MeridianFC
01-26-2004, 03:31 PM
The wife and I went to two of the newest bars in DC this weekend. We were excited to find a new Scottish bar, the Flying Scotsman, opened up down by the Capitol (2nd Street NW). The Fritz Hahn review in the Post mentioned their Burns Night celebration/official opening party. Unfortunately we already had Burns night plans, but we scooted down on Friday for a little recce. The Post review promised Belhaven (one of my wife's favorites) and several other decent brews. The bar is newly renovated. It had been mentioned that there was a significant college presence in the upstairs at weekends but that the owners (a Scot and an American) were hoping to appeal to a slightly older audience with malt whisky and the like.
I was slightly disappointed in the atmosphere. I guess I was really hoping for a proper Scottish style pub, but this seems just like any other DC bar. It's not a Bow Bar (drinking shop) or a Guildford Arms (venerable boozer). The upstairs was heaving with the backwards baseball cap mafia. I'm told it's a large crowd from CU.
The draft list was not very impressive: Bud, Bud Light, Micheloeb, Yuengling, Harp, Stella Artois, Flying Scotsmand Amber (I didn't find out who makes it), and some other (I think Woodchuck cider). They had Belhaven Ale and St. Andrews as well as Newcastle Brown in the bottle. I couldn't see what malts where on offer.
I did speak to the wife of the owner who was working behind the downstairs bar. I asked if they were going to get any of the Scottish beers on draft. I mentioned I'd had some Scottish cask at the Reef and RFD but I don't expect this place to handle anything like that anytime soon. Ok, ever. Anyhow, she said they look into it and I said I pass on the name of the new local distributor.
I'll give 'em a bit of break as they've only been open under a week. I'll report back again and see what they get up to.
Official verdict: wait and see
We then took a cab over to Finn McCool's Cork Public House on 8th Street SE. This is part of the new corridor over by Eastern Market that they're trying to rejuvinate. Finn McCools, run by some ex Dubliner & Irish Times people IIRC, is the only place in town serving Beamish draft, my favorite Irish dry stout. Well except for Black Biddy, but that's another story. The place was packed. There was a band playing, with a proper uilliean piper! Nobody was paying attention and it was loud as fuck. I took a while to get a beer (two pints of Beamish) and their computer system went down after we ordered so it took 10 minutes to get our change. The Beamish was very tasty, though way too cold. Alas I fear this is the future, taste buds frozen so as to save them for future generations.
The layout was nice enough, a bit big maybe. There's an upstairs that can function as a event room or spillover for the downstairs, though no one seemed to take advantage of this. The crowd seemed unusually big, loud, and rude.
I'm going to try to go back during the day time to see if a quiet pint of plain can be enjoyed.
Official verdict = er....I dunno there are a lot of Oirish bars in town..... though none have Beamish. Will give 'em another go but I'm not in a hurry.
I was slightly disappointed in the atmosphere. I guess I was really hoping for a proper Scottish style pub, but this seems just like any other DC bar. It's not a Bow Bar (drinking shop) or a Guildford Arms (venerable boozer). The upstairs was heaving with the backwards baseball cap mafia. I'm told it's a large crowd from CU.
The draft list was not very impressive: Bud, Bud Light, Micheloeb, Yuengling, Harp, Stella Artois, Flying Scotsmand Amber (I didn't find out who makes it), and some other (I think Woodchuck cider). They had Belhaven Ale and St. Andrews as well as Newcastle Brown in the bottle. I couldn't see what malts where on offer.
I did speak to the wife of the owner who was working behind the downstairs bar. I asked if they were going to get any of the Scottish beers on draft. I mentioned I'd had some Scottish cask at the Reef and RFD but I don't expect this place to handle anything like that anytime soon. Ok, ever. Anyhow, she said they look into it and I said I pass on the name of the new local distributor.
I'll give 'em a bit of break as they've only been open under a week. I'll report back again and see what they get up to.
Official verdict: wait and see
We then took a cab over to Finn McCool's Cork Public House on 8th Street SE. This is part of the new corridor over by Eastern Market that they're trying to rejuvinate. Finn McCools, run by some ex Dubliner & Irish Times people IIRC, is the only place in town serving Beamish draft, my favorite Irish dry stout. Well except for Black Biddy, but that's another story. The place was packed. There was a band playing, with a proper uilliean piper! Nobody was paying attention and it was loud as fuck. I took a while to get a beer (two pints of Beamish) and their computer system went down after we ordered so it took 10 minutes to get our change. The Beamish was very tasty, though way too cold. Alas I fear this is the future, taste buds frozen so as to save them for future generations.
The layout was nice enough, a bit big maybe. There's an upstairs that can function as a event room or spillover for the downstairs, though no one seemed to take advantage of this. The crowd seemed unusually big, loud, and rude.
I'm going to try to go back during the day time to see if a quiet pint of plain can be enjoyed.
Official verdict = er....I dunno there are a lot of Oirish bars in town..... though none have Beamish. Will give 'em another go but I'm not in a hurry.