I’m optimistic by nature and very much encouraged by the recent vaccination progress among our populous, including the lowering of age eligibility across many states.
Given that and since we each had a shot under our belt, Mrs. KBM and I took a calculated risk on something called a v-a-c-a-t-i-o-n to visit Daughter-of-KBM (DoKBM) in our nation’s capital.
I looked for some poignant travel quotes to identify with and found this one resonated very well: “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” –Anonymous (one of my favorite quoters).
I also found this: “He who would travel happily must travel light.” –Antoine de St. Exupery, which I absolutely do not identify with and all the folks I’ve traveled with will attest to. Those stylish Fedora hats take up room. As does Jameson, our French bulldog…
We’ve been to Washington, D.C. in the past, but coming during the Age of COVID-19 was a bit different. D.C. folks are quite strict about masks and, as an example, it is a sign of mutual respect to wear your mask while outside at all times in addition to the inside rules.
It was great to experience the vibrancy of a major city and, knowing us well, DoKBM did an amazing job showing us the great local food and beer scene. Interestingly, and in a very pro-business way, the local districts allowed a parking lane to be taken over and most all restaurants have fashioned makeshift outdoor cafés with roofs and heaters. The odd square “QR” code is prevalent and when scanned with your phone’s camera the menu pops up and, in some places, all your transactions are done interactively via the phone with waitstaff delivering food and drinks.
Though we have a thirst (pun intended) for culture, museums in D.C. are closed but we were very fortunate to see the beautiful cherry blossoms blossom during our time there, and it was very heartening to see the honor bestowed on brewers and beer enthusiasts of yore with massive monuments. Nice touch.
All this monumental culture makes a KBM thirsty, and the D.C. beer scene has been thriving for many years. Geographically centered, D.C. opportunistically pulls craft beer from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. We enjoyed:
Alewerks Brewery’s (out of Williamsburg, Virginia) Tavern Brown Ale was 5.7% with six malt varieties all working in accord (a model for Congress) to provide an excellent version of an oddly hard-to-find style. Our food pairing channeled well with local BBQ ribs and chicken from a restaurant called “The Pig” in the Shaw District.
Nanticoke Nectar 7.4% IPA from RAR Brewery in Cambridge, Maryland, brought us excellent citrus flavors in mildly hazy form. Food-wise, we paired with fresh oysters from Pearl Dive Oyster company, and the haze nicely paved the way to the enjoyable bivalves (which are a spectacular source of good protein as my nutritionist informs me).
D.C. itself has many breweries, but I’d like to highlight Right Proper Brewing Company that did an excellent job with their Raised by Wolves session 5.0 % Pale Ale providing low bitterness in accompaniment with a satisfying tropical taste.
Vienna-style ales seem to be a popular style in the area, and Caboose Brewing Company’s 5.3% Vienna Lager from Vienna, Virginia (!) provided just the right backdrop to the epic Midlands Beer Garden Bratwurst consumed on a beautific sunny afternoon.
Side note to the beer garden: D.C. is super eco-friendly, and there are an abundant number of publicly available electric scooters on the streets that, with the scan of a QR code, are rentable for however long you would like to scoot. I would like to take time to commend the “little engine that could” of my scooter No. 9874762 that not only trekked me uphill to the beer garden, but also back with some brews and brats added to the payload. Thanks, Nikola Tesla.
D.C. is definitely worth a visit—when you’re comfortable.
From the Reader Mailbag:
Shmaltz Brewing Company She’brew #RBG milkshake 6% IPA — Our aforementioned D.C. tour guide reports in on this homage to the Beacon of Empowerment: “Wery good, just my style, light and fruity, a bit sour, definitely taste the raspberry and blueberry.” [Note: Also, a portion of the profits from She’brew’s #RBG IPA will go to the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and the Pink Boots Society.]
Local lager aficionado and No. 1 Schilling Brewery fan, now inexplicably going by “Astronobeer,” sends in this concise yet impactful missive: “Jaroslav Czech-style dark lager at 4.2% is aromatic and quite toasty.”
Send along any beer recommendations other readers may enjoy as well as beer-related questions you may have.
Upcoming Field Trips
With the warmer weather upon us, the backlog of craft beer venues to visit needs to be addressed! Here’s my list of spots I’ve judiciously kept a log of to visit (in no particular order other than general geography), in case any of you would like to get a head start on exploration (with a promise of sharing a review afterwards)
Westchester-NY-ish
• Bridge View Tavern – Tarrytown, bridgeviewtavern.com
• Broken Bow Brewery – Tuckahoe, brokenbowbrewery.com
• Industrial Arts – Beacon, industrialartsbrewing.com
• District 96 – New City, district96beer.com
Upstate-ish NY
• Bound by Fate Brewing – Schuylervillle, boundbyfatebrewing.com
• Chatham Brewery – Chatham, chathambrewing.com
• Kings Court – Poughkeepsie, kingscourtbrewingcompany.com
• Zeus Brewing Company – Poughkeepsie, zeusbrewingco.com
Hiking and Beer
• “Cap Off Your Hike with Cold Beer at These 7 Brewery-Side Hikes” (chronogram.com)
Connecticut
• Two Roads Brewing Co – Stratford, tworoadsbrewing.com
• Charter Oak Brewing Co – Danbury, charteroakbrewing.com
• Lock City Brewing – Stamford, lockcitybrewing.com
• Newsylum – Newtown, newsylumbrewing.com
Please suggest others and let me know if you’d like to meet up.
A note on spring beers
Spring is a time for rebirth and to start fresh. Sounds good, right?
You may be thinking the KBM should have a view on spring beer, e.g., “They Exemplify Spring!” I wish I could say that spring beers have that distinctive je ne sais quoi but, despite years of research, the whole lot seems like the Hallmark cards of “session beers,” which are fine, but not a category… to me. Carry on.
TheKatonahBeerMan@gmail.com; Instagram: @thekatonahbeerman; thekatonahbeerman.wordpress.com.
April 14, 2021 at 03:48AM
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