Washington DC / Northern Virginia suburbs

crawler · Post by **crawler** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:15 am

I'm heading there in a couple weeks... any suggestions for good beer bars that also has decent food in either Washington DC or its Northern Virginia suburbs?

Garthicus · Post by **Garthicus** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 9:43 pm

There are tons of places in DC. Tons. The brickskellar does good food and drink. Capitol brewing on Capitol hill is well worth visiting too. I think I rated a couple more places - check em out on ratebeer. DC is a great beer destination.

Ralphus · Post by **Ralphus** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 10:58 pm

I will be in DC for a day or two in the next few weeks.. any recent recommendations for good beer bars?

hopdevil · Post by **hopdevil** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 9:49 pm

There are some great beer bars just off the Metro Red Line.

At Gallery Place/Chinatown: RFD ( Regional Food & Drink ) just outside the 7th St and H St exit

At Dupont Circle: The Big Hunt: on Connecticut, right across the street from the exit ( My fav )

At Dupont Circle: The Brickskellar: on 22nd-take P Street from the Metro and turn right. ( mostly bottles, but some high-end draft upstairs )

I was there this summer and visited these places. Fantastic

kwjd · Post by **kwjd** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:24 pm

The Brickskellar has an impressive beer bottle list... I just wish they would have had more of them in stock. I was there last year and they were about 30% for what we asked for. There were 4 of us that ordered beers and they brought one back and said the other 3 were out. Then the 3 of us ordered again and they brought back 2. I had to order for a third time to get a beer.

My friends that lived there said that hadn't happened to them before, so maybe it was just a bad luck of the ones the ordered or they were running low on stock for some reason.

Ralphus · Post by **Ralphus** » Wed Oct 14, 2009 10:16 pm

Back from my visit. I stayed in Dupont Circle after phoning a hotel finding service and telling them I liked beer and wanted restaurants and shopping close by

It was a good recommendation on their part. Nice, safe area.. close to the metro and within walking distance of the white house, mall area.

Pizza Paradiso on the corner of P street and 20th, NW was great. This is their new location (there were a bit further west on P street previously). A dozen solid beers on tap and an extensive list. I sat outside and drank under a patio heater. Service was top notch.. great pours and when a bottle of Rogue's chocolate stout wasn't chilled they put it on ice and then gave it to me for free. Prices were very reasonable and the place is plenty popular. Food was good and served quickly.

Brickskeller (21st and P St, NW) had 10 or so beers on tap and a listing of a thousand bottles. Prices were higher and I found the ambiance wasn't all that great. The entire place is various shades of red, bad music was blaring and it just looked run down. In the end it wasn't for me.. I had two pints and left. That said, it was crowded so YMMV.

Whole Foods Market (P & 15th) had a great selection. If this was an LCBO people would be drooling - but it's not - it's a grocery store! I stood in amazement for about 10 minutes just eyeballing and then had the very difficult chore of choosing a few things to take back out of the multitude of options. Highly recommended.

Brews Phillips · Post by **Brews Phillips** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:40 pm

I'm off to DC in a few weeks. Has anyone been to the Dogfish Head Alehouse in Arlington. I'll be near Dupont Circle, so it probably sounds nuts to head to Arlington to check out a pub. But who knows? I'll try to check out some of the places mentioned above.

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 3:12 pm

Any thoughts on what the "If you are in DC, you have to go to ___________!!" place(s) is/are?

I'll be over there for a few days in early February, staying at the hilton at Connecticut and T. From the sounds of it the Dupont Circle area should keep me occupied at the very least.

Brews Phillips · Post by **Brews Phillips** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 4:06 pm

I went to Brickskeller twice during my visit. The first time I sat downstairs and wondered what all the fuss was about. Long bottle list, but dismal ambience. Decided to give it another try a few nights later and went upstairs. Glad I did as there were lots of interesting things on tap that I missed on my first visit. Moral of the story: sit at the upstairs bar.

Pizza Paradiso is a great place for a beer and, not surprisingly, pizza. Really tasty pizza. I went to the one in Georgetown, but I say hit them all. Here's why: http://www.eatyourpizza.com/menu/birre/

For bottles, there was a liquor store (Dupont Fine Wines and Liquors??) a few steps away from the Big Hunt on Connecticut that packed a fantastic selection into a tiny space. A big line up from Mikeller and lots of other interesting stuff. Whole Foods on P was good, as was Bell Wine and Spirits on M.

jimmay · Post by **jimmay** » Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:12 pm

Went here http://www.churchkeydc.com/ and Pizzeria Paradiso. Church Key is prob best beer bar I've even been to. approx 50 taps and 500 bottles. Great food to pair with. Very knowledgeable staff. Highly recommended! Pizzeria Paradiso scared me a bit with some of their botltles, didn't seem to be turning stock fast enough??

kinguy · Post by **kinguy** » Sun Dec 19, 2010 9:58 pm

The Mad Fox Brewpub at 444 West Broad Street in Falls Church is only a couple of miles away from Dogfish Head in Arlington and is worth a visit. We were there in the summer and both beer and food was quite enjoyable.

http://madfoxbrewing.wordpress.com/

There's also a Capitol City in Shirlington Village near the 395 that's also in the vicinity.

cannondale · Post by **cannondale** » Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:51 pm

Pizzeria Paradiso and ChurchKey/Birch & Barley were certainly standouts. I really didn't have time to get to many others. DC clearly has a good craft beer vibe going.

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 8:49 am

Heading to DC this afternoon. Any new suggestions please post up, and I'll report back anything interesting.

JerCraigs · Post by **JerCraigs** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 1:50 pm

A friend just came back and says "Birch & Barley/Church Key, Pizzia Paradisio & Black Squirrel were as good as advertised".

Cass · Post by **Cass** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 3:10 pm

Back from a quick trip to Washington. Too bad about missing Session but this was planned a long time ago.

DC is definitely a good beer town. Not quite at the level of the top tier in the States but solid and fun. It is, however, when coupled with all of its other attractions a hell of a place to visit.

I'll save a lot of the commentary for the winter time, as this trip was advance research for next year's CBC which is going to be held in DC. But, I'll add in some thoughts for anyone going out there before then.

- Churchkey / Birch & Barley. Amazing place. One of the top draught beer lists I've seen. Everything available in 4 oz pours for $2-$5 so sampling lots of them is really easy. Great day or night.

- Pizzeria Paradiso. Went to the Dupont Circle location and it is a great spot. More for lunch or dinner than late night partying. Only 12 taps but representing 5 countries and 5 states within the 12. Huge bottle list of rare & vintage, and great pizza.

- Bier Baron. This is what used to be the Bricksellar. Feels a lot like a neighbourhood / student bar and a really good tap lineup. Only made it to the downstairs bar.

- The Big Hunt. Really unique bar with a hunting theme. Lots of different floors and bars all over so the place itself is a fun spot to explore. A great list of rotating taps and a cool urban vibe.

- District Chop House. Brewpub down near the National Mall and hockey arena. Upscale restaurant and quite a decent brewpub selection, considering it doesn't get very high ratings on the beer sites.

- Gordon Biersch. Also hit here as it was very hot and we needed an escape, but it's a nice big space with their usual lineup. Not a bad spot in the downtown touristy core.