Aslin Beer Co. (2019)

Not breweries, but Churchkey in DC, Dominion Wine and Beer in Falls Church and Meridian Pint in Arlington all have excellent draft selections.

Dominion also has excellent food and great service and a great retail store for beer to go. Most selections are also available as growlers/crowlers.

 

You do realize OH is renting an indoor space in NYC, it's not in the parking lot of an industrial park in Landmark so there is a little more overhead. The $300 also includes SIX 4-packs and 2 bottles. Not that I'd pay that but it's pretty inline with what Aslin is charging for their event.

 

Are they selling this $100 bottle of beer to go, or are they selling it to be drunk on premises? If it's the latter, that's completely understandable. Are bars/taprooms required to sell their bottles at the original retail price?

My bitch about the taproom is the no outside food rule. Completely understandable if you're a brewpub with a full kitchen. But that's not the case here. They're selling a few items out of a crappy food truck. If we want to bring our vegetarian meals to a taproom to eat with some nice drafts, I guess we won't be choosing Aslin.

 

What if you have no use for the four packs or bottles? I guess you go with the $150 bargain level.

 

On site only.

 

I’m not saying it’s right or wrong..... but a lot of breweries do this these days. Westbrook has a very extensive and expensive on site list. Cigar City also has some pricier on site bottles, usually $50 and up. I think this is slowly becoming the norm.

 

It's funny, I remember being in San Diego in 2012 and drinking tasters of Speedway variants at well below the bottle price per ounce. How times change.

 

did anybody go to their anniversary party last year? Heard it was a logistic nightmare (surprise surprise, hate their beer), but the guest list is nutty. Can't find a sample list of what the breweries brought, but I can only imagine the places don't bring their top notch beers considering how vast the list is.

 

They did provide a beer list in advance, but my recollection is that it was something like a day or two before the party. Not really much of a fair chance to get your head around what would be pouring, especially with so many of the guest breweries being unfamiliar to this area.

That being said, there were some top notch beers in the crowd. Browsing briefly through my Untappd check-ins, the standouts I tried were Hidden Springs Maple Black Aggie, Bottle Logic Fundamental Observation, Equilibrium Sexual Fluctuation, Proof Coffee Vanilla Royal Bloodline, and Aslin Dreams. I didn't feel there was any shortage of excellent beers, and I'm not the sort of person who references everything I try (or really anything I try) with a fire emoji.

 

But did they give away the sunglasses last year?

Anybody have an comparisons between the Aslin shindig and Snallygaster (which is unlimited pours this year)?

 

The Aslin event primarily features younger breweries and will likely be much more concentrated on the current "in" styles (e.g., NE IPAs, super boozy pastry stouts, fruited sours). Snally will probably cover a broader range of styles and a mix of breweries young and old. Depends on what you're long for. FWIW, these are the only two festivals I'm doing in 2019, so I snagged VIP for both.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

Liking the 2 new taproom only releases: elucidation 1 IPA and liberosis 1 pale ale. Both exactly what I’m looking for - a hop saturated lower abv hazy with no shortage of aroma and flavor. My personal preference over a milky DIPA. Based on the description of elucidation they are experimenting with new processes. Whatever they did with both of these is spot on. Seem to have ditched the caramel/crystal malts. My opinion may be a little skewed because some of the beers I had on tap when Aslin first opened were a let down. Dunley place and Astro zombie were not up to snuff, but could be due to older hoarded kegs they stocked up on to prepare for the grand opening. I did have a neutrino that met my expectations, but these 2 new ones are where it’s at!!

 

That's funny. My hophead wife prefers the milky stuff.

 

Were the 2 tap only releases brewed in Alexandria? Wondering how that’s coming along as they seem to have run through most of what was brewed before the taproom opened, surprised glamping is still pouring though.

 

OK, glad it wasn't just me then. I think age is to blame.

 

I don’t think they have started brewing in the new spot yet. I heard a few weeks ago that orange starfish was going to be the first beer brewed with the new equipment. They acknowledged that there will be a learning curve with the new tanks. They are working hard to get going though.

 

My fave! Looking forward to a visit.