"Don't miss" beer bars in D.C.?

Discussion in 'Mid-Atlantic' started by Hopsedge, Dec 9, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Hopsedge

    Hopsedge Initiate (0) Dec 19, 2003 Georgia

    BA has a "Top XX Beers" for neary every beer style, but why isn't there a Top 10 Beer Bar list for every major city in the U.S. on the BA Travel page? Instead, all I see is a list of reviews submitted by persons who recenty visited. Not to trivialize these, but I what I want is a "don't miss" list for cities I visit.

    To that end, can you folks help me out with a handful of beer bars in D.C.? I will be staying in the Thomas Circle area.

    Many thanks.
     
  2. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Your question has come up before, and the reason always given is that there just isn't a consensus top 10 beer bars for every city. In any event, it turns out that you'll be convenietely located to some of the best spots in DC. From where you're staying, you can easily walk to ChurchKey, the Dupont Circle Pizza Pardiso, the Big Hunt and the P street Whole Foods. Otherwise, you can take the metro (don't drive!) to visit places like Rustico Ballston, the Black Squirrel, Smoke & Barrel and the Meridian Pint.

    That should keep you busy for a few days. :slight_smile:
     
    ipas-for-life likes this.
  3. zid

    zid Grand Pooh-Bah (3,132) Feb 15, 2010 New York
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    BA more or less has such a feature. Go to "District of Columbia," select "bars," then sort by rating. There's your top list. It's imperfect - a place with only one review can be misrepresented - but it is easy to skim down the list for places with many reviews.

    Do this and Churchkey comes up at the top of the list. I would agree that it's a place you wouldn't want to skip (but beware... it gets crowded).
     
  4. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    That's part of the problem, certainly. Ideally, you would hope that the top 10 beer bars in any town would have at least 10 or 15 reviews, at the very least. That should at least even out some of the excessively high and the excessively low scores. Another problem with this method has to do with perception. A local's perception of a particular beer bar will often vary considerably from the perception out of town visitors have of a place. Many places have a disproportionately large number of out of town reviews, whille other places may have a disproportionately large number of local reviewers. In my experience, that tends to skew the review scores. Yet another problem has to do with criteria. What makes a beer bar great in my mind may be completely different from what makes a beer bar great in someone else's mind. In the case of the OP, I have no idea what his qualifying criteria would be for a great beer bar. Maybe it's the same as the criteria specified in BA "place" reviews, maybe it's something different.

    So the best solution? It's anyone's guess. However, I like what the community has done in Portland, Oregon. The community recognizes that compiling a top 10 list (or something comparable) is highly subjective, and so they make no attempt to compile such a list. Intead, they've compiled a list of what most people feel are consensus "must visit" places in town, and they maintain the list in a periodically updated thread. My guess is that this probably comes closest to what the OP is looking for. Unfortunately, no such thread exists for the Mid Atlantic forum, though typically most local BA's will simply post previous threads that appear to cover the same topic, and/or answer the OP's question. It would be nice if all major cities did something similar to what they're doing in Portland I suppose, but it takes some work to maintain, and I think it in most areas of the the country, no one wants to go to the trouble.

    http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-portland-fall-2013-update.120173/

    In the case of the OP, he listed where he's staying, which I think most of usually interpret to mean that he'd like some recommendations that are close to where he's staying. So that's what I tried to provide.[/quote]
     
  5. seanchai

    seanchai Maven (1,442) May 23, 2009 Virginia

    To throw in a possible new entry, City Tap House (original in Philly) opens in DC today. It looks like it's trying to recreate the classic Philly gastropub formula of solid draft list/interesting food choices. Prices are skewing a little high though ...
    http://www.citytaphousedc.com/
     
  6. TheFunGuy

    TheFunGuy Initiate (0) Dec 27, 2011 Virginia

    I have only been to three top ten beer bars off the national lists, and they were great, but I also have seen non-top 10s at the same level (not many, but some).

    However, DC could easily have a top ten beer bars (DC only list)...

    Churchkey, Meridian Pint, Beer Baron, RFD, Bluejacket, and let people argue promote, and demote the bottom 5 for various reasons (example: I would place Big Hunt on the end of the top ten list, but I can see why others wouldn't)
     
  7. Blakeo

    Blakeo Initiate (0) Mar 15, 2012 Washington

    Pizza Paradiso has a great draft selection and half off everything during happy hour.
     
  8. kdb150

    kdb150 Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2012 Pennsylvania

    ChurchKey is a must. Go as early as you possibly can on Satur
    RFD is a joke. I was very disappointed - they were out of the first 3 things I ordered, the staff was disorganized, and my server was clearly clueless about beer. I was shocked with my experience, seeing as how people talk about it as if it's a great beer bar. It's an awfully run place that can't get out of its own way to be even a good beer bar. I'd rather go to a dive and drink PBR than go to a place like that again.

    I only bring this up in the hopes of dissuading someone from going there expecting good things. Location is the only thing that place has going for it. Avoid, avoid, avoid.
     
  9. John_M

    John_M Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,849) Oct 25, 2003 Washington
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Unfortunately, this is completely consistent with my experiences at RFD as well. Every once in a while they'll get in something special and/or limited, which is the only reason I ever go. Even then, their prices are no bargain (when I stopped by for some hopslam back in 2011, the price was $9 for a 12 ounce glass!), so it's really difficult for me to see any reason to ever stop by (even their happy hour prices apply to only certain selections - generally the least interesting and least appealing beers on the taplist).

    I'm not sure RFD would make my top 100 list for DC.
     
  10. RocketFrogDavid

    RocketFrogDavid Initiate (0) Apr 29, 2010 Virginia

    Not a bad opening list, hope it's a good place, this is directly across the street from my office, so I'll be hitting this up for sure. I hope it's good, the place that it replaces what terrible, but this looks promising.

    http://www.citytaphousedc.com/menus/314-opening-beer-menu
     
  11. kdb150

    kdb150 Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2012 Pennsylvania

    I live near the City Tap House in Philly. They generally have an excellent selection and make a real effort to cover many different styles well, which is somewhat refreshing considering how many "beer bars" seem to have hop-heavy tap lists. They also have access to stuff like KBS, and regularly have some really good special events. They do a Bell's tap takeover every year around Hopslam time that is usually killer. The food is also very good. A bit pricey, maybe, but the weekend brunch is excellent, and the pizza has yet to let me down.

    The only knock on it is that the staff is not that knowledgeable about beer. One thing they do that I like is they give the servers and bar staff samples of some of the beers, and the staff does take notes, so they can usually give some basic recommendations, despite it not being a real beer geek-type place. Which may very well be the vibe they are going for, so my complaint may not be a real valid one. Either way, I've always had good experiences there, so definitely check it out.
     
  12. ipas-for-life

    ipas-for-life Savant (1,041) Feb 28, 2012 Virginia

    From what I have read in the DC threads RFD is close to the bottom of the list of craft beer bars in DC. People usually say it is in ok spot to go to if you are stuck in Chinatown. It used to have a better reputation when craft beer bars were a lot harder to come by in the area. Now that there are so many choices they will have to step up their game.
     
    zid likes this.
  13. Arsenal_MC

    Arsenal_MC Initiate (0) Feb 25, 2013 District of Columbia
    Trader

    Apparently you have to add Right Proper to the list.. Just opened yesterday and heard it was legit.. Plan to check it out tomorrow night.
     
  14. SlothB77

    SlothB77 Initiate (0) Dec 28, 2012 Virginia

    World of Beer in Ballston is easily walkable from Rustico Ballston and the Ballston metro station. Any Lost Dog Cafe in the Arlington area. I'm an Arlington guy, but here's a sample draught menu from Churchkey from 1.5 weeks ago:

    http://churchkeydc.com/documents/ONLINEDRAFTLIST11-30-13.pdf

    to give you an idea
     
  15. TheFunGuy

    TheFunGuy Initiate (0) Dec 27, 2011 Virginia

    My wife does not like it at all, she feels it is too crowded and loud. I am a federal employee, so 90% of the time I start drinking there by 4, and am ready to leave as the 6pm crowd gets there.

    I have not had staff issues, but I usually sit at the bar.

    If you want PBR go to Penn Social. Hipester Heaven, now with multiple levels.
     
  16. FatSkippy

    FatSkippy Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2005 New York

    District of Pi is my go to beer spot in Gallery Place, RFD blows goats.
     
  17. jcos

    jcos Pundit (802) Nov 23, 2009 Maryland

    Funny how the comments on RFD are now what used to be the problems towards the end of the run of the Brickskeller...(yes I know it's all the same family running it)
     
    ipas-for-life, SwillBilly and mdfb79 like this.
  18. kdb150

    kdb150 Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2012 Pennsylvania

    I go to O'Shaughnessy's in Old Town Alexandria to drink PBR. No hipsters and you can smoke in there.
     
  19. TheFunGuy

    TheFunGuy Initiate (0) Dec 27, 2011 Virginia

    How is O'Shaughnessy? When not at the Legion in Old Town, we tend to do Warehouse, either pizza place (PP or RR), Light Horse, and used to do Bilbo Baggins until we had an okay meal followed by a terrible one. Pat Troy's also got much worse after the sale. Would we like O'Shaughnessy?

    ETA: also Hard Times
     
  20. kdb150

    kdb150 Initiate (0) Mar 8, 2012 Pennsylvania

    There are a few different parts there. There's the super-divey part where you can smoke, a pool room, and a small live music venue. They don't have much in the way of beer. Unless you like to drink macro lagers and smoke cigarettes, it's probably not the place to go.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.