Bluejacket in DC

Food wise, everything I've had is good. Their food is stellar.

Beer wise, you should definitely try Forbidden Planet. It'll be a year round beer and is excellent. Figure 8 is also a year round beer and is good. I was there last week. The remake of Bombshell is really tasty. The best of the high alcohol beers they have made. Mexican Radio is intriguing and worth a taster. The citra pale ale they just put out has an amazing nose.

Basically, Forbidden is worth a full glass. I'd recommend you get tasters of the rest I listed and then tasters of other stuff that sounds interesting. Really reasonable prices for DC ($2-3 per taster).


Edit: Also, no bottles yet, I am pretty sure. And they don't growler stuff (grrrrrrrrr)

 

Food is very good. No worries there. Don't be scared to try several beer samples. I loved most of the hop forward beers. REALLY loved The Duel (Orval-like). Thought the Barley Wine rocked as well. And yes-- Forbidden Planet is great as mentioned above. Enjoy. Please let us know what you thought. Cheers!

 

My favorite so far has been the Mexican Radio. Though, its a super decadent milk stout, so as others advised, you may wish to go with a taster.

Their Bird of Prey was on cask and was delicious with a sort of hot spice burn that was unlike most IPAs. I'm not sure if that's the one, but one of their IPAs uses the Falconer Flight blend of hops, which I really dig.

The place is great. And besides the good food and beer, the architecture is pretty swell, also. Enjoy!

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Trouble yet. This really is my go to when I visit.

If they have figure 8 on cask (which they said they will soon) do that for sure. It is outstanding.

As for the food, it is good but the portions are very... gastro (small).

 

I'll be going there too later... Haven't been since the first week so I'm interested in the new ones, as I had a taster of every one of the first set.

 

When I had Birds of Prey a few weeks ago I thought it was one of the worst beers I've tried this year. Maybe something was going on with the cask, but it was not doing anything for me, but sounds like I need to give it another shot. Forbidden Planet was the standout beer for me and I hope they end up distributing that one (cans for summer would be awesome). Their sour beers were interesting and is probably the one aspect of the brewery that I am most excited about.

 

Went this past Monday for the first time for lunch. I liked the look and layout of the place; it was cool to be able to see all the brewing equipment behind the bar, barrels upstairs, and I liked the open feel to the place.

I tried tasters of ten of their beers and unfortunately I found most of them pretty mediocre. I thought The Panther schwarzbier was quite good and their best beer, followed by the Mexican Radio which I also thought was pretty good. I also liked the berliner Seersucker. Aside from those, I thought the Scarecrow, White Album, Black Eye, Figure 8, High Society, Lost Weekend, and The Duel were all just ok/mediocre.

For food we got the smothered fries with a General Tso-type sauce (think it was called Satan's Sauce?), which were great. We also got the chicken salad sandwich and the turkey club. Both were good.

Our waiter was awesome; very attentive even though it was pretty full, very upbeat and happy, and knew about all the beers.

Overall I would say it is a cool place with decent beers, some of which are good, and good food and service. I would certainly go back, but can't say I would be there every week if I still lived in DC. Next time I come down to DC I would most likely hit up Right Proper first before revisiting Bluejacket.

 

What size system are they brewing on there? I bet they go through pretty large volume.

 

10 barrel, iirc.

 

Are they bottling anything yet? I'm hoping that it'll be possible to walk over there and pick up a bomber or two for tailgating purposes before Nats games this summer. That is, if the bottling they've talked about will be for off-premises sale. I think I've already given up on ever getting in there before or after a ballgame. Given the limited pre- and post-game bar and restaurant options down there, it'll be slammed.

 

that didn't take long

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...acket-and-head-brewer-megan-parisi-part-ways/

 

Ouch. That's a very bad sign. Maybe she kept complaining about the fact that they have 5 casks on offer but no traditional English cask ale. Maybe I'm the only one, but everything I see and read about this place makes me want to stay away from it. Is there any real reason to buck up and go next time I'm in the area?

 

given that most of the rest of the article talks about doughnut beers I'm not holding out much hope

that plus the fact that the de struise and HF trained new recruit was working as an, um, barista in SF

 

This. How do you work at those two and end up a barista? Eek

 

Not to mention that the "no head brewer" policy is almost certainly going to lead to more disaster, particularly considering that one of the "equals" and sexiest name attached to the place (Engert) has no brewing experience.

 

I had heard rumors of a power struggle between Parisi and Engert (from unnamed sources close to the situation), so this doesn't surprise me in the least. Parisi brewed great beers with Cambridge, so it confounded me how mediocre the beer coming out of Bluejacket has been thus far. Engert's not a brewer, but has a lot of say in the brewing process, and it seems like this is not a good thing for the brewery. Until he's no longer involved, I'm guessing the beers coming out of there will continue to fall below expectations.

 

Let me Dan Snyder this up: "Bluejacket hires HILL FARMSTEAD (trained) Brewer!"

 

I too checked this place out last night. I thought Lost Weekend was my favorite of the bunch, with 9 Pound Hammer a close 2nd. Service at the tables was rather slow (for both beer & food), but will definitely go back to try the rest of the list.

I'm also a little torn on them having SO MANY beers for being a new brewery. I almost feel you should perfect a few brews before making so many various ones. Just my $0.02.