DC/MD/NoVA Beer Updates (2022)

There are 4 Trillium IPAs languishing on tap at Dominion. They are very good.

 

There will be multi-block long lines to get in for the Basilisk VIP Early Entry opening at noon and at 2 pm for the Kraken pass holders. But they move fast with fest staff going through the lines doing pre-entry ID checks. (Pro tip: bring your family and sail through the Family entrance.)

In the festival, there will be some lines for the beers in high demand, like beers from Belgium not easy to find in the US and limited-release beers not distributed in the DMV region. But with over 350 brews on draft from 175+ breweries, you should have no problem finding new brews from breweries you've never tried with little or no lines.

 

+1 on bringing the family if it applies to you. The family entrance is a super express lane plus there are a bunch of activities for the kiddos.

 

Thanks for the tips!
Might trade in my teenage kids for some younger ones to get the easy line! Lol

 

We've brought our kid to three of these and may do it again this year. Never knew about a family line. Kid is 15, with two parents. Would we qualify for family line?

 

Can't answer that but the FAQs say that anyone 12 and under is free. Up to your discretion but from experience it's been pretty leniant

 

In 2019, the family entrance line was to the far left as you face the 7th Street entrance.

My daughter and granddaughter couldn't join us last year. But my granddaughter remembered the "monster" bounce house and other kids' activities and insisted they join us this year.

 

Thanks. Kid can more likely pass for 18 than 12, but don't mond paying the 10 bucks to get her in. Just wondering if we can get in the 7th Street family line. Guess we'll give it a shot this year.

 

Something is afoot at Dominion. Tonight, a sixtel of Monkish 'Planets Gotta Roll' IIPA came and went. More Monkish in the queue, apparently. And right after the Trillium kegs. You've been placed on notice.

 

Shelter got the same six.

 

Hit up both Aslin and Juicy Brewing over the weekend. Had an average Neutrino at Aslin and loved the Kolsch and IPA from Juicy. First time visiting the Juicy spot - might be making more visits in the future!

 

I'ma have to hit up Juicy Brewing like the old Aslin days.

 

Imperial stouts make up a pretty clear majority of my beer consumption, but 750s? No thank you.

 

Pretty sure Cycle BA stouts are all 22oz but yeah, agree, the - larger than I'd like - sentiment is understood. That being said, I've tried a few of those, and some were very good.

 

Dominion's website listed them all as 750s, though that could be an error on their part.

Based on Cycle's reputation, I have no doubt their stuff is great, but it would have to be next-level amazing for me to go for a packaging format that's just so inconvenient and consumer unfriendly. It wasn't too long ago that I took more of a "beggars can't be choosers" mentality with this, but, with no shortage of great options on the shelf, it's a very nice time to be a beer fan in the DMV.

 

Looks like Basilisk vip tix for Snally are already sold out.

 

On a slightly related note, since you like imperial stouts, Flying Dog is releasing an imperial version of their Road Dog Porter:

https://wtop.com/business-finance/2022/08/maryland-only-beer-to-honor-flying-dogs-late-founder/

Not sure where or when it will be distributed.

 

Snallygaster brewery list went live.

 

If anybody likes IPAs anymore, there are several cases of Grimm's Lambo Door at Dominion as of 9:30 pm on Friday. Canned 9/12. Also several sours. FYI.

 

I've had a handful of Ocelot IPAs in the past couple of months and it seems they are trending back to the kind of IPAs they originally made? Less hazy, kind of a west coast/NE IPA hybrid. This is a welcome change.

 

I had a couple of glasses of the Mystic Rationalizations on tap, and it was great. Definitely hazy, but not extremely so. IIRC their beer was pretty clear in the beginning. I loved the taste, but all the beers were kind of watery/thin. Not that that stopped me from having tons of them.

 

I’ve had some really nice IPA’s and other beer lately from Sapwood

 

On a separate note. I totally don’t get the fruited sour/smoothie craze. While some might be tasty. 1/2 a sip is more than enough for me. I just don’t get it.

 

The ones that have the texture of fruit puree literally make me gag, but maybe that's just me.

 

It's probably not just you, but it's not everyone either. I like them. I love that there's so much variety within the style.

 

Having my first beer from Grimm, their New Toy IPA that i bought at Whole Foods. Really good stuff. Glad to have them distributing here now.

 

Based on their Instagram post today, it looks like Snallygaster is releasing the beer list bit-by-bit again. My guess is they'll release the whole list on Untappd in a few days, just like last year, if you'd rather avoid the daily trickle and get the full lineup in searchable and sortable fashion.

 

With Jack's Abbey popping up around the DMV has anyone seen "Smoke and Dagger" anywhere around? It's one of my favorite all time beers.

For that matter if anyone has any local/locally available recommendations for rauchbiers please chime in!

 

Port City usually releases a Rauch Marzen around now.

 

I actually had it on tap at the brewery several weeks ago and that was excellent. Haven’t seen it in stores either unfortunately

 

Bought a 4pk of it a couple weeks ago at the TW in Laurel MD. Don't remember the exact price but it was reasonable.

 

Very cool, good to know!

 

Skimming through the first 100 beers announced, and speaking as someone who primarily drinks stouts, I can't help but feel this year's event is trending a bit weaker than prior years. Don't get me wrong, there are some enjoyable looking options among the brews they've posted, and I'm sure I'm going to drink a gut-busting volume of them. But part of what made Snally special, at least in my mind, is that it routinely offered a handful of straight-bonkers-out-of-this-world beers that you would never otherwise get in this area (e.g., BA Abraxas back in its glory years). I'm not seeing any whale stouts among the lineup they've announced to date. Hopefully NRG plants my foot firmly in my mouth with the rest of the list.

 

They may have? Lol.

Today (as I'm sure you've seen) they revealed a fidens collab with 8th state, monkish txxth and like 3 hype north park stouts.

Seems they are saving the best for last!

 

Yeah, saw that a few minutes ago, and it definitely improved my outlook for next weekend. Cheers!

 

Full Snallygaster beer listed released in sortable format and uploaded to Untappd!

 

I wish there was a way to filter the list by fesitival location. So as I walk from the entrance, I would know what beers I want geographicallty as I walk to the other side.

I think last year they had about 450 beers and this year 400? I wonder if that will mean the best wiill run out faster?

 

The Google Sheet is sortable by Festival location.

https://snallygasterdc.us2.list-man...f766b935628a8d1295&id=ea1cd58404&e=ae72207c09

Snallygaster 2021 had 443 beers, but they also reduced the number of passes sold because of the pandemic. I don't know if they sold the same number this year or more.