maovember.com.

Event | Brain Teasers, Corner Pockets and Tequila Shots at Q Mex

Q Mex is back with its Maovember charity quiz. Last year, this event drew more than 15 teams and, in addition to the fun of the city’s only bilingual quiz, co-owner Stefan Schober ruled the pool table and raised even more cash for charity.

This year’s event is Wednesday, November 25, and includes:

A quiz with six rounds of brain-teasers presented in English and Chinese. The suggested team fee of rmb100 includes a pitcher of Carlsberg and a six-pack of Corona. The smartest team wins a rmb200 voucher while the runner-up gets a rmb100 voucher.
A pool competition, with an entry fee of rmb25 and top prizes of rmb200 and rmb100 vouchers.
And tequila shots at rmb15 each or rmb88 per tray.

All revenue from the quiz, pool competition and tequila shots goes to charity Plus, Wednesday is half-price nacho night!

Q Mex Bar & Grill is in Sanlitun South, in the same building as The Local and Kro’s Nest.

Recap | Mystery Wine Party and ‘Wine Flights’ Airplane Contest at La Cava

Mystery Wine Party La Cava de Laoma Beijing 2

Sales were swift at Sunday’s Mystery Wine Party as 50 bottles were snapped up in an hour at La Cava. The idea was simple: customers paid rmb100 and picked one of the covered wines on the shelves—each retailing from rmb120 to rmb2000—then tore open the packaging to see what they got. Most people ended up sharing their wines, so it wasn’t surprising the event lasted well beyond it’s scheduled three hours and until the last drop was finished.

More sporting attendees signed up for the Wine Flights Paper Airplane Race. Eleven contestants each paid rmb50 for a flight ticket, carefully designed their craft, then raced for glory—and a bottle of Charles Ellner Champagne—in the hallway outside La Cava.

The Mystery Wine Party and donation spittoon raised rmb5450 while the Paper Airplane Race took in rmb550, for a total of rmb6000. Individual donations covering one of more cataract surgeries, at rmb800 per operation, via charity partner Orbis totaled rmb4000, with Martin Winchell and Alex Jennings leading the way.

Mystery wines were donated by 1421, Australian Natural, Grape Wall of China, La Cava, Le Sommelier International, Pasion, Ponty, Seina and Signature Wine Club.

Event | Bend Over Backward and Get Lei’d at Bungalow Tiki Bar

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Enjoy a freaky tiki Maovember as Bungalow gets into the spirit tomorrow (Wednesday) with a party celebrating a character who sports one of history’s most revered mustaches — Magnum P.I.. Some stuff on the slate for this hump day luau:

Bend over backwards for charity by getting down in the limbo contest.
Get your friends lei’d. Purchase a lei for 20 kuai and stick it on a friend. Or a perfect stranger. Or both.
Enjoy 20-kuai rum shots, all proceeds to Maovember. Revenue from the first case of beer also goes to charity.
Wear your best Hawaiian shirt, or other theme-related accoutrements — like a shoulder parrot — and win praise, fame and possibly prizes.If you have yet to visit Bungalow, a fairly new addition to the city’s bar scene, it’s worth giving both the tiki drinks and the “lost classics” list a try. (See here for a review).

And here’s a map of the joint. Bungalow is a few meters from La Bas and one street over from Ramo, El Nido and Hot Cat Club. Check the map below for directions.

bungalow tiki bar beijing china

Recap | Beer Pong Diplomacy and Picklebacks at Jing-A Taproom

Jing-A Taproom broke its “no beer pong and craft brew” rule last Saturday and held its first tournament. Called ‘Beer Pong Diplomacy’, it featured sixteen teams taking part in a fierce three-hour competition.

The contest ultimately came down to a single ball as Zach of Irish Volunteer and partner Edu edged Juan, best-known from Migas, and teammate Marc in a tense hard-fought match. Plus drank a lot of delicious beer.

Along with that craft beer, spectators enjoyed picklebacks, which paired Jing-A’s house juice with whiskey donated by Jameson, to raise even more money.

Overall, the beer pong and pickleback combo resulted in a rmb3800 donation to Maovember.

Recap | Irish Volunteer / Hockey Bar Charity Cornhole Classic

Irish Volunteer and Hockey Bar got into the Maovember for a third straight year with a full day and night of fun. The third annual Charity Cornhole Classic saw 16 teams pay the rmb100 entry fee and attempt to toss their way to victory, with Mad Dogs emerging as the eventual winner.

Guest could also donate to Maovember by buying a Pickle Zach — a shot of moonshine followed by one of pickle juice. And acoustic funk band Dirty City kept the energy high by performing into the night, with 50 percent of CD sales to charity. The result: Irish Volunteer / Hockey Bar raised rmb5561 for Maovember!