NightLife
by Fritz Hahn
It wasn’t that long ago that beer aficiona- dos who wanted to try an exotic brew had to make a special pilgrimage to a landmark beer bar like the Brickskeller or visit certain restaurants — say, a Belgian restaurant — to enjoy unfamiliar Belgian ales. But then the revolution came, bringing temples of ale such as Birreria Paradiso, ChurchKey and Brasserie Beck. And as more people have tried good beers — IPAs, English ales, off-the-beaten-path lagers — there has been a trickle-down effect. Now even laid- back neighborhood spots are likely to have a couple of above-average beers on tap that you can sip while hanging out with friends. The trend shows no sign of slowing down, and here are three of my recent favorites.
DODGE CITY
917 U St. NW. No phone. Open Sunday- Thursday 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., Friday-Saturday 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.
Dodge City has street cred in spades. It’s
an offshoot of the neighboring Velvet Lounge, the most underground-minded of D.C. clubs hosting live rock. There’s no sign outside (of course), so you have to look for the blue awning advertising the long-gone America’s Bounty market. Two of the part- ners are longtime fixtures behind the bar at the always popular Black Cat. Weekend DJs rotate in from places such as Marvin, Won- derland and Cafe Saint-Ex. And it has taken the place of Kingpin, a legendary D.C. dive bar that closed after a Christmas 2004 fire. The brand-new two-level space is any- thing but a dive, with exposed brick walls, muted blues and grays throughout and plen- ty of framed art and photos on display. Ta- bles and benches provide plenty of seating, especially on the wide-open first floor. Up- stairs, the space is split between bar, lounge area and a small dance floor. What I wasn’t expecting to see, though, was a craft-heavy draft lineup, which stars Great Lakes’ Dortmunder Gold, Bear Repub- lic’s hoppy Racer 5, Green Flash’s Hop Head Red, Victory’s fruity Golden Monkey, Troegs Pale Ale and the crisp Scrimshaw Pilsner, all
Boy Howdy is one of the DJs who play funk,
hip-hop, disco, Latin American tunes and go-go at Dodge City Thursday through Saturday.
PHOTOS BY EVY MAGES FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
Kieran McGrath, right, Nick Gay and Jonathan Spencer at Dodge City, which offers no macrobrews other than Guinness.
$6 or $7, except for the Troegs, which is $5. The goal wasn’t to compete with Church-
Key or Birreria, says bartender/partner Pat- rick Mucklow, but to choose beers that he and fellow bartender/partner Angie Hopson were into. That meant no macrobrews (oth- er than Guinness) and lots of beers with character. There are cheaper (and lesser) options in
bottles, including Pilsner Ace and Miller High Life, plus Stone’s Levitation Ale. What to do while you sip? Thursday through Saturday, the upstairs DJ booth is home to some great D.C. spinners, including Neville C. (of Saint-Ex’s Brazilian Rhythms), DJ D-Mac (Marvin), and DJ Nitekrawler (U Street Music Hall and Wonderland), playing funk, hip-hop, disco, Latin American tunes and go-go. (Actually, the last one is essential, since the place takes its name from the 1988
stop-the-violence go-go single “D.C. Don’t Stand for Dodge City.”)
COLUMBIA FIREHOUSE
109 S. St. Asaph St., Alexandria. 703-683- 1776. Open Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m., Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m. to 1:30 a.m.
When the Neighborhood Restaurant Group took over this century-old firehouse- cum-restaurant last year, it didn’t change much of the bar: It’s still the same ear- ly-20th-century saloon as when it was Portn- er’s or Bookbinder’s, all dark wood, elabo- rate chandeliers, an antique pressed-tin ceil- ing and black-and-white tiles underfoot. The crowd ranges from the 20s to the 60s, with many regulars who know the bartenders and one another by name. But the man now in charge of the beer
program is Greg Engert, the mastermind who turned Rustico and ChurchKey into beer-geek destinations, and he has stocked the draft list with some of the best beers from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, including Tuppers’ Hop Pocket Ale, Victory’s St. Victorious Doppelbock, Weyerbacher’s tasty Belgian-style tripel Merry Monks and Flying Dog’s summery Woody Creek White. “It’s a hyper-local venue” in terms of food and beer, Engert says. “The idea was to do solely mid-Atlantic offerings, and while it’s not as huge as the other venues, there’s a nice spread of flavors.” Soon, the beer program will expand to double the number of bottles — meaning some national and international beers will begin to find their way in — but the really ex- citing news is that the Firehouse is adding a British beer engine, and it should start serv- ing cask-conditioned ales within a month. The best time to visit is during the week-
day happy hour: Although most drafts are regularly an affordable $5 or $6, the price is cut to $2 each between 4 and 7 p.m.
LYON HALL
3100 Washington Blvd., Arlington. 703-741- 7636. Open Tuesday-Saturday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m.
You might expect Lyon Hall, a new Alsa- tian-inspired brasserie from the owners of Clarendon’s Liberty Tavern, to have a Euro- centric beer menu. After all, what washes down rich Lyon sausage or a bacon-and- onion tarte flambe better than a full- bodied Belgian tripel or a fine German la- ger? But the menu (20 drafts, and almost four times as many bottles) is better than expected. Grab a seat at the long bar or the parallel counter, and start exploring. (The menu is divided into “Session” beers and high-alco- hol “Drink Well” beers.) From Belgium come the fruity Troubadour blonde and smooth Silly Saison. Germany’s Hoffbrau Maibock is solid, but upstaged by a Canadian beer: Le Trou du Diable’s Weizgripp, a rich, spicy dopplebock with plenty of kick. Hobgoblin, amalty organic ale, is the English standout. The United States gets in the act with the hoppy Yard’s IPA from Philly, one of my fa- vorite regional brews, and Allagash’s Cu- rieux, a tripel aged in bourbon barrels to make it sweeter and stronger. The bar scene is split between beer drink- ers and wine drinkers — Lyon Hall’s mostly French by-the-glass list is almost as intrigu- ing as the beers — and it can get hectic on weekends. (And loud: The bar area is all marble and tile.) Bartenders are fast and friendly, and make the wait go down easy.
fritz.hahn@washingtonpost.com
BEER FESTIVALS
Brewers from across the country bring beer to Washington next week; find events at
goingoutguide.com/bars. And 150 miles to the north, Philly Beer Week kicks off June 4, see Page 17.
Tapping into D.C.’s thirst for beer
7
THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
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