Nationals Park Craft Beverage Tour

I noticed that the Nationals had a Josiah Gray bobblehead promotion and thought that was a good incentive to attend a game and while I'm there visit the several craft beverage establishments that surround the stadium. As the Nationals continue to improve, I see myself attending both more games and taking more trips to these breweries.

Valor Brewpub
I started the Nationals Park craft beverage tour by taking the Metro to Union Market and walking in the stadium's direction to Valor Brewpub. This brewery is located across the street from the Marine Barracks and thus honors this military tradition. I enjoyed a flight consisting of the Chief Smoke Rauchbier, Czeck Pivo, Barracks Row Lager, and Pollywog Porter. If you love chocolate Porters, like me, you will enjoy this one. The Rauchbier was a nice compliment to the Porter and the two lagers, very refreshing and flavorful. Solid beers.

Bluejack Brewery
Bluejack Brewery has consistently been a favorite location near Nats Park and before today's game, I was able to get a seat at the bar to enjoy a pint of the Love Cats German Pilsner.  Just a fantastic beer. I also heard that their distribution is expanding both within the DMV area but also to Atlanta. Will seek them out during our Nats-Braves road trip in June. 

District Winery
District Winery is just a block south of BlueJacket Brewery and right on the Anacostia River. This winery-restaurant produces wine from grapes sourced throughout the world with my favorite being the refreshingly acidic Riesling from grapes grown in the Finger Lakes. Another wine to try is the Chenin Blanc from the Clarksburg AVA in California.

 Solace Navy Yard Outpost
Our last stop on this short Nationals pregame tour was to the relatively new Solace Navy Yard Outpost, literally just across Potomac Avenue from the stadium and a short walk from District Winery along the boardwalk. We are big fans of Solace and frequent visitors to their Falls Church Outpost and I had to douse the desire to order my go-to Artificial Light German Pilsner. Instead, I chose the Vibrant Light Gose, a slightly sour and tart melding of blackberries and raspberries. Weather permitting, I recommend sipping outside while watching the sailboats on the Anacostia.

Atlas Brew Works
As soon as I entered the stadium, the Nationals announced that the game was under a rain delay, and looking at the forecast and talking to ushers -- we could expect a two-hour delay. Having the bobblehead in hand, I decided to spend this time at the Atlas Brew Works Half Street location in front of the stadium. Although the brewery was packed, I was able to find a corner and stay on theme with the Ballpark Pilsner.  This might be my first stop next game. Cheers.

Sours Dominate Last Week's Beer In Review

Last week seemed like a good time to clean out the beer refrigerator as some of the bottles were starting to collect dust. I started this cleansing with the Mad Fox Brewing Company Oaked Diabolic Ale, my favorite beer from the Virginia brewery. It is a Belgium strong ale, fermented with native yeast and aged in used oak barrels. And some strain of bacteria makes its presence known with the tart and funky flavors. There's also a creamy texture more associated with wine than beer.  Limited qualities are popping up at my local Wholefoods.

Last Spring I visited Atlas Brew Works and fell in love with their Town and Country Belgium Dark Strong Ale and the La Saison des Fêtes Farmhouse Ale. The former was received quite nicely at #WBC15 with it's wine like characters. On the other hand, the later is all sour - tart and funky with  subtle spice. I'll be headed back to the brewery when the nice iteration of brewing commences for this seasonal.

I usually have an Anderson Valley Brewing Company Gose readily available, either their The Kimmie, The Yink, & The Holy Gose or the Blood Orange Gose. The later is my all-time favorite in this style where the addition of blood oranges during fermentation leads to a delicious combination of citrus, salt, and tartness. The wort for both beers are soured with lactobacillus and salt added post fermentation. The Holy Gose is more readily available and more lemon flavor, effervescent and just as refreshing.

I've been following the New Belgium Brewing Company Le Terrior series and finally got around to buying their 2015 Le Terroir Dry Hopped Sour Ale. The base Le Terrior beer is aged three years in larger wooden  foeders with this version dry hopped with Amarillo and Galaxy. The beer starts out full of flavor with subtle tartness and at this point is delicious. However, when the hops enter the palate during the tail, they detract from the savory flavors.

Finally, I stopped by Caboose Brewing Company after a lunchtime bike ride and was excited to see their The Zoo Berliner Weisse still available. Can you see the sour inclination? Perfect for a post ride refreshment. They were also pouring a very nice Chocolaty Brown Ale on cask, which is their traditional brown ale brewed with chocolate bits. Getting close to Porter territory; it was medium bodied and very smooth.

Who's Up For A 2015 DC, MD, & VA Brewery Challenge

While enjoying a tulip of Tripel at Lost Rhino Brewing Co. on Saturday, my friend Chris and I heard about  someone who visited all 100 Virginia breweries in 2014 (#vabrewerychallenge).  Not afraid of a challenge, we committed ourselves to accomplish the same feat in 2015, with me raising the bar to visit the eleven breweries in the District (#dcbrewerychallenge) as well as the 60 or so in Maryland (#mdbrewerychallenge). As expected, we will be using theCompass Winery, Brewery, Distillery Locator to navigate to these establishments. And I can image that Uber will be utilized often.

Thus #1 for the #vabrewerychallenge is Lost Rhino Brewing Co., located in Ashburn Virginia. Most should be familiar with their year round Face Plant, Rhino Chaser, and New River; but i tend toward the seasonal's - like the Tripel and brown ale styled porter - Why Nut?  With decent food and live music on weekends, what's not to like.

On Sunday I began the #dcbrewerychallenge at Atlas Brew Works, located in northeast near the National Arboretum. I was one of the first visitors, but by the time I had finished a sampler, the tasting bar was two deep. Atlas was the 4th craft brewery that has recently opened in DC and I was familiar with the brewery since their District Common and 1500 South Cap Lager are available at Nationals games. But three of their specialty brews hit home for me. First was the Rowdy Rye, I'm always in the search for rye, and this had a some edgy spices to balance the sweet malt. Next was the Pumpernickle Stout that includes some rye and molasssas - ingredients for pumpernickle bread. There is some sweetness to this beer as well but also some creaminess and spice. The final beer, the Town & Country, is outstanding. It's their Belgian Saison aged nine months in used red wine barrels. This process creates a complex beer - with many wine characteristics such as a strong cherry aroma and some tannins on the tail. Can't wait to share this one with my wine friends.

Brewery #2 for the #dcbrewerychallenge is Bardo Brewpub, located less than a mile from Atlas. Pay attention, because if you miss the brewery, you need to travel several blocks to retrace. Bill Stewart initially starting brewing beer with Bardo Rodeo in Arlington Virginia in 1993-4 and at the time it was the largest brewpub in the country. His brother Andrew helped manage the brewpub. Eventually that location closed and the Stewart family renovated the current location and opened Bardo Brewery in 2013. They have an enormous outside seating area and a good sized indoor facility which was half full on this visit. There were ten beers on tap, but once I saw the Bubba's Sour mash, I knew what direction I was headed. This is a tasty sour, black in color, tart in flavor, unfiltered for added complexity. 

 Check back for our next challenge stops. Cheers. 

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