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Washington DC / Northern Virginia suburbs

Discuss beer travel and regional information, including the best bars and places to check out around in Canada and around the world, and other chat that is not specific to Ontario.

Moderators: Craig, Cass

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

Looks like I'll be in DC again in early May. Anyone have any updates to share?

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

Back from a week in DC, some for work, most for fun.

Bars:
Churchkey... plenty said previously in this thread, but man oh man this place continues to stun. I was in here maybe 5 times in 7 nights, closed the place twice. Bar staff treated us like best friends, although I'm sure my VISA was their true friend, at least they pretended really welll! Was there on Kentucky Derby day, so managed to score tons of KBS on tap.

Pizza Paradiso Dupont: was in here a few times, had no major qualms about pricing this time, pizza was fantastic, service was great.

Sovereigh: Churchkey's Belgian brother, 50 or so taps of just "Belgian" styles. Hard to spot unless you are looking up for it up a long alley off Wisconsin. Sat in the upstairs bar, a little brighter. Tap list was crazy good with huge range of "Belgian" styles, from hoppy to sour via malty big beer. Bottle list was even more insane with gem after gem. Service was great as all the NRG restaurants seem to be. A destination for sure. Cantillon, DeCam, Boon, you name it. Was going through the bottle list and turns out I was 2 minutes to late to spot the 2007 Oerbier reserva. Table next to me ordered the last bottle they had.

RFD: Open, dark spot up from the Verizon center. Be fun on a game night. Was quiet when I was there. Service was fine. Selection was pretty big, but nothing crazy. Much like a Yardhouse type selection. Some really interesting bottles at reasonably decent prices.

Maddy's Taproom (13th just south of Churkey): Pretty safe place with maybe 30 taps, nothing crazy but lots of tasty options. Service wasn’t bright, but was friendly. Got talking to a local wondering why I rarely see DFH on tap in DC proper, bartender loudly interupts explaining that it was because it was so rare and hard to get. DFH? Um... Anyway, beer was tasty, lots of TVs to catch a game.

Bardo Brewpub: This place makes no sense. Like a brewery was opened in a field in Chernobyl, but populated by the Ambercrombie crowd. The brewing equipment is all outside, I watched a bunch of birds eat birdseeds and whatever else birds eat right above the open (unused at that particular time) mash tun. I’d like to believe the birds take their crap elsewhere... Bardog barks at every black guy that walks by, I guess to make sure the AF crowd is safe in their weird post-apocalyptic bubble. And the dishes are washed in a completely open outside area. The tables are warped to the point of that the centers of many of the long tables are 6 inches or more lower than the ends. Even calling them tables is a stretch. But the cornhole toss looked fun! The two IPA I had tasted like cheese and the sour mash was not drinkable. Oh and the men’s washroom urinals have no plumbing!! The Uber guy who picked us up (a total JayZ lookalike btw) first words where... "what the HELL y'all doing HERE??" Both Uber in and out, as well as a number of people on site including a bartender who was chewing tobacco and spitting on the ground at his feet behind the bar told us there is no chance we'd get home safely had we tried to walk.

Smoke and Barrel: mentioned enough in here. It is a GREAT spot. Meat for two was WAY too much, but so tasty. I liked the basement bar way better than the more formal upstairs.

Meridian Pint: Great local neighborhood vibe. Was there after a Manor Hill tap takeover, so the beer range was less impressive than might otherwise have been. Fun spot.

Black Squirrel: again, lots said here, was there multiple nights, great spot with great range in both bars upstairs and down.

Bier Baron: for the first time in multiple visits I didn't have fun here. Beer list was pretty lame when I was there, bartender was an ass. I loved it last time, so maybe just a bad night.

Right Proper: Loved this place again. So many good beers with such great range. Food was outstanding, service was great. Atmosphere was a blast on a busy Friday night.

DC Tap House: Yardhouse jr. Was there before, this visit sucked. Beer was just ok, service was horrible, food was unremarkable.

Bottle shopping was again pretty quiet. Whole Foods on P got most of my money. 1 West Dupont is fun to look at, but the prices are nuts and aside from the crazy whales and prices ($30 for a can of HT!!) their other beer is pretty meh.

And again, the sights, sounds and food around the city is universally spectacular. Great beer city!

User avatar
DeMarco
Posts: 317
Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 2:01 pm
Location: Toronto

Post by DeMarco »

Right Proper was a favourite of my trip. They make great berliner weisse.

Biggest disappointment was bluejacket. Beer was very mediocre and post Nationals game is hell.

Found a 4 pack of KBS for sale at 49.99 at some beer store. lol.

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

So, I'll be in DC again in mid-April, during the week of the Craft Brewers conference.

Any new happenings anyone knows about?

Kekumba
Posts: 385
Joined: Tue May 29, 2012 3:39 pm
Location: Ottawa

Post by Kekumba »

Spent another week in DC and tried to hit some new spots.

Brookland Pint - same ownership as Meridian and Smoke & Barrel. Very similar to Meridian in terms of taplist and food, just a different atmosphere (closer to like, Rustico). Good food deals at Happy Hour. I had lamb skewers and potato salad for $5.

Ocelot - finally got out this way. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling too hot that day so we didn't stay long. Massive tap room with lots of different seating and a big projection screen which was playing March Madness at the time. Their IPA's are pretty damn good, likely the best (or at least most consistent) in the whole DC area. Food truck on site. If you're out near Dulles, you may as well stop in.

Adroit Theory - another one well out of the city, but possibly my new favourite brewery in the area. Super small taproom with barrels and shit all over the place. But, there's seating, as well as a small patio just outside the doors. They have all kinds of different stuff on tap. Tons of big BA stouts, triple IPA's, etc. Their newest, EBK, is fantastic and can be found around the stores in DC (I saw it at Lost Dog and Westover Market). They have a few other bottles around the shops as well, but I can't specifically remember what.

Whole Foods Pentagon City - just because it's right beside my dad's apartment...but no really, they had a better taplist than most bars in Ottawa. Namely Alpine IPA's on tap, Troegs Perpetual, a few Peak Organic taps, couple BA Terrapin beers. I started going here almost every day for a beer.

Think that was everything new to me this trip. I skipped out on the KBS release as well as the HF events at Churckey and Sovereign, but it sounds like they went very well given how many people showed up. The bottle selection around DC is looking pretty good right now.

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

Thanks for the update!

I'll be there Monday. Looking to hit up Brookland Pint for the first time, they have some killer CBC events and I'm hoping the distance will lessen the crowds a bit. Churchkey also has a ton of insane events planned, but the crazy turnout for the HF event on the weekend has me figuring no way I'll get anywhere near any of their events.

rejtable
Bar Fly
Posts: 632
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2010 2:05 pm

Post by rejtable »

Just got back from a week in DC, another great week this time though coinciding with the Craft Brewer's Conference. Not the best week if all you wanted to do was see places like Churchkey in their regular state as many of the places and taplists were crazy packed for the Conference events.

None of my comments this week can help in terms of regular tap lineups as all of these laces had special events for the CBC week.

Hit up many of the regulars during the week including:
- Churchkey: was crazy busy all week;
- Paradiso Dupont: was in a few times, chill spot, fun but EXPENSIVE (beer and a panini one day was over $24US!!)
- Meridian Pint: bit of a hike but love that spot.
- RFD: they had some bluegrass band playing.
- City Tap House:
- Smoke and Barrel.

Also hit up some new spots (to me), that I don't think are mentioned anywhere in this thread:
- Sixth Engine: few blocks east of the Verizon Center, chill little bar, cool patio. The event there was insane so I can't really comment on what it's like on a regular night. But was a nice bar.
- Partisan: another in the Churchkey family. Again, event night so can't comment on the regular tap lineup. Bar was cool, and there's a charcuterie/deli attached to it. Big, open fancy bar.
- Jackpot: I had barely heard of this and stumbled (almost literally) on it having a big event one night. Can't comment on regular tap lineup, but if I was ever heading to a game at the Verizon, I would definitely give this place a look. Basement dive/sports bar with easily the most lively bar staff I ran into all week. Seems like a great spot for a pre/post game beer.
- Brookland Pint: sister to Meridian and kind of the same hike to get out to (maybe 20 mins subway from downtown). Awesome bar in what looks like a pretty up and coming area. Huge bar area with raised seating all around, big outside patio, and then in the back/side more restaurant type seating. I assume the tap list, like the other spots owned by this group would always be interesting.
- Lost and Found (I think this is owned by the Meridian/Brookland group??), another cool smallish bar. I think there's a back bar area as well, although that was closed for a CBC event. Would definitely go back if in the area.

I wrote up a summary of my CBC Week here:

http://www.bartowel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10750

Provost Drunk
Posts: 346
Joined: Sat Aug 01, 2015 11:36 am
Location: Toronto

Post by Provost Drunk »

I'll be in Washington in early June for the first time. It's a work trip, so I won't have total freedom but am still planning to carve out a few hours for some beer crawling. I've been through this thread, but it seems a bit dated. Does anyone have any recent updates on the city? ChurchKey still sounds THE place and Pizzeria Paradiso still seems to be going strong. I'll be well fed at work events, so although I wouldn't necessarily object to grabbing a quick bite at one of the bars my primary focus will be going to spots where the beer selection is top-notch (rather than spots with merely decent beer but excellent food). Suggestions for bottle shops would also be welcome.

Thanks!

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