DC and Baltimore Breweries/Brew pubs

Gotta hit up Bluejacket, near Nats Stadium.

 

Right Proper brewing for the win.

 

Let me second Right Proper. Their saisons, Berliner Weißes, and wild ales are amazing. They're starting to tap some of their barrel aged stuff, too.

 

Why? Unless you want to drink mediocre beer in a uber-crowded bar, I'd avoid Bluejacket and hit up Right Proper instead.

 

Haven't been to Right Proper, but as a out-of-towner, I enjoyed Bluejacket, which is in the shadow of the stadium where I'm assuming OP will watch the game. Seems he looking for more than one place, so maybe he'll entertain checking them both out? Many of the most-reviewed beers at Bluejacket sit in the 3.75-4 range (slightly lower than Right Proper it seems), but I was just giving my opinion.

 

Bluejacket has improved significantly in the past year--I wasn't impressed at all when they first opened, but they're really dialed in their recipes. Lost Weekend is easily the best IPA in the DC area.

 

While you're in Baltimore - Union Craft is awesome. Plenty of parking, cool atmosphere, you can sample any beer for free and take a stroll around the brewing operations. Heavy Seas is worth a stop as well.

 

what kind of barrel aged stuff are they doing? I assume its wine-barrel saison type stuff since that seems to be their style...

 

JMO but when in Baltimore, just skip the breweries and go to Max's. Only been out in DC a handful of times but last time I was at Churchkey they had Lunch on tap, so that was nice.

 

Churchkey updates their tap list daily online

churchkeydc.com

 

If you're making a distinction between IPAs and DIPAs, I agree with you. On The Wings Of Armageddon is the best DIPA in the DC area, and probably my favorite beer of all that I've tried since moving here in February.

Regarding Baltimore, I just spent last weekend there. We spent Friday night at Birroteca (where I proceeded to get waaaaay too drunk while watching my Rangers somehow beat the Caps) which is in North Baltimore, near the "hip" neighborhood of Hampden. It was an awesome place, and I had a DIPA there from Evolution Brewing (their house/affiliate brewer) called 6 Silky Hands that was fantastic. I highly recommend that bar and that beer if they still have it.

 

Bluejacket and RightProper are both worth a stop. As mentioned above, early reviews of BlueJacket are no longer accurate. They have some great, creative beers. It can get ridiculously crowded, though. Make reservations if you want to eat. Get a booth in the bar area if you can.

RightProper is a great choice if you like farmhouse ales/saisons. RightProper demonstrates the variety of possibilities within the style. They're don't brew farmhouse ales exclusively, but that's their thing. RP is worth a stop just for the mural.

 

Churchkey is a must stop

 

Fine fine, I'll admit that Bluejacket isn't ALL bad, I really enjoy both Forbidden Planet and their Gander Gose, for example. But man, they sure do make a lot of crap! I wish they'd focus in on making a smaller number of beers really well instead of seemingly throwing darts at walls to decide what they're making next and failing miserably in turning those ideas into quality beers.

 

Currently they have a ginavit barrel aged saison. Some of their other barrel beers include a soured tripel in peach mead barrels, a dark saison in a bourbon barrels, and a brett tripel in apple brandy barrels. They have all been really good.

 

This comes up often and often, plenty of old threads worth searching as @John_M has said, the only thing I'll mention that hasn't been said is that if you do end up at Bluejacket it's one of the few places that you can have 4 oz pours for real cheap say 2-3 dollars in the DC area. That way if you don't find something you like you're not really out much coin to begin with...

 

Right Proper has these too!

 

for 2 or 3 bucks? I can't remember I haven't been there in awhile but yes they do have shorter pours I just can't remember the costs..