From the Washington Post:
Get a taste of D.C. Beer Week
By Fritz Hahn, Published: August 11
If your beer-loving friends have been canceling dinner plans for next week, don’t take it personally. The annual D.C. Beer Week begins Sunday with a booze cruise on the Potomac, and bars and restaurants across Washington and Northern Virginia will celebrate the week with beer tastings, pairing classes, home-brew contests and meet-the-brewer events. And happy hours. Lots of happy hours.
Some events require reservations and tickets, including a Monday night dinner with Founders Brewing Co. founder Dave Engbers at Birch & Barley ($75) and a New England-themed dinner with Rhode Island’s Trinity Brewhouse at Granville Moore’s on Wednesday ($70), but most are come-as-you-are affairs where you pay only for food and drink. Just one constant piece of advice: If there’s something you’d like to try, arrive early, because kegs will drain quickly. (More details and events are listed on the D.C. Beer Week Web site.)
SUNDAY
Great Lakes Cask Night
2 p.m. ChurchKey, 1337 14th St. NW.
www.churchkeydc.com.
When Great Lakes Brewing Co. made its Washington debut at the Big Hunt last summer, the line of Cleveland expats looking for a taste of home stretched down Connecticut Avenue. Expect a similar reaction when ChurchKey debuts five cask- conditioned ales — traditional English-style beers served with excess carbonation — at a special tapping party.
MONDAY
2nd Annual Brooklyn Brawl
7 p.m. Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW.
www.kramers.com.
Wine and cheese is so 20th century. The new thing is to pair craft beer with craft cheese — a funky blue cheese with a rich stout, or a sharp cheddar with a hoppy ale. Taste seven of Brooklyn Brewery’s beers, including the lemony, zesty Soraci Ace farmhouse ale and the Black Ops, with its notes of bourbon and coffee, coupled with cheese designed to bring out its flavors. Each six-ounce beer and snack it’s paired with runs $7 to $9.
TUESDAY
Homebrewers Match Up IV
6 p.m. Meridian Pint, 3400 11th St. NW,
www.meridianpint.com.
Twenty-five D.C. home brewers put their best beers forward at Meridian Pint, and members of the public are invited to sample them all and vote for their favorite.
WEDNESDAY
12 Percent Imports tap takeover
5 p.m. Pizzeria Paradiso, 124 King St., Alexandria.
www.eatyourpizza.com.
If you’ve tasted a delicious Belgian ale from a small brewery with an unpronounceable name, there’s a good chance it was brought to America by 12 Percent Imports. The company is putting some rare beers on all 14 of Paradiso’s taps, including the sweet, funky ‘t Gaverhopke Singing Blond Ale, the spicy Sint Canarus Tripel and Cazeau Tournay farmhouse ale. All beers are $4 from 5 to 7 p.m. and $8 after, including a cask-conditioned Stillwater Stateside Saison.
THURSDAY
24 Drafts and One Cask
5 p.m. Meridian Pint, 3400 11th St. NW,
www.meridianpint.com.
Meridian Pint is filling its 24 taps and one cask with beers from three of the staff’s favorite breweries: 10 drafts each from Maine’s Allagash and St. Louis’s Schlafly and four drafts and a cask ale from home-town heroes DC Brau. Meanwhile, Andy White, the chef at Schlafly’s tap room, will be grilling “St. Louis-style meats” on the patio.
3 Stars Brewing Co. tasting
6-8 p.m. Kramerbooks. 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW.
www.kramers.com.
DC Brau is the local brewery getting all the hype, but D.C.’s second brewery, 3 Stars, will be rolling out its beers this fall. Get a taste of its first two brews — Syndicate Saison and B.W. Rye — at the bar at Kramerbooks. 3 Stars founders Dave Coleman and Mike McGarvey will lead tastings and talk about the grains and hops that impart the flavors. Tastings cost $5.
Starr Hill tap takeover
6 p.m. Iron Horse Tap Room, 507 Seventh St. NW.
www.ironhorsedc.com.
A familiar sight to anyone who has spent time in Charlottesville, Starr Hill beers are showing up in more D.C. bars. Brewer Mark Thompson hosts a meet-and-greet at Iron Horse, which will have seven Starr Hills on tap. (Show up early for free glassware, shirts and prizes.)
“Yes, You Can”
5 p.m. Jack Rose Dining Saloon, 2007 18th St. NW.
www.jackrosediningsaloon.com.
The biggest trend in craft beer? Putting it in cans. San Francisco’s 21st Amendment brewery has been at the forefront of the movement, and co-owner Dave Wilson will lead a tasting of its brews in one of Jack Rose’s private rooms. To get in, purchase a 21st Amendment koozie at the bar, which is good for discounts on four canned 21st Amendment beers and one draft beer from 5 to 8 p.m.
FRIDAY
Trinity Brewhouse Tap Takeover
4 p.m. Capitol Lounge, 231 Pennsylvania Ave. SE.
www.capitolloungedc.com.
202-547-2098.
Talk about a can’t-miss event: Providence’s Trinity Brewhouse is one of the most highly regarded brewpubs in New England, but its beers almost never make it south of Rhode Island. Until D.C. Beer Week, that is. Five Trinity brews, including the Trinity IPA, Decadence Double IPA and Mercy Brown, will be available at Capitol Lounge until the taps run dry.
SATURDAY
Mid-Atlantic Brewery Night
5 p.m. Smith Commons, 1245 H St. NE.
www.smithcommonsdc.com.
Over the July Fourth weekend, Smith Commons hosted the DMV brewers’ barbecue. The H Street Lounge is going to recapture some of the magic this week by inviting back all of those local breweries, adding some from Delaware (Evolution, Dogfish Head) and North Carolina (Duck-Rabbit) as well as Baltimore (Brewer’s Art, Oliver Breweries). Taps will rotate throughout the night; expect to pay $5 for pints and $15 for 22-ounce bottles. There will be a menu of $5 “regional” snacks to complement the beers.
First Annual Hot Dog Eating
Championship
7 p.m. Star and Shamrock, 1341 H St. NE.
www.starandshamrock.com.
Coney Island is the home of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Coney Island is also a line of New York beers. So it’s only natural that the Star and Shamrock’s party with Coney Island brewmaster Jeremy Cowen would feature, well, a hot dog eating contest. Preliminary heats take place at the bar at 9 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with the finals on Saturday at 7 p.m. Of course, the competition is just a sideshow — step right up to taste Coney Island and its sister He’Brew beers and chat with the man who made them.
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