Craft Brewer's Conference

[rejtable]

We had a thread for the Portland event, but I was just in DC for the latest and thought it should have it's own thread. If the mods prefer to merge it to a more generic thread with a new title no issues, have at it!

So, a great week in DC coinciding with the Craft Brewers Conference. Soooooo many great events it was hard to believe. I think DC Beer had over 150 events listed over 6 weeknights.

Summary of my week:

Monday:
-Lunch at Paradiso Dupont, no CBC events that day specifically, but Ocelot and Sip of Sunshine on tap? Sure!
- Walked by the big Churckey event (East Coast - Trillium, Veil, Bissel Brothers, Other Half, Suarez), there were at least 100 people in line an hour and a half before doors open. No thanks! Later heard that it was the single biggest sales day in Churchkey history.
- Instead I made my way to Brookland Pint (Haze for Days all hazy beer), new place to me, and what a crazy cool event. Had some Civil Society, Aslin, Transient, LIC, Singlecut and Heist.
- After a nap and dinner headed to Smoke and Barrel for their West Coast IPA event. Had some Societe, Melvin (more later), and Pizza Port. Another great event that wasn’t crowded at all. Couldn’t pass up an order of Jalepeno Cheese Grits!!
- Then to City Tap house for the Bell’s event. Bourbon Barrel Expedition and 30th Anniversary, yes please!
- On way to my hotel, stopped in at Churchkey, was crazy late but the place was still slammed inside, bar was 4-5 deep of people waiting to order and none of the biggest beer was left. Made the smart call to head to my room to sleep!

Tuesday:
- After dinner started at another new place to me, Lost and Found for a Funky Buddha/Cigar City event. Bar was busy, but super cool spot, and of course the beers were awesome!
- Pit stop at RFD, can’t find notes on the event, but they had a bunch of cool taps from Stone, Dark Horse and Founders.
Early-ish night!

Wednesday:
- Out of work early so I headed back to Brookland Pint for a Sour Beer event. Had some Wicked Weed, Cascade, Bullfrog, Tums.
- Then made my way to Sixth Engine, another new spot for me for another Hazy IPA event. Cool spot with an outside patio with taps flowing. Beers I tried included Veil, Monkish, Trillium, the Answer.
- Then to the most unexpected and awesome events of the week...Jackpot (another new spot to me) had a “Vermont Brewers Night”. This is a basement dive/sports bar right across from the Verizon, had never been in. Found out last minute that the brewers included Frost, Foley and Lawson’s!! Full pours of Triple Sunshine, Pieces of Eight, Lush and then some beers from 14th star as well. Place was JAM packed, I was lucky to get in when I did. Triple Sunshined died in 20 mins. My planned morning run on the mall the next day died here.
- After that to the Partisan for a Goose Island event. Had a Proprietors and some BCBC and headed out.
Stopped in on what was finally a pretty quiet moment (it was late though) for the tail end of their “West of the Mississippi River” event. Had some Perennial, and Jackie O’s as well as some non event taps from Finback and Triple Crossing.

Thursday:
- So the one day I lined up a bit for an event.. Churchkey was having an “Up in the Mountains” event featuring Lawson’s, Melvin, Foam and Black Tooth. Had some Lawson’s and Foam I hadn’t tried before, and had a bunch of Melvin. Those guys are making killer beer! I arrived about 15 mins before opening, so lineup wasn't too bad. Was in within 30 mins.
- Then headed up to Meridian Pint for the first time this week for their IPA festival. Something like 70 IPA on offer via kiosks set up all over the bar. Soooo cool. No lineup, no crowds, could grab a beer anywhere with ease, sit anywhere with east. Ridiculous lineup too big to even start listing.
- On the way back to my hotel hit up a snack at Paradio Dupont, they had been featuring beers from the Shelton Brothers portfolio the last few days, had some Grimm and Jester King.

What a great week of events! The events run by the Meridian Pint/Brookland folks were by far the highlights for me. Churchkey had lots of big names, but those came with HUGE crowds. Had a great time, met some great people. I wouldn’t hesitate to plan a trip to a CBC week city even though I’m not in the industry.

[Cass]

Thanks for the recap! This year I missed it for the first time in a while and it sounds like DC has improved quite a bit from a beer perspective from the last time the CBC was there.

Anyone planning on hitting the Homebrew Conference in Minneapolis next month?