Beers #204-217: A Fall Trip to D.C.

In early October, my wife had a conference to attend in Washington, D.C.  Since my schedule allowed, I was more than happy to drive down with her and enjoy some sites (and beer!).  Unfortunately, this was during the government shutdown, and so I didn't really get to see any monuments or museums.  I did get some work done, enjoyed some walks during the unseasonably warm (80+ degrees) weather, and even did a little geocaching.  On one of my random walks, I happen to "run into" the Prez & VP out for a lunch run. Quite a spectacle.

D.C. has a lot of great beer places! One of our favorite places to eat and drink is Pizzeria Paradiso in Dupont Circle, where we had dinner our first night in town.

#204/365: 3 Stars Pandemic Breakfast Porter:
On cask. Rich malty chocolate notes, sweet alcohol vapor, and espresso. Smooth nose, lots of coffee notes. Dark black opaque with cream tan lacing head. Medium body with cask carbonation. Starts rich and sweet with tons of coffee and espresso, chocolate, smooth and sweet. Nutty sweet coffee finish with very little bitterness. Alcohol warming. Delicious porter.  Imperial/Strong Porter  86/100

#205/365: J.W. Lees Harvest Ale (Calvados):
2012 vintage, on tap. Apple cider tartness with alcohol vapors and fruity esters, light sour Bretty funk and some oaky quality. Medium amber hazy with no head. Heavy body with medium carbonation and alcohol warming. Starts medium sweet with tart apple funk notes and hint of apple brandy, macerated apples. Sweet rich fruity finish with sweet lingering apple after. Nice. Barley Wine  82/100

#206/365: Hofstettner Hochzeitsbier von 1810:
On tap. Pilsner malt sweetness. Beany noble hops. Brewed tea, sweet nutty character. Coppery amber clear with wispy frothy off-white head. Medium body with medium carbonation. Starts moderately sweet with pilsner malts, brewed tea, and a neutral fruity character that had notes of Hawaiian Punch. Light nutty bitter finish and smooth after, with light carbonic after bite.  Zwickel/Keller/Landbier  76/100

The next day for lunch, I went to RedRocks and enjoyed a few beers with pizza.

#207/365: DC Brau The Corruption:
On tap. Mild sitcky sweet nose, with floral-spicy hop character, semi-fresh. Dark coppery amber clear with light haze, topped with thin off-white creamy lacing head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation and carbonic bite. Starts somewhat sweet but big dryness simultaneously comes after as a big hit of hop bitterness descends on the tongue. Hoppy and spicy with lots of resin, big bitter finish and dry bitter after.  India Pale Ale  70/100

#208/365: 3 Stars The Urban Farmhouse:
On tap. Mild green peppercorn fruity-spicy aroma, light yeast and wheat. Semi-sweet pilsner malt notes, floral. Golden amber hazy with thin lacing off-white head. Medium body with medium-high carbonation. Starts with pilsner malt sweetness, nice hoppy bitter character and light peppercorn spicy-sweetness. Lemon peel and citrus, with sweet-to-dry finish. Nice after and a pretty good saison.  Saison  80/100

The day after that, I stopped in to Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe for a pint.

#209/365: Evolution Craft Lot No. 3 IPA:
On tap. Fresh piney and spicy hops nose, very aromatic. Dark amber-orange clear with thin off-white lacing head. Medium body with medium-light carbonation. Caramel and amber malt biscuity notes. Big hop flavor with resin and carbonic bite. Finish is relatively mild in bitterness. Smooth nutty-biscuit after with floral hop leftovers.  India Pale Ale  78/100

And on Saturday for lunch, I went to my favorite D.C. bar - Churchkey - with 555 beers available: 500 bottles, 50 taps, and 5 casks.  AND, in addition to great food, the beers are available in short pours, making it very easy to sample a bunch of stuff without getting too goofy.  If you only get to go to one place in D.C. to drink, make it this place!

#210/365: Westbrook/Evil Twin/CBX Justin Blåbær:
On tap. Sour acetic-sulfur nose to start, like the vinegar you soak Easter eggs in before coloring. Tart with a little funk and fruit. Cloudy amber with odd milky-blue tint. No head. Medium-light body with medium carbonation. Starts and stays tarts with lots of blueberry and acidic flavors. Tarts finish that leaves a pleasant mild blueberry aftertaste - like BooBerry cereal. Funky.  Berliner Weisse  74/100

#211/365: Kelso Fuku:
On tap. Wonderful smoked malt aroma, a little acrid and meaty. Hazy medium amber with frothy white lacing head. Medium body with medium-high carbonation. Starts moderately sweet with big smoky flavors. Mild wheat and light hop notes. Bitter sweet smoky finish with nice smoky after. A little watery.  Grodziskie/Gose/Lichtenhainer  76/100

#212/365: Mahrs Bräu Roter Baron:
On tap. Sweet malt aroma, predominantly of Twizzlers. No hops. Light cherry. Coppery amber clear with foamy off-white lacing head. Medium body with medium carbonation. Starts a bit sweet with cherry wood sweetness and astringency. Medium bitter finish, half from hops and half from astringent grain notes. Dull nutty after. Not a very good Alt.  Altbier  52/100

#213/365: Konrad Eso Polotmavý Ležák 11°:
On tap. Sweet malty nose with apple must, raisin, and marsala wine. Coppery amber clear with frothy wispy off-white head. Medium heavy watery body with medium carbonation. Starts sweet with marsala and raisins, light caramel and brown sugar. Dries out pretty quick with noble hop bitterness - moderately bitter finish. Light bitter and sweet marsala after.  Polotmavý  68/100

#214/365: Koutský 12° Kvasnicový Světlý Ležák: 
On tap. Mild hops notes in the nose, subtle and floral with a little bit of sulfur. Hazy golden amber with pillowy white lacing head. Medium body with medium-high carbonation. Starts with big malt notes and hop bitterness. Nice beany notes with carbonic bit and lagering hop floral notes. Dry bitter finish and lingering bitter after. Tasty.  Czech Pilsner (Světlý)  80/100

#215/365: Lervig Brewers Reserve Konrad's Stout:
On tap. Rich licorice nose, malty sweet with chocolate and molasses. Dark black opaque with thin light tan head. Medium-heavy body with mild carbonation. Starts and stays sweet with tons of molasses and licorice. Sweet espresso, notes of bitter chocolate. Finish is sweet and rich with sweet lingering after. Very nice stout if you like licorice.  Imperial Stout  84/100

#216/365: Sierra Nevada Narwhal Imperial Stout:
On tap. Sweet rich malty nose, with chocolate, molasses, and coffee. Nutty sweet with some lactose. Dark black opaque with tan lacing head. Medium-heavy body with medium carbonation. Starts sweet and rich, malty with molasses, chocolate, and coffee. Nice roasted bitterness with hop bitter finish. Alcohol warming, with bitter rich lingering sweet after.  Imperial Stout  84/100

 On the way back home, we stopped for dinner at Marzoni's.

#217/365: Marzoni's 10th Anniversary Ale:
On tap. Sweet tripel-like aroma. Wheat, bubblegum esters, and some honey. Fruity and fragrant. Hazy golden amber with thin white head. Medium-heavy body with medium-high carbonation. Starts sweet with wheat, honey, bubblegum, and light spice. Nice dry bitter hop finish, but leaves strong sweet tripel-like after. Nice.  Belgian Strong Ale  82/100

Up next ... October backlog

A Day Trip to D.C.

Last Friday, my wife and I got in the car after dinner and drove down to Gaithersburg, MD. Unfortunately, we got nailed by a strong line of thunderstorms somewhere around Frederick and had to pull off the road for 20 minutes - otherwise we made fairly good time. We checked into the Comfort Inn off Shady Grove, a decent place for the money but which was extremely convenient to the Metro.

After a light breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning, we drove the half-mile over to the Shady Grove metro stop - last on the RED LINE. Once nice thing about DC is the Metro system - an all-day pass is just under $8 - very convenient. We started our day with the ~30 minute ride into town to the Gallery Place-Chinatown stop, putting us only a few block from our first visit: the International Spy Museum.

We spent about 2 hours touring the place. It was interesting, and almost too much information to take in, but at the same time it left you feeling like you didn't really learn too much. Cool gift shop (no purchases). There are a lot more places to see in DC before I'm ready to go back to this place.

From here, we took the Metro up to Dupont Circle, and had lunch at Pizzeria Paradiso. Great wood-fired oven pizzas, fresh ingredients. The beer list was small here compared to the Georgetown location, but I enjoyed a Flag Porter 1825 Original with my Bottarga pizza.

After lunch, Dana wanted dessert, so we strolled over a couple blocks - past several embassies - to Teaism, a tea house and restaurant. We'd been there several times before, and usually picked up some interesting teas to bring home. Today we settled for a cool drink and split a jasmine creme brulee for dessert.

After our refueling, we got back on the Metro (that all day pass comes in handy!) and went down to Judiciary Square so that we could get close to our next stop: the National Gallery of Art (west). Dana wanted to be sure to get in some art while we were here, so we checked out some Monet, Degas, Cassatt, and others.

Since the weather was so cooperative today (sunny, in the 70s with a few passing showers), we hoped to see some remnants of the cherry blossoms. Took the Metro over to the Smithsonian stop, then walked down past the Washington monument to the Tidal Basin. Most of the blossoms were gone, but there were still festival tents up and people everywhere. We enjoyed the sunshine and people watching for a while, and got some nice pics of the Jefferson Memorial.

By this time, it was getting close to 5 - we'd been walking and on our feet most of the day and were ready for an early dinner, a beer, and a rest. So, back on the - yep, Metro - up to Metro Center. A few blocks up the street, and we found ourselves at Brasserie Beck.

Wow. First, I guess we were lucky in that we walked in the door at a hair past 5pm and were shown right to a table - without a reservation. Apparently the waiting list for reservations is fairly long. I hadn't really researched the place beforehand, and thought we'd just get a beer and some small supper (frites and salad, or something). Well - Joe M., our waiter and beer sommelier - introduced us to the beer menu, which was exclusively Belgian beer. Nice tap selection and an impressive bottle selection ~ 140 beers total. The list gets changed 2x daily. Joe also described several dishes on the menu with such precision and eloquence, that I could actually taste the dish from his descriptions. That was a first, and a real treat.

I enjoyed a St. Louis Gueuze on tap and Dana had a Tripel Karmeliet from a bottle. The gueuze was not top notch, as gueuzes go, but I was in the mood for it and it went really well with my choucroute en croute (Napa cabbage and a selection of different different pork products wrapped in a crust). Dana's halibut was, without a doubt, the best fish dish either of us has ever tried. Ever. Had we more time, appetite (and budget!), we would have loved to try some dessert and another round of beer. As it was, we were stuffed and ready to walk again. But final word on Brasserie Beck: if you can visit this place, do it!! (check out the staff section of their website - their beer specialist was knighted in Belgium)

Our last stop was for me to grab a Capitol City Fuel. From here, we grabbed the Metro and rode back out to Gaithersburg - exhausted, sated, and happy with our one-day DC trip.

The real reason for the trip in the first place was the business portion on Sunday. We drove to Woodbridge, VA on Sunday morning to my aunt's condo to meet my cousin. My aunt passed away in March, and since my cousin lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Richmond, could not take possession of the china closet that my aunt inherited from my grandmother. Hence, we now are the proud owners of a 100-year old china closet that my great-grandparents bought in 1908 for $20 in East Brady, PA.

DC this weekend, New Orleans last weekend ... I'm ready for a sit-on-my-butt or work-in-the-yard weekend, but it looks like we may be seeing the Pittsburgh Zoo with my nephews (5 yr old and 9 mo old) at some point. That's relaxing, right? A zoo trip with small children ;)