Can't Miss Events During DC Beer Week?

I got to S&B Saturday night, and they pulled the last of the Eric's out of the lines for me. Good stuff! The Alvinne Wild West tasted (and smelled) a lot like Heinz Tomato Ketchup to me. It had a sort of salty, vinegary, fruity nose that was straight up ketchup. Crazy.

 

The Perennial Ales dinner at Churchkey was solid. Good food, good beers that you can't get around here, and BA Abraxas was terrific. Afterwards, a bunch of us went upstairs and had the rest of the BA Abraxas.

The Brooklyn Beer Dinner at Zaytinya had, well, you know, Brooklyn beers, but the food was awesome. Six courses, and for the first five there were three small dishes served with each beer. It was nice in a way to not be really focusing on the beer, because I could think about how everything paired together.

 

Yep, I was there right at 4 and staked out a spot at the bar. Hung out, ate, drank and the bartenders took perfect care of us a few minutes before 6 for the BA stuff. It was packed at 6 and the standing room people where acting a bit dickish. I'm like wtf did you expect?

 

That's why they should just tap the beer right at 4 when they open. It'll avoid (some of) the insanity and mad crush right at 6 to get the beer. I am assuming they don't pour the cool stuff right at 4 so they can have people there for hours nursing beers as opposed to them popping in, trying the beer, and getting out.

 

Oh god, what a disaster! I knew when they ran out of the Right Proper beer a little after 3 that this thing was going to be a mess. Lines were insanely long, beers ran out, organization was terrible. Honestly, I should've known it would be like this, but I went anyway because it was convenient.

 

Same! A few friends invited me last minute, and I was like wtf the entire time. We bought tickets online while we were actually in line, to bypass the ridiculously long line (100s of people) just to get in. But at the bypass point, nobody was checking to see if you had tickets in advance, so it didn't matter. I stood in the beer line for Right Proper (Brimstone & Clover?) from 2:30 to 3, and when I got to the front, asked for two samples given how long it had taken. The guy looked at me like, "really? TWO??" so I said, "well, I can just take one if that's better" and he says, "well that would really be nice to the other people in line."

Sour Saturday on the other hand, was grreat! Not crowded, excellent service (despite being very busy), and Eric made a point to come chat with us for a few minutes. Just about everything I tried, I liked, and I appreciated that they did their best with "creative glassware" given how many samples they were going through so quickly. (And the food was delicious!)

 

Well I sort of lacidasically went to a few things. Pizza Paraidso had some cantillon and some others, so I grabbed some during lunch with some pie.

Made it for some of the Quebec beers at Churchkey knowing I wanted to try a few and knew they would be around the next day. I phoned the day after the Abraxas release to ask if they had any left and they said no so I didn't stop by, so I missed that.

I was hemmin and hawing about the Bell's release, but showed up early (a little after 5), it was standing room, so grabbed only a few and quickly headed out to Smoke & Barrel to get some Yakuza (where Jayce was swamped, and I briefly ran into Jeff as I was leaving).

The Bell's release was a little out of control, but it got ridiculous later so I was happy to get out of there. I kind of see it both ways, I do think they should just crank it out when the place opens, since you just have a bunch of people waiting around, but then I may have missed it if that happened. I didn't expect it to be that busy, apparantly nobody works after 4 and just showed up... sigh... it's not like they were tapping Hill Farmstead/Russian River or something...

Either way I got in and out unscathed, noticed Greg was working the taps so I felt confident things would work out. Heard some of the stupidest converstaions around me (the classic I am a guy talking to this girl .. so I am gonna try to be impressive and tell her how much I know about beer, while saying just about every wrong thing imaginable).

As much as I love Churchkey, and have profiled Greg on my channel, the place is turning into a nightclub/place to be seen atmosphere, which seem to outnumber the beer nuts like us. But it's a mix, it's DC after all, guess I am just getting old

 

The HF/Saison event during CBC was a nightmare. And it wasn't nearly as bad as the FFF event the next night...

Yeah, CK has been that way for awhile. It's what I (and many others) lovingly refer to as the Two Hearted crowd. It's fine, and Greg would never turn away all that business. But it's a place to sip on some Two Hearted and look cool at a cool place in their downtown DC garb. AND MOST DONT EVEN HAVE A NECKBEARD WTF!

 

The area has changed a lot in the past 12 years since I've been here. Churchkey is really reflecting the surrounding neighborhood and changes.

It's filled with well to do Logan Circle locals, and a young DC working crowd all the time. While it is a beer geek's mecca, the vast majority of people who are in the place aren't beer nuts/geeks/crazies.

and no neck beards...

 

pretty soon people with neckbeards won't even be allowed in

 

As Yogi Berra would say about Churchkey: "Nobody goes there anymore; it's too crowded.

 

Yeah but you can use cash... which is just as good as money!!!

 

It's my favorite place to go to stand around awkwardly, not being able to sit, get a drink or get service.

I but I *look* like a craft beer aficionado without all those pesky calories or bar tab. That has to count for something...

 

Pop your collar next time. You'll fit riiight in.

 

Ha, that's a great description of ChurchKey these days. At this point, if I can't get a table or a seat at the bar, I just leave. It's an awful place to be if you're just milling around in the middle of the floor.

 

As for actual good events I got to, I only hit up a few, but the Perennial event at Paradiso Georgetown was my favorite. It wasn't crowded, the beers were awesome (especially BA Sump, amazing!), and I got to chat with some guys from the brewery for a good 10 minutes. They were incredibly nice and excited about how Perennial has taken off in DC.

 

Well the next big CK event I am probably going to attend will be Zwanze which I am sure will have to involve pitching a tent.

 

this is why i dont bother going to any of these places during this time, unless its something I really really really want to try. Crazy packed, hard to get beer, random people everywhere, just isnt worth the hassle. I stopped by my usual spot S&B and had their Ambassodor and the Batch 100, which were both real good, thats about all I did for DC Beer Week.

 

Where you in the bike jersey? You where standing right behind me and my wife, you put your helmet next to her. Yeah, I heard all the stupid ass convos you heard also. I just sit there and roll my eyes and my wife cracks up at me knowing the stupid shit say drives me nuts hahaha. We stayed still about 6:30 and it was a shit show at that point.

 

BA Sump was amazing