Vacation

[bsardin]

I am looking for a place to vacation that is the best of both worlds. I need someplace that I can go where I can sample some great local beers that I can't get here in Arkansas but also someplace that has stuff for my family to do also. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[matt]

I think Washington DC is a fantastic place to be a tourist, and it may also be the single best place for diverse beer drinking on the planet.

First there's the mother of all beer bars, The Brickskeller. The Brick holds monthly tasting usually on tuesday and wednesday nights with different themes. These go on a break during the summer because a program through National Geographic takes over and does beer tastings on summer weeknights. The Brick has well over 1,000 different beers on the menu at any given time, and usually has 1 or 2 draught beers on weekends and 1 - 3 cask conditioned beers (local or Brittish) on weekends. Some of the vintage beers are impossible to find elsewhere. They have Thomas Hardy's Ales from the 80's! The Brick recently recieved a Guiness World Record for its beer selection.

Recently opened by the owner of the Brick is the new restraunt RFD downtown across from the MCI Center (Wizards, Caps, and Hoyas home arena). This place has some fantastic food, most of it made with beer. There are 300 beers on the menu, 30 of which are draft. Cask conditioned ale, gravity dispensed, is available 7 days a week, the selection of these rotates based on what B. United has available.
This place just opened and the food service can be slow, but the beer selection is worth it.

Apparently there's a good beer bar in the Adams morgan neighborhood called The Reef, but I've not been there.

For Brew Pubs, there are two Rock Bottom brew pubs that both have cask-conditioned beer and the brewers consistently have 2 beers that aren't in the standard Rock Bottom beer rotation. At the Arlington location the cask-conditioned Potomac Pale Ale is excellent and frequently dry-hopped. There's the District Chophouse near the MCI center that has an oatmeal stout aged in Old Grandad bourbon casks for six weeks and then served conditioned from a beer-engine (brittish hand pump). District Chophouse food can be spotty, stick with appetizers, the rack of lamb, beef tenderloin tips or the incredible chocolate cake. The Capitol City Brewing Company has three locations in the area with about 10 beers a piece on tap with the Shirlington location recently starting to serve a cask beer. There's also a John Harvard's brew pub next to the Warner theater, but I haven't been there since the old brewer left. Other brew pubs in the area include Sweetwater Tavern, Hops (yech!), and the Virginia Beverage Company. There really is a ton of beer in the city.

The standouts of the regional breweries are Old Dominion brewing company (VA), Dogfish Head (DE), and Victory(PA). Actually there's a whole mess of others but these are my favorites. If you go to an eating establishment in DC that has its "own" beer, chances are it was brewed by Old Dominion. Lots of the Dogfish products are available at the Brickskeller and RFD.

Plain ol' bars tend to have a lot more selection than most other places I've been. If I had to guess I'd say the average beer selection for medium sized bar is about 12 taps, only two of which will be macro-brewed.

There are also some great travel deals to be had in the DC area right now too. Have fun planning your trip!

[bsardin]

Thanks! And I thought the Flying Saucer had a lot of beers. The Brick sounds like a beer lovers paradise. I may have found my next vacation spot.

[pubscout]

Pick up a copy of the Ale Street News when you get here. Many good suggestions therein.

But if you're coming to NJ, can you be more specific about your destination? That would help narrow the choices I can provide.

[beerhound]

Hey, y'all. I am new to the board, but not with beer. What matt said is true about the Brickskeller. Fantasic place for the REAL beer drinker.

If you do come to the DC area, their is another place where you might want to check out. Up in my neck of the woods(in western Maryland) in Frederick, there is a place called Frederick Brewing Co. They brew about 20 differant beers. On Saturdays, they have a tour and tastings. There Wild Goose Porter is kick a$$.