a warm day in the nations capital

Next stop on our tour was Washington DC for a brief visit. We arrived early evening and went to the nearest bar. Which just so happen to be a working-class strip joint in a not so nice part of town. No worries mate we are Aussies!! Well its really a story for the grand kids, but long story short I did get to try some malt liquor, while eating fried chicken and watching an African-American stripper shake her incredulous booty. I found this particular brand of malt liquor (steel reserve) to be quite palatable. I think people who complain about malt liquor should try the heavy-water tang of emu export. Next morning we woke up early to spend the morning soaking up the rich culture and history that Washington DC has to offer. By lunch it was most certainly beer time.

We headed to the closest brew-pub in walking distance, Capitol City Brewing Company. We spoke with a few friendly locals who all confirmed this was a good place for a drink.

Of course we went straight for their beer flight, to try and sample all of their catchy titled brews such "amber waves." Decent sized samples, friendly staff, good food what more could we ask for but great beer? Well they were all definitely all very decent brews that were solid samples of their individual beer styles. And their seasonal release, a hefewiesen, actually lived up to its name! cloudy and full of the authentic musty banana flavour! A good beer in the warm weather. Their other German beer in the line up was a regular offering, a delicious crisp Kolsch, light in colour, yet a full bodied crisp hoppy after taste. So many lagers are falsely labelled as "Kolsch" yet are just pale fizzy lagers with little to no body and fall flat after the first few sips. Capitol cities brew is an example of how to get it right. Their ales, amber and an american pale ale were also good. Maybe a bit too cold straight from the tap but still improved as they reached room temperature. The amber ale was a clear reddish brown colour, belaying the lighter malts used. Still, the body had enough carry to it to make it an easily approachable introduction to amber ales before moving on to something more heavy. The pale ale, with a higher alcohol content at 6.1%, was not as high-hopped as its west coast cousins but still had enough hop prominence to make this my kinda beer. All in all the offerings from Capitol City, while not life-changing, were still alot better than our last american brew pub in NYC. A good start to beer drinking in the capitol.

After talking beer to the barman and a few locals we had our next destination, RFD and Brickskeller, both legendary beer bars in DC. But first a pit-stop to a slice of americana. HAPPY HOUR AT HOOTERS!!! It doesnt get better than a plate of deep fried pickles and a half litre of  bud light for $5. At this point I didnt really care that it was bud light, the preferred beer of the infidel nation. IT WAS $2  A HALF LITRE!! After that little tourist deviation we hit up RFD near china town. Wow. And wow again. This sign says it all:

Thats about all you need to get me and Scott in the door. On tap and in bottles they had a true United Nations going on, just about every beer producing country was proudly represented. Australia was represented by the terrific Coopers stout and pale ale. Strangely cheaper that any local pub in Australia!! I tried the dogfish 90 minute IPA on tap that I had heard so much about and was not disappointed. Full, rounded body and lingering bitterness. And what a colour! Up their with the best IPAs I have tasted and trust me, that list is in the hundreds. Brickskellers is the other associated beer bar. With a cosy basement feel to it, this is the kind of place I could while away quite a few hours with their extensive tap and bottle list combined with knowledgeable staff.

We found our brief stop in DC drawing to a close. In a day we had visited a decent brew pub and two great beer bars that definitely should be on the top of any beer aficionados list if they are ever in the nations capital.
So long DC! Its been a blast, but the smooth jazz and party atmosphere of 'Nawlins is calling.

a final round-up of fine beer drinking in New York City

So I've previously discussed all my favourite places to find, in my humble opinion, the finer brews this great city has to offer. But time was marching on and we had other cities to visit before the mondial de beer in Montreal. So here's a quick review on two other must-see places. Both of these are conveniently located in Mid-Town and are walking/stumbling/awhelljustcatchacab distance for those only in New York for a short period of time but still want to taste good beer.

This place is great for many re-visits. With a huge rotating taplist and many more in bottles its impossible to try everything. But the smart guys and gals have taken mercy on your poor feeble human bodies and thrown you a compromise. Beer Flights. The know how to do them well. There are many options to choose from, by beer style (would sir like to try foreign or domestic lambics?) or price range. Don't want a particular beer on the paddle? I found the staff were happy to substitute it for something else. This means everyone is catered for, from the swill drinking tourist wanting to try something new in the big smoke to the beer connoisseur looking for the next big hit to challenge the taste-buds. Rattle n Hum also do great tasting nights including this little gem we sadly missed out on:

Everything about that poster looks good!!! So make sure Rattle n Hum is on your list to visit when in NYC. Just remember their motto; "no crap on tap" and think twice before ordering that bud-light. Speak to the friendly staff and try something new!

Last place we went for beer was recommended to us by the kind folks at Rattle n Hum. They told us about a place called Gingerman, the greatest beer bar in NYC!! We kinda felt like we were in a fairytale, on a quest to seek out the mythical Gingerman. Well, we found the place and it wasn't exactly what we were expecting. Sure, it had plenty of beer taps and an exciting range of local and imports available but something important was missing. Atmosphere. I've been in plenty of fine drinking establishments all around the world, from small working class pubs in London to backstreet hole in the wall bars in Indonesia and they all have the same sort of camaraderie of raucous joy, were you make best friends with the random guy next to you and sometimes you cant even hear yourself think. Don't get me wrong, sometimes its great to have a quiet drink but atmosphere and company is what makes the average place well, great. Gingerman wasn't exactly devoid of atmosphere, but thanks to its surrounds and walk-in clientele from near by law firms and businesses, it gave off a certain stuffy and stilted atmosphere. We were politely instructed to take a seat at the bar and after a short wait we were served.  This is what their bar looks like, quite enticing indeed!!

Apologies for the lamp in the way. As you can see its a quite impressive line up. A solid mix of quality imports and local and domestic craft on tap and many more in bottles. The lawyer types can drink their imported asahi and pretend to be cultured, while there's still more adventurous offerings like their house beer, Gingerman Ale. Naturally I had to to try this!! Brewed by Captain Lawrence Brewery in up state New York this was certainly an interesting creature. Similar in body and mouth feel to our own Coopers Sparkling Ale with plenty of fizz and back notes of yeast. Not as cloudy as I expected, but with a rich mahogany brown colour. The ginger and spice lingered longingly on the back palate and added warmness. This is the kind of beer that's easy to session drink in the warmer months but would also be perfect to drink slightlty warmed up in the coldest winter. These beers are rarer then hens teeth. Quite a find. As you can see in the photo, Gingerman also does a service to the local community and offers reasonably priced growlers for takeaway. I can imagine a lawyer stumbling back to the office with a growler in each hand.  "Clear my schedule for this afternoon, Mary, I'M BUSY!"

If in New York for the weekend, throw the credit card at the wife/girlfriend/significant other point her in the direction of SOHO. Then high-tail it to these two decent establishments. Also make sure you cancel the credit card and turn off the phone. But most of all, enjoy the beer.