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.
No comments:
Post a Comment