Visiting DC...send me to a good bar!

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agroff383

agroff383

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Me and the fiancee (also a budding beer enthusiast) are visiting DC for a week beginning Saturday...looking for a good spot for a great ale, I am not too familiar with the area and want to get sent in the right direction. Also any good places to get a good meal is welcome too. We are staying in Alexandria and would take the car, Metro, or taxi anywhere within reason.

Also I am a history buff so if anybody knows anything off the beaten path that would be sweet too.
 
Brickskeller FTW! I went there again for the Jon Stewart rally....just noticed it's changed ownership and is now Bier Baron. Anyway, they have the widest selection of beer in DC. There isn't much in the way of microbreweries in DC...if you're looking for a fancy meal, there's Brasserie Beck....which is a Belgian place that has their own beer somelier. For a good brewpub, I like The District Chophouse the best. I got food poisoning at the other brewpub, Capitol City....and their beer isn't so good as to try them again.
 
RFD is the sister company of Brickskeller that has around 300-400 beers to choose from. I've never been but Bilbo Baggins in Alexandria, VA has a good selection of microbrews on tap. Heard good things but never went. Not too familiar with any microbrewery's but I haven't seeked them out either.

Here is the beer menu for Bilbo Baggins.
 
Brickskellar is nothing special now; it was the first great DC beer bar, but it's really gone downhill over the last 15 years.

The best option in DC is Churchkey--amazing beer bar, and DC will definitely have better choices than the Maryland/VA suburbs. Brasserie Beck has a really good selection of Belgians. The original DC location of Pizzaria Paradiso is also well worth a trip.

Those 3 are by far the most likely places to find rarities and have the best selection of local joints.

Outside of those, you're into second-tier stuff; in VA, Bilbo Baggins, Rustico, the Old Town location of Pizzeria Paradiso, and the Old Town Red Rocks are all pretty good--none of them will knock your socks off, though. Paradiso/Baggins/Chadwick's are all within a few blocks if you're stuck in Old Town Alexandria (best beer locale in the VA part of the local area) for a decent beer crawl. Avoid the MD suburbs, but if you get all the way up to the Baltimore area, Max's in Fell's Point is fantastic, too. Lost Dog Cafe in Arlington is okay, too.

But really, Churchkey and the DC Pizzeria Paradiso are the class of DC beer bars by a long shot. The rest (Lost Dog, Pizzeria Old Town, RFD,Bilbo Baggins, etc) are all about the same baseline of decent selection but nothing special, and Brickskellar is worthwile only for nostalgia's sake (RFD's the same ownership and tends to have much more interesting stuff nowadays). Rustico for instance has the same beer buyer as Churchkey, but the VA laws are so restricted compared to DC that the selection's nothing like what you get at Churchkey.
 
dukedog said:
RFD is the sister company of Brickskeller that has around 300-400 beers to choose from. I've never been but Bilbo Baggins in Alexandria, VA has a good selection of microbrews on tap. Heard good things but never went. Not too familiar with any microbrewery's but I haven't seeked them out either.

Here is the beer menu for Bilbo Baggins.
Click to expand...

The food sucks at Bilbo's and the service is borderline. I live in the area, so I go there a lot because the beer selection is okay--but it's no better than several other Old Town locations (Rustico, Paradiso Old Town, Red Rocks, etc).

If you roll into DC Churchkey, Brasserie Beck, or the DC location of Paradiso you have a chance that something truly rare will be available--those are the only really great beer bars around. Brickskellar's got a wide variety of stuff you've had before, and anything really rare on their menu is almost always out of stock; RFD merits a peek but it's unlikely to have anything really difficult to find. What it does have is great, but those other 3 are the places to go to get anything rare--especially if you talk to the bartender for a while and make friends.
 
davesrose said:
Brickskeller FTW! I went there again for the Jon Stewart rally....just noticed it's changed ownership and is now Bier Baron. Anyway, they have the widest selection of beer in DC. There isn't much in the way of microbreweries in DC...if you're looking for a fancy meal, there's Brasserie Beck....which is a Belgian place that has their own beer somelier. For a good brewpub, I like The District Chophouse the best. I got food poisoning at the other brewpub, Capitol City....and their beer isn't so good as to try them again.
Click to expand...

Brasserie Beck has connections with several Belgian breweries, and given the lax DC import laws it's often got some rare limited-run Cantillon or St Bernardus beer available--that's especially true right after they do dinners with pairings by Belgian brewmasters or American-Belgian brewers. Pizzeria Paradiso has an owner who stockpiles very rare beers; they're not always listed on the menu, but if you're inquisitive you can often pull something insane like a vintage Dark Lord or a Port Brewing 4th anniversary or something similarly hard to find. Churchkey always has those tough-to-find things in stock and usually 1 or 2 on draft. Those are the places where you might wander in and find a 2004 Cantillon Lou Pepe Kriek, Lost Abbey Cable Car, Portsmouth Kate the Great, Cigar City Hunahpu's, or the Bruery Black Tuesday or something in stock.

Brickskellar has 400 things that you can readily get on their menu (400 beers sounds impressive, but then you realize that the first 100 start off Bud, Bud Ice, Bud Light, Busch, Bush Light, Busch Ice, Natural Light, Natural Ice, Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Lite, Coors Extra Gold, Michelob, Coors Light, Michelob Light, and then the next 100 "rare imports" start Heineken, Heineken Light, Beck's, Beck's Dark, Beck's Premier Light, Amstel Light, Corona, Corona Light, Dos Equis Gold, Dos Equis Amber, Pilsner Urquell, Guinness, Beamish, Murphy's, Chimay Blue, Duvel, Orval, ...) and the only 200 that you really want to try are 75% out of stock; nothing super-rare ever comes through there. Same deal with lots of other places; if you're looking for just a wide selection of stuff you can get any time, Brickskellar, RFD, Rustico, Lost Dog, Chophouse, Agraria, etc are fine places to pop into. But if you want a shot at finding a rarity, go with the big 3.
 
agroff383 said:
Me and the fiancee (also a budding beer enthusiast) are visiting DC for a week beginning Saturday...looking for a good spot for a great ale, I am not too familiar with the area and want to get sent in the right direction. Also any good places to get a good meal is welcome too. We are staying in Alexandria and would take the car, Metro, or taxi anywhere within reason.

Also I am a history buff so if anybody knows anything off the beaten path that would be sweet too.
Click to expand...

All that said, if you're limited to Alexandria's Old town:

Night #1: Go to Pizzeria Paradiso Old Town, walk to Bilbo Baggins for the end of the night for a couple beers. Chadwick's nearby has some good stuff from Stone and others, too.

Night #2: Go to Red Rocks, get the burata appetizer, drink beers

If you have a car, go to Food Matters for really great cheap food; the beer selection's limited, but there's always a couple of Bell's Two-Hearted-level options.

If you don't but are willing to spend a little on a great dinner with reasonably good (though not super rare) beer selection, go to Brabo (part of Hotel Lorien) for fantastic food. They also make killer cocktails if you're so inclined.

And if you have another night to kill and either a car or the willingness to walk 10 blocks, hit Rustico.

All of those have more than decent selections. But for the great DC selection, Paradiso DC, Churchkey, and Brasserie Beck are the way to go (and the latter will serve a fantastic if not cheap meal as well).
 
SumnerH said:
Brickskellar has 400 things that you can readily get on their menu (400 beers sounds impressive, but then you realize that the first 100 start off Bud, Bud Ice, Bud Light, Busch, Bush Light, Busch Ice, Natural Light, Natural Ice, Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Lite, Coors Extra Gold, Michelob, Coors Light, Michelob Light, and then the next 100 "rare imports" start Heineken, Heineken Light, Beck's, Beck's Dark, Beck's Premier Light, Amstel Light, Corona, Corona Light, Dos Equis Gold, Dos Equis Amber, Pilsner Urquell, Guinness, Beamish, Murphy's, Chimay Blue, Duvel, Orval, ...) and the only 200 that you really want to try are 75% out of stock; nothing super-rare ever comes through there. Same deal with lots of other places; if you're looking for just a wide selection of stuff you can get any time, Brickskellar, RFD, Rustico, Lost Dog, Chophouse, Agraria, etc are fine places to pop into. But if you want a shot at finding a rarity, go with the big 3.
Click to expand...



Well believe me...the main beer bar in Atlanta is Taco Mac: I went to their location that claimed the largest tap selection. It was mainly Bud/ Miller lite on several taps. Even though my closest Taco Mac in Decatur has less taps, it still manages to have a much better selection of microbrews. When I was at Brickskeller in October, it did have a few beers I'd never tried. The main ones I focused on were from Avery. Granted, the articles I've seen about the new Bier Baron is that it seems like they're scaling down the numbers of beers....hopefully the beers they are focusing on are worthwhile microbrews. I used to do a lot of traveling to DC for work....so I tried to travel far and wide to see if there were any native microbrews. The best brewpub native to DC seems to be Chophouse: they have good steaks and some good stouts. If you're an IPA person, I haven't found any brews in DC/Virginia worth while.
 
davesrose said:
Well believe me...the main beer bar in Atlanta is Taco Mac: I went to their location that claimed the largest tap selection. It was mainly Bud/ Miller lite on several taps.
Click to expand...

Georgia actually has some pretty good stuff going on; in Atlanta, the Porter on Euclid's better than any of the Taco Mac locations. Ormsby’s over on the west side is pretty good, too.

If you can get over to Athens, Trappeze is really awesome.
 
Meh...I'm from Asheville originally and can now appreciate how good it is for local microbreweries. I live by Little Five, so I do appreciate The Porter for having a large bottle selection. I guess the main thing about when you're traveling is wether you're looking for the local microbrews or a beer place that has a good microbrew selection. I tend to look more for local brews since they're going to be the only unique things to that area.
 
davesrose said:
If you're an IPA person, I haven't found any brews in DC/Virginia worth while.
Click to expand...

This is definitely true at the moment, but within the next 6 months there's a new brewery opening up on Braddock Rd in Alexandria ( http://www.portcitybrewing.com/ ) and one in DC proper ( http://www.dcbrau.com ), both launching with at least one IPA in the mix. We'll see if either makes good on their promise, but it's looking up!

But the local brewing scene is currently quite pathetic; PA to the north and NC to the south have much better breweries than anything in MD/VA/DC (Clipper City is okay, but it's no Troeg's or Victory or Foothills, for sure, and VA has nothing special aside from the occasional contract-brewed Tupper's or the like; there's not a single real brewery in DC proper).

As far as bars go, though, DC has very liberal import laws--beer buyers call it the wild west for a reason--and so a Churchkey-like place with a motivated owner can get pretty much anything it wants to serve. MD and VA are more restrained.
 
davesrose said:
Meh...I'm from Asheville originally and can now appreciate how good it is for local microbreweries. I live by Little Five, so I do appreciate The Porter for having a large bottle selection. I guess the main thing about when you're traveling is wether you're looking for the local microbrews or a beer place that has a good microbrew selection. I tend to look more for local brews since they're going to be the only unique things to that area.
Click to expand...

Cigar City to the south in Tampa and Foothills to the north in NC are the nearest world-class breweries, then. :)
 
SumnerH said:
As far as bars go, though, DC has very liberal import laws--beer buyers call it the wild west for a reason--and so a Churchkey-like place with a motivated owner can get pretty much anything it wants to serve. MD and VA are more restrained.
Click to expand...


OK, so the last time I was in DC, I didn't look and see how loose the laws were. The main thing I still have to try are the high alchohol beers....around me the laws are still topping 14%....so can you get a Dogfish head 120, or Boston Utopia there?
 
davesrose said:
OK, so the last time I was in DC, I didn't look and see how loose the laws were. The main thing I still have to try are the high alchohol beers....around me the laws are still topping 14%....so can you get a Dogfish head 120, or Boston Utopia there?
Click to expand...

Yeah. Those you can get in any of 3 DC/VA/MD (Utopias is hard to find, though) since Dogfish and Sam Adams officially distribute into those states. Dogfish is a major local-ish brewery, so most grocery stores and many bars carry their stuff (they also have taphouses of their own in the area) including 120 when it's released.

DC bars and beer stores will sell stuff that isn't distributed in state, though, so at the fancy places you can get all kinds of west coast and foreign stuff that isn't distributed out here (e.g. you'll find Russian River stuff like Pliny the Elder when it's in season) and other places like Three Floyds that have very limited distribution. And a place like Brasserie Beck can have brewmasters in for tastings and dinners with beer pairings without worrying about red tape; if you can drag a bottle into the district, you can sell it.


(I'd skip the 120, though; if you want a big Dogfish, their Worldwide Stout is more palatable)
 
SumnerH said:
DC bars and beer stores will sell stuff that isn't distributed in state, though, so at the fancy places you can get all kinds of west coast and foreign stuff that isn't distributed out here (e.g. you'll find Russian River stuff like Pliny the Elder when it's in season)
Click to expand...

Re the above, what places in DC would we find Pliny?
 
i've been to RFD, pretty decent.

i'm definitely gonna have to check out Brasserie Beck next time i'm in DC
 
Brickstellar is a great place but I believe it's under a new name now but still has a large selection of beers on tap. If you are just looking for a pure entertainment bar I would suggest Palace of Wonders, it's set up like an old style Carnival side show and oddities Museum, they also have some pretty entertaining shows on the weekends.

Edit:

The Brickstellar did change names, it's now "Rock Creek", the only thing that really changed is they cleaned up the bathroom situation, they still plan on having "1,000 beers on tap". Not sure if the renovations are complete and it's reopened yet though.
 
misterVT said:
Anyone been here? http://birchandbarley.com/

I know a few folks who have been there who enjoyed it.
Click to expand...
Birch & Barley is the restaurant associated with Churchkey (which has already been mentioned in the thread). Restaurant is downstairs, bar is upstairs. Definitely worth a trip for the beer; not sure how their food is.

Brickskellar recently closed, from what I hear...

I'm real close to Bethesda, MD, so I find myself @ Rock Bottom fairly often. I'm guessing a chain brewpub isn't making many waves in this community, but their seasonals are often interesting, they (almost) always have a couple things on cask, and the brewmaster is frequently there and fairly willing to talk brewing w/ customers, so I enjoy going there.
 
+1 on Church Key and Paradisio! Church Key offers 4oz pours so you can try more than just a beer or two without getting sloppy! RFD is nice especially if you catch a CAPS game!!!
 
Thanks to all for the great suggestions.

Church Key just blew me away, the selection was awesome, draft list had everything, and the 4 oz pours are pretty much the best idea ever. I have never seen such a huge beer list it was overwhelming.

My area has no bars anything close to this place. My fiancee and I walked 15 blocks to get there and it was well worth it. The food was great and the bartenders were flat out cool.

Also we went to Bilbo Baggins and Pizza Paradiso in Old Town, also very excellent suggestions as well. Thanks to all for the advice it made for a very nice week away from home.
 
Though a bit late... am surprised no one mentioned Capitol City brewing. Beers are not mind-blowing, but they do have some decent to good ales. The brewery/restaurant, located right behind the Capitol, is also housed in an impressive building that also houses the Smithsonian Postal Museum (which people hardly seem to visit since it's not in the mall area, but has some fascinating stuff).
 
Church Key is a wicked pub. Beer on cask and lots of special brews. It is a little small but great atmosphere. The Bricksceller (or what ever it is called now) was a big disappointment. I had to order about 6 different beers to find one that was "instock". They may list hundred of beers in their menu but most are either out of stock or just crap.
 
Not in DC proper, but a ritual of mine the last few times I have been up there is to hit Rock Bottom in Bethesda. You can ride the metro over, walk 4 blocks and have a pretty good meal and a couple fresh brewed beers, then hit the metro back.

Not a huge selection of beers, but I have a special place in my heart for brew pubs even if they are chains.
 
Marvin's is a good spot as well. Decent list of belgians, great for sightseeing. By sightseeing, I mean females... :)
 
Julohan said:
Going to be in DC for a few day next week. Any update on DC Brau Brewing Co. and Port City Brewing?
Click to expand...

I didnt go to either of those locations but you have to go to Churchkey, awesome draft selection and their beer bible is HUGE
 

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