Bluejacket in DC

I had the exact same thoughts. I can't imagine any brewmaster worth her salt would put up with someone telling her how to run her brewing program for very long, particularly when that person A. doesn't own the place, and B. has no brewing experience. I have a hard time believing the place will improve as long as Engert's hands are in the brewing pots, so to speak.

 

Went for the first time yesterday around 1pm. Was not very impressed. I like the layout and if they improve their beers and service it would be a place I would frequent.

1. The service as others said needs to get a lot better. It took me over 5 minutes to be greeted once seated. A total of 20-30 minutes before I had a beer in front of me. It was not even full when I got there so I can imagine if it is slammed it would be a big problem.

2. Was not very impressed with the beers I tried. The figure 8 and Cashmere were ok but the alcohol was way to prevalent for me and I have been drinking imperial stouts almost every day this winter. I got fusels from both which is probably a problem with the brewing process not the recipe. The hazelnut imperial brown was a little better but one dimensional. The bird of prey was pretty good but with all of the good IPAs out it wasn't anything special. The 9 pound hammer on cask was pretty bad. If I owned a brewery I would not serve something of that quality in my brewery.

Overall I have wanted them to succeed since I heard they were opening. But they have a lot of work to do. My two suggestions would be to put out some solid beers first. Every beer does not have to have crazy ingredients added to it. Second get some good managers and servers. This is not Europe. Service should be efficient and quick. No way will I consider going here before Nationals games until their service gets a lot better.

I posted a review also. I'll probably wait a little while to go back. I hope they get their act together by then. The more spots we have in this area the better. I want to see them do well.

 

I laughed at this because it's true.

 

Yes, they went from West Coast over sharp to East Coast/almost traditional that is quite tasty.

 

if it's gotten better are you sure they didn't go the other way around? last time I had it about 2 years ago it was very malty/sweet, like a 60 Minute

 

I believe that it always has been classified as an English IPA. It used to be WAY maltier. They played around with the hop bill and malts to make it a bit more hop forward. Used to be a malt bomb. It has definitely improved. Still not nearly as good as Porter.

 

I've been here a couple times this summer and was mostly impressed with beers like Lost Weekend (honestly, one of the best double IPAs I've had), Lost in Space (citra session ipa) and Forbidden Planet (kolsh dry hopped with Galaxy).

But what in god's name is up with their "cask" ales? I tried a few and they were undrinkable. Exactly like their regular beers, just missing all the carbonation. I'm no expert on cask ales but I don't think that's right.

 

This thread is nine months old, and cask beers are naturally carbonated.

 

My bad, should have started a new thread instead of using the search function.