Metro DC Brewery Discussion Thread

Thanks, buddy! Too many already for me - I can't justify it for something that will hopefully be readily available in a year with some more expansion.

And to the other posts, I'm a consultant that happens to be on a project where I can work from home/"Telework" as RKP stated. So had I gone, I would've been sitting in a lawn chair with a laptop tethered to an iPhone for internet service

 

Aslin's IG post indicated mug club members would get in the door 30 minutes early for this release. Not sure what other privileges they have, but usually it's early access to special releases at most breweries and occasionally something like 10% off each pour. Of course there's usually an annual fee associated with it and you have to actually be able to attend the releases to really benefit.

 

But it will lose the delicate flavor and aroma of "limited" by then

 

The taste I had on draft was really good, so I bought a 6-pack. The 2 cans I've tried so far were nasty drain pours, like a totally different beer. Like bordering on infected or maybe exposed to really high heat. Good carb though...

 

Aaaaand as of 4:30 Aslin announced they're done filling growlers/crowlers of both Double Orange Starfish and Astro Zombie, and that both are only available for on-premises consumption. I'm pretty bummed about this, as it's really hard to justify driving an hour after work to drink two beers and then turn around and drive an hour home.

 

Every week people are going to say this won't keep up or it's just a special release, it's fathers day weekend, etc. Won't be too much longer before they are sold out of beer by Friday and closed for an entire weekend.

 

Agreed on Aslin, living in upper Montgomery County doesn't make it worth the trip to have pours. It was good while it lasted, hope they expand soon as I will not be making anymore trips to wait for hours for a crowler or 2 at best. They should only fill growlers to cut down on the trading of crowlers.

 

I took off work today, so that's the only way I was able. My buddy brought back a bunch of Tree House & Trillium, so I wanted to see how they all compare to each other. No way that I could make that a regular thing though. Lots of people in line had work clothes on, so I imagine lots of people cut out of work early. There are lots of office buildings in that area.

Having said that, the line moved very fast and wasn't that bad. I got there around 2:25 and was out by 3:15. Not many mug club members showed up, so they didn't take a lot of the crowlers. This will probably be the norm going forward unfortunately. As long as they will fill crowlers/growlers, lines are going to start forming before they open.

 

Would love to hear your thoughts on this. I was at Tree House and Trillium two weeks ago and had hoped to compare them with Aslin upon my return. Unfortunately, with all the recent craziness, it looks like that's not going to happen for me.

 

How are they going to replace my 3 leaking crowlers they sold me a few weeks back?

 

I did a Tree House/Aslin side by side a few weeks back. There are certainly some similarities (particularly with juice bombs like Julius and Alter Ego), but I had to give Tree House the edge by a pretty wide margin. Tree House's portfolio is just so strong top-to-bottom, and they simply don't make a bad beer. Tree House's best beers are better than Aslin's best beers, and Tree House's worst beers are better than Aslin's worst beers. This is not a slight on Aslin in the least, however, as I thought Aslin's best stuff certainly compared with the middle tier of Tree House's beers, and that's high praise when it comes to a brewery like Tree House, which is one of the top 10, if not top 5 best breweries in the U.S.

 

I'm not sure if people will say that, but I'm pretty sure you're right. Given Aslin's incredibly low capacity atm, this is going to be the norm until they expand. As soon as Aslin had a beer (now two) crack the top 250 here, demand for trades skyrocketed and now people will line up for crowlers. Also, FOMO is a powerful thing. But the good news is it seems like they're going to try to cut off growler fills to leave beer for on-premises consumption.

 

Good for Aslin for cutting off crowlers/growlers. They should just cease that going forward with their sough-after releases so the locals can enjoy a glass or two.

 

That's really not too bad a wait. Be interested to hear about your comparisons. Sounds like fun!

 

Crowlers can serve a purpose as well. They create the opportunity to generate more traffic and buzz to areas that are a little further than driving distance - which if they want to expand at all, is necessary. My sister lives in Alexandria and she sent me a crowler of MoK (which was amazing by the way). If she had not sent me the crowler, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to visit the brewery every time I visit her. While it may not be a ton of business, every little bit helps.

Yes, I am aware that crowlers also bring in mules, traders, etc. Sometimes it's nice to enjoy a good beer at home, though.

 

I mean, this seems like a bit of a stretch, at least wrt Aslin. You're right that having beer to go can grow business (not sure it has to be crowlers - growlers work as well), but Aslin is already stretched well beyond capacity. They had to cut out Wednesday hours altogether and have closed the last two Sundays because of lack of beer. They clearly have no issue with demand right now. And this is without even sending any kegs out to the plentiful number of craft beer bars in the area, which I'm sure would be champing at the bit to get Aslin kegs.

Ultimately, it's entirely up to Aslin of course. Until they expand capacity, they can either continue to do growlers and try to build demand/hype on a broader level, or they can serve their loyal locals and other people who make the trip to their brewery. Either way is legit, and they'll sell out all of their beer very quickly either way.

 

That's what I'm a bit confused about. Usually places over produce until they get a following. these guys clearly did not think through their capabilities/ where they would bottleneck if they can't even brew enough beer to be open on sundays. Growler limits on IPAs? How much more beer do they need to make to be "normal" and let people walk out with the equivalent of a case of beer, even if it's in 32s/64s?

Twice as much beer, five times as much, even more?

 

Glad to hear they're in the same league. I've had stuff from both Tree House and Aslin, but there was too much time in between for me to feel like I could really do a good comparison. Given how young Aslin is, I expect they may come to narrow the difference.

As a side note, I had some Tree House and Trillium brews side-by-side, and everyone in the group thought the Trillium stuff was better. I have to wonder how much TH's scarcity and remoteness affects their ratings and people's perceptions.

 

Given how small their space is, I don't think that they can hit that "normal" level. Do they have any plans to expand their operation?

 

They told me they want to do an inside-the-beltway brewpub thing, and that was back in February or so, so yeah, they definitely have their sights set on the next steps. It will probably not be easy though if they're working round the clock to produce a couple days worth of beer.