Aslin Beer Co. Releases

Maybe High Side in Fairfax. I’d highly recommend the korean BBQ in that area too.

 

You won't be too far from Rustico, not sure which location is closer.

http://rusticorestaurant.com/

 

I grew up in Annandale and my parents are still down there. Not much going on beer-wise in Annandale proper, but it's one of the best places in the country for Korean food. As @joerooster mentioned, Rustico (same owners as Churchkey, Sovereign, etc.) is solid and both locations are 15-20 minutes away. I am partial to the Ballston location, but they are pretty similar.

A little closer is B Side at Mosaic District in Merrifield, which is a bar attached to a great butcher shop, also owned by the Churchkey Folks. Lost Dog is close to Mosaic as well. If you're looking for bottles, the Total Wines in Fairfax and Alexandria are both solid.

 

Appreciate the info! Now just gotta get through this traffic.

 

I asked about Alexandria at today's Buku Maureen release. They've apparently secured the new location. Consistent with what we've heard before, it's somewhere in Alexandria near 395. Still no info on timing, unfortunately, but at least there's some movement.

 

So the Alexandria location is going to be a tap room? Or just another brewing facility? Both?

I noticed they stopped posting case counts again, why would they do that? It's pretty important for people to know considering the distances and trafic people deal with to get there. At the end of the day, probably not going to hurt their bottom line but it's just a nice thing to provide customers especially since people can't grab a pint of something that may have sold out in cans.

Not stating the type of beer on their release posts is annoying to me (just has name, ABV and limit). I can't keep up with all the new beers so having to I end up having to cross reference older posts to figure out what the beers are.

 

I agree. They maybe stopped listing case counts in an attempt to get people out quicker and move through the beer faster, but I don't know.

 

I'll third that. Very annoying, even for people nearby. I like to avoid the Thursday release madness, but if the case count is 100, I know I'll need to work it in sometime Thursday. Additionally, I also have to scroll a lot to see what the beer is - not very user friendly, IMO.

 

I mean they just sell cans right now on location. That's all they do. Can't they make it a little easier for the customer by providing case counts?

Also, ever notice their Square checkout thing never changed from their taproom days, so the 15%, 20%, 25% tip option automatically pops up when you buy cans? Why the hell would I tip that amount picking up cans?

 

Yeah, I assume they just left that on there because they used to use them in the tap room and expected the new place to open sooner rather than later.

 

I guess it's there to give people an option to tip. Maybe I'm a jerk but I don't tip when just picking up cans, I'll tip a small amount with growler fills or if I am able to taste something before buying cans but I do feel a bit awkward having to hitting the 'No Tip' button.

 

This is with any business that uses the Square checkout. It has totally ruined everything, in terms of every business wanting/prompting you to tip. Ridiculous.

 

All of that is set up by the user. They choose whether or not to have tip option and then which options they want.

 

Doesn't change the fact that Square checkout started the whole practice for situations or businesses that didn't otherwise involve tipping.

 

Haven't really been to aslin since moving away from NOVA a few years ago, but 2 questions if anyone can help me out:

1) I remember they used to have issues with beers not holding up well over time. Unless super fresh, they'd be a bit off. Is this still a problem at all? I'm just curious if I should try to grab cans that were released more recently rather than earlier in the month.

2) Do they typically only release new beers on Thursday and Saturday? I can make a trip any day from Monday- Wednesday this week, but was hoping they'd have some of their more "core" beers (OS, MOK, BSB) than all of these adjunct laden ones currently available. Appreciate any insight.

 

If you're referring to IPAs, I think they hold up fine. They are obviously best fresh but 4-6 weeks on them won't make them undrinkable.

Releases are only Thursdays and Saturdays. There have been a few exceptions but it's pretty regular.

I feel you on the adjunct heavy stuff. It's gotten ridiculous lately. But they seem to release OS and MoK every month or so, just hope the timing works out for you.

 

I'm only aware of this being an issue with the Johann line. I haven't picked up any of those in quite a while, so they may have addressed whatever was causing that. Everything else I've had from them held up just fine for a reasonable period for NEIPAs. I actually find I like the single IPAs better about 3 weeks out and the milkshakes after about 4-6 weeks.

 

No kidding, they currently have 2 beers w/o adjuncts, a DIPA and a barleywine.

I wish they would put OS on all the time, make it their flagship beer. Would also like to see more of Astro Zombie, BSB and Ontario, I feel like those beers have been put on the backburner in favor of the adjunct heavy stuff.

 

Hear, hear. BSB, AZ, Ontario, Cortes, Neutrino are all great and almost should be on a rotation with the other IPAs (like OS). FWIW-looks like Sorbet is being brewed right now. I actually really liked that one on the first release, but the second....not so much.

 

They finally added the beer style (and more) to the release posts. Coincidence or they read this thread as that info was added right after it was mentioned on here.