DC recommendations...

Best overall bottleshop IMO is Whole Foods P St. Conn Ave Wine & Liquor in Dupont Circle usually has a good selection of Belgians and Evil Twin/Mikkeller. De Vinos in Adams Morgan is good as well.

 

Right Proper brews a number of very good Belgian-style beers and is located just north of the convention center. Iron Horse and Paradiso also have good tap lists.

 

skip RFD

 

You're welcome to come to my bottle share

 

I really like Black Squirrel. I'm not sure why people hate on RFD, I've only been there twice, once they had Backwoods Bastard on tap and then I was there last night and they had KBS on tap. By far the best overall beer bar is Churchkey though, you should definitely plan on going there.

 

Beer bar for dinner, a good bet is City Tap House. They have a pretty extensive draft list as well as well slightly upscale pub food for dinner. I really enjoyed myself in two visits to City TapHouse over the Christmas holiday last year.

 

People hate on RFD because there are at least a dozen better options within the Beltway.

Three Pizza Paradisos
Smoke and Barrel
Churchkey
Meridian Pint
Black Squirrel
City Tap House
Two Rusticos
Fireworks
Galaxy Hut
Right Proper
Mad Fox
Scion
Bluejacket

Ok, that's 16 that are arguably better...I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting...plus RFD has some of the worst pub food I've had anywhere...

 

I'd add Space Bar to that list, solid list.

 

Bars- Churchkey, Paradiso, Smoke & Barrel, Meridian Pint
Shops- P Street Whole Foods, D'Vinos, Conn Ave (next to Kramerbooks in Dupont)
Breweries/brewpubs- Bluejacket, Right Proper, DC Brau

 

I have to put in another vote for city taphouse. I enjoyed the beer selection there and the food is executed really well..

 

City Tap House. Much better than RFD and closer to your location. The food is really good.

Look for yourself: http://www.citytaphousedc.com/menus/craft-beer/3

http://www.citytaphousedc.com/pdf/THDC_beer_04-05-14_Sheet1.pdf

Some local DC breweries you will have a hard time finding elsewhere: Atlas and 3 Stars, in addition to the DC Brau offerings they don't distribute.

 

Smoke & Barrel is my personal favorite, much better food than Churchkey. Went to City Taphouse for the first time this weekend and was pleasantly surprised, especially by the food.

From where you are staying, City Taphouse is easily walkable or 1 metro stop away. Meridian Pint is about 3 blocks from the Columbia Heights metro on the Yellow/Green line, which is the line that runs through Convention center and its only 3 stops from there. Churchkey can be walked to as well, probably about 15 minutes.

Meridian Pint shares the same owner as Smoke & Barrel, and generally speaking will have a similar quality tap list. Smoke & Barrel also has a really good whiskey selection and food is barbecue focused. Meridian Pint has more of a classic American menu (sandwiches, burgers, fish and chips, fish, steak, etc.), but the food there is very good as well. If you do Meridian Pint get the sweet potato wedges.

For Smoke & Barrel, walk or Metro on the green/yellow line to the Chinatown / Gallery Place metro (1 stop), and take the red line (in the direction of Shady Grove) to Woodley Park, it's 4 stops. From there it's about a 10 minute walk to Smoke & Barrel. If the weather's good, I find it to be a nice walk too. Have fun.

 

Not saying RFD is nice or amazing, but if I am right near the Verizon Center it is a solid option. The list might not have the rarest things, but you can usually get a table there and it is very metro accessible. If I could only go one place in DC that is not the place, but it does have some merits.

 

I'll throw a bone out to the District Chophouse. Yes it's a chain steakhouse, but the beer done by Barrett can be damn tasty. Bourbon Stout is always on and always awesome. He makes some great IPAs on occasion too.

 

i work close by there. Last time i was in, RFD had Flower Power, Hopslam, Stochasticity and OTWOA on tap sooooo ... you could do a lot worse.

 

I was just looking at the RFD draft list and I noticed something:

http://www.lovethebeer.com/rfd-menu/Draft List.pdf

This draft list is dated April 2nd, 2014. Go to the beers on deck. Fourth one down.

 

Yeah, what an awful draft list. Awful!

 

I'm also a fan of Churchkey and the City Tap House. Another option, if you want to start with a nice meal, is Alba Osteria. The food is very good and they have a pretty solid list of beers on tap…I was surprised! After dinner, you can then walk to the City Tap House and work your way through a nice selection of taps, as well as a solid bottle list. As stated, the food is also good there. Cheers!