The Beltway Beer Scene
A Guide to Beer in DC

By Geoffrey D. Witham

For a town within driving distance of some inspirational microbreweries in Maryland, Virginia, and most especially Pennsylvania, the District is surprisingly bereft of craft-brewed beer. There are times when it seems that the please-them-all mentality of local politicos has leaked into the taps: sure, they’ve got your favorite pilsner, so long as its name begins with a B and ends with “-eiser.” You say you want an ale? They’ve got plenty, of both Bass and ginger. “We also have a large selection of light beers,” waiters announce in bubbly tones as you begin to weep.

Fear not, hopheads and maltmaniacs, there is real beer to be found in metro DC, if you’re willing to wander off the beaten path. What follows is an overview of several unique beer destinations, both bars and microbreweries. I’m not reviewing the predictable; you do not need me to give details about an Irish pub because you already know what beer (Guinness) and what food (bland) they serve. Instead I’m focusing on those places that pride themselves either on their beer selection or on their homebrews. So let’s start with a place so proud that it makes Rush Limbaugh seem meek.

The Brickskeller (Dupont Circle, DC): There are thousands of microbreweries around the world, but just because they’re small does not mean that their product is good. This is a lesson lost on the folks at Brickskeller. Open only in the evening, it is almost certain that you will wait on a busy night, sometimes more than two hours. On weekends the Brickskeller has several guest taps of rare beer, but no one seems to be screening them for quality – it’s definitely hit or miss. The permanent menu is also unpredictable. Sure, the beer you want may be on their list of 1000 bottled beers, but that doesn’t mean they actually have it. During a recent visit with a beer-geek friend of mine, the waitress came back empty-handed four times. Even the list itself is not nearly as impressive as it seems at first: just the brand names with no description of characteristics. And don’t even bother asking the waitresses for suggestions. Food offerings include overpriced burgers (buffalo) and overcooked steaks (also buffalo). The Brickskeller is a charming idea bloated to Godzilla proportions. Hit it early on a Tuesday or Wednesday, order a couple of appetizers and several bottles of your favorite type of beer (ESB anyone?), and you’ll leave happy. But don’t expect to be blown away.

RFD (Downtown DC): This newer pub/restaurant is owned by the same people who brought you the Brickskeller, and RFD is a far more successful endeavor. The initials stand for Regional Food and Drink, and the menu features a rotating list of 30+ local beers on tap, with another 300 in bottles. While most of the beers hail from the Mid-Atlantic, “local” is a matter of interpretation, and RFD is not so narrow-minded as to exclude the occasional New York or even Irish beer. Brew fans will find much to admire, from the hoppiest IPA to the fruitiest lambic, served by a pleasant – if somewhat harried – staff. To complement your quaffing, RFD offers respectable sandwiches and ballgames on large screen TVs – nothing groundbreaking, but well done. The downtown location is at times too convenient, as the bar can get crowded after a game at the MCI Center or when GWU frat boys converge en masse to drink bottled Bud and grunt at one another. However, the proximity of the Metro station is a godsend when you’ve taken a full tour’s worth of the regional drinks. If you can be patient with the service, RFD is a best bet when you’re downtown.

District Chophouse (Downtown DC): Primarily known as a steakhouse, the District Chophouse also features a handful of its own beers. Most of them are competent but unexceptional (the predictable nut browns and pales), but stout fans need to plan a pilgrimage. The District Chophouse’s oatmeal stout is a silky, caramelized pint of heaven, medium-bodied and just sweet enough to make dessert seem unnecessary. And if that’s not enough, you can order a hand-pulled pint of Bourbon Stout, oatmeal stout aged in oak bourbon casks. The stout’s sweetness is the perfect complement for the woody aroma and aftertaste imparted by the whiskey. It’s a heavy and imposing brew, but if you are a fan of both beer and bourbon, it doesn’t get any better than this. Of course the Chophouse also offers a full menu of respectable steaks, but be prepared to pay – they aren’t cheap. Budget shoppers should arrive early for happy hour and nibble appetizers in the bar.

Capitol City Brewing (Downtown DC & Arlington, VA): About the nicest thing I can say for Capitol City is that its climate control system seems to work perfectly: I was neither hot nor cold during my visits. Otherwise, this place is a snore. Every single beer on the menu is mild, bubbly, and predictable. No matter which style you order, it will taste almost exactly like the most popular brand of that style – the “golden” is a lot like Heineken, the “light” like Amstel, the “stout” like Murphy’s (that is, Guinness Light). Even the porter, a less popular style overall, tastes like something Michelob would market. It also seems as though every beer is as carbonated as a bottle of Sprite. If you need to burp, order a pale ale; if you want actual liquid, ask for ice water. The food here is about as good as you’d get at any Applebee’s, but the crowd is more pretentious and the bartenders less amiable. Only drink here if you’ve been struck by a car out front and need one more ale before death.

Gordon Biersch (Downtown DC): I must confess that I am not a big fan of German-style lagers; I much prefer English and American ales or the occasional stout. Therefore I am not the best person to review this brewpub, but I have been here a couple of times, and the service is friendly, the food is decent, and it’s a handsome restaurant in a convenient location. The beer selection offers a variety of freshly brewed lagers. To my taste, I suspect that Gordon Biersch suffers from a milder version of Capitol City disease: the beers taste generic. Perhaps the corporate overlords of this chain restaurant allowed marketing surveys to determine the beer recipes. Which leads me to…

Hops (Alexandria, VA): Hops is another chain, and as with most chains, the food is reliable but nothing extraordinary. However, Hops really wants to be known as a “brewpub.” Not only did owners name the place Hops, they also feature their beers prominently both in recipes and in fake-looking tanks ostentatiously placed in the center of the restaurant. But the hype here, as with hype nearly everywhere, is mostly just hype. On the occasions I’ve been to Hops, I’ve had all of four styles to choose from: an amber, a pale ale, a limp red, and two golden lagers so light that they were nearly invisible. The amber and the pale are like brothers, one maltier, the other somewhat hoppy. Both go down easy, but neither is worth a special trip. The others are not even worth the time it takes you to order them. If you truly love good beer, you go to Hops only when your visiting parents demand that you take them to a neon-lit restaurant that serves rice pilaf.

Babe’s Billiards Cafe (Tenleytown, DC): Lest anyone accuse me of being a beer-elitist, I offer you this recommendation. We have all been in situations where our friends want to watch a game or our partners want to play pool, when all we really want is good beer. Comrades, you can do no better than Babe’s, especially in northwest DC. Let the sorority girls sip on overpriced, underboozed frozen margaritas at any of northwest’s “Mexican” restaurants, and let the frat boys wander afar looking for the biggest of the big screens. At Babe’s you can eat good pub grub for under ten bucks, bank a shot on a perfectly maintained table, and watch all the major games on a wall of TVs. Most importantly, you can select from about a dozen draft beers. Sure, about half of them are crowd-pleasing lighter brews, but you’ll also find a rotating selection of good American and British ales: Sierra Nevada Porter, a seasonal Pete’s, maybe even Double Diamond. It’s not an adventurous list, but it’s a good one. I drank here every Thursday night during graduate school, and I’ll drink here again.

Franklin’s Restaurant, Brewery, and General Store (Hyattsville, MD): Hopheads, this is the one you’ve been looking for. Franklin’s is the unlikely star of DC’s beer scene, offering eight to ten of its own brews on tap everyday. There are of course the obligatory golden and red ales, but every other style is a unique, carefully crafted beer. Franklin’s regularly features four hoppy beers on its menu: a smooth concoction called “Twisted Turtle,” a strong (7% ABV) IPA, an ever-changing “Anarchy Ale,” and the very best Extra-Special Bitter I’ve every tasted. That ESB is hoppier than most, fully malted, leaving just the slightest of molasses notes on your palate. Add to this list a variety of seasonals and part-time brews: best bitters, wheats, Belgians, stouts, and a fantastic maple porter whose return I am eagerly awaiting. Fridays also feature a cask-conditioned ale, usually one of the pale ales with various dry hops. This is not to say that brewer Charles Noll never errs. No one misses the old brown ale, and that best bitter is no better than the extra-special, so it needs to be renamed. And if he’s had one too many, you may have to listen as Charles lectures about the evils of (fill in Bush Administration policy here), which can only be rectified if people join to support (name of liberal cause) during the March for (name of victimized group) Rights this weekend. Other drawbacks include the “Asian” entrees on the menu and the necessity of cab fare; Franklin’s is about two miles from the nearest Metro station. However, Charles is not usually inebriated, there are dozens of good American and Italian dishes to choose from, and a two-mile cab ride is only a couple of bucks. I’ve brought dozens of friends to Franklin’s and they all leave happy. No matter how far you have to travel, this one is worth the trip.