Washington, DC places to visit?

You should try an make it over to Ocelot Brewing in Dulles, VA if you have transportation. Best brewery in the area IMO, although they don't have any bottles. They only fill growlers. Their IPA's/DIPA's are on another level compared to all the other breweries.

Right Proper, Bluejacket & Ocelot are all solid breweries that are worth a visit. Everything else can be skipped. You won't be missing much honestly.

All the food options mentioned here are awesome, especially Pizza Paradiso. I second mayorQuimby's recommendation of Ray's. It's voted as best burger in the area for a reason. The Steak & Cheese is better than anything I've had in Philly. Ray's lives up to the hype.

 

Have you tried the double IPA's from this little place in the district called DC Brau? They're pretty decent too, in my humble opinion. And one could argue the brewery is still worht a visit, even if they don't give free samples anymore.

 

Connecticut Avenue Wine & Liquor (on Conn Ave, just north of the circle) has a small but decent selection. The other one in that area is P Street Wine, which is across from Pizzeria Paradiso. It has a lot of rare, out-of-market beers, but they're all marked up really high...only recommended if you feel like spending some $$$ and as long as you check expiration dates.

 

Stay away from the P St store, they are just ripping people off. I had noticed a few times when I was in the area (and generally when the store was closed) that they had Pappy bottles sitting in the window. One day about a year and a half ago, I walked by during the day and stopped in. The 20 yr Pappy they had was $1400! I just laughed and walked out.

 

Not interested in a $150 Hunahpu then, I take it?

Agreed that it's a joke what they charge for the rare stuff, I only mentioned it since he said he was staying in that neighborhood. The less-rare beers (including decent local ones) are more reasonably priced.

 

Not saying DC Brau doesn't make good DIPA's, but I wouldn't say it's worth visiting the brewery to try them unless you want to buy some cans of Wings to take home. Every single beer that they have at the brewery can be found around the city. Maybe it does cost a bit less for pours at the brewery, but I'll pay a couple $ more to not have to drive down Bladensburg Rd.

 

I tend to agree with all you say, but it would still be way easier for someone staying in Dupont Circle to drive to DC Brau rather then Ocelot. (22 mins vs 45 mins) If you were staying in Dupont Circle, you'd take Rhode Island Ave, avoiding Bladensburg Road altogether except for the last 0.1 miles.

 

Yea, that's very true. I just love what Ocelot is doing right now, so I always recommend that place to out of town visitors.

 

For me personally, if you are staying in Dupont, you have walking access to Churchkey and easy train access to so much good beer (for instance, Adams Morgan is only one stop away on the red line, and it's a quick ride to connect to Yellow/Green or Blue/Orange), coupled with the unreal distro to DMV as it stands, that it will not be worth your effort in any way to make excursions to local breweries that require anything more than a walk or easy public trans ride. Just my $0.02.

 

Any good beer bars near Raegan Airport, particularly ones that might be sports friendly for the Steelers game tomorrow night? Heading downtown on Friday , but looking for an easily accessible place near the airport for tomorrow (and potentially tonight, haha). Thanks in advance!

 

Rustico Slaters Ln (Alexandria) is ~ 5 minutes away. Not sure what the tv situation is there, they'll definitely have at least one. Great food and beer.

Lost Dog Cafe on Columbia Pike isn't too far away, don't remember the tv situation there. Or you can hop the yellow line metro at DCA, go into DC to the Columbia Heights stop and walk to Meridian Pint (about a 10 min walk).

FYI, if you don't have a car you will need to cab/uber to Rustico or Lost Dog, but price should be very low for both.

 

No car, but I'm all about Uber. Thanks for the tips!