Beer Frontier. Aventures of a Beer Activist.

Or a Free Growler for That Matter?
As a member of Rock Bottom’s ‘Mug Club’ I get invited to their monthly brewer night where Geoffrey S. Lively taps a new beer, provides free snacks, and hangs around chatting with customers, making sure they get a generous 20 oz. pour from the keg. I returned to the Bethesda locale a few nights later to meet some fellow homebrewers/colleagues from my Co-op America days. Geoffrey was tapping Trouble, his annual holiday ale. This is strong stuff and boosts the crowd toward the holiday spirit rather effectively. Unfortunately, our waiter dumped a pint of it on my lap, but he later made up for it by giving me a free growler-full of Trouble.

Cuckoo for Cocoa
In the gift-giving spirit of the holidays I presented the growler to my friend Rob when I visited him the next day to brew – what else – a cocoa brown ale. Rob and I have also been experimenting with a coffee-infused porter. Next maybe we’ll try a coffee-chocolate mocha stout?!

Will Bike for Beer
A few years back, a group of us followed the Capitol Crescent trail into Virginia and made a day of biking and brewpub-hopping. Beginning at the Bethesda Rock Bottom, our next stop was Dr. Dremo’s, an old car dealership converted into a brewpub. At the time, it was a quirky place that hadn’t really figured itself out yet, with pool tables downstairs, a vast upstairs accented with riveted steel and a bar that doubled as a sushi boat canal. The beers were great but the pizza had real mold on it. These days their beers are contract brewed by the Shenandoah Brewing Company in Virginia. Including their six house beers, they have about 35 taps, which is one of the best selections of draft craft beer in the region.

We continued riding, hugging the Potomac River to the left on the most scenic stretch of the trail, and made it to Capitol City brewpub in Arlington. Then on down to old town Alexandria and the Virginia Beverage Company, which is sadly closed now. We ate and some of us enjoyed the smell of cigar smoke, while others complained. The hearty food threatened to ground us, but we mustered the energy to make it to our final destination.

A few of us were up for maximum punishment so we road into downtown D.C. to end our day with a freshly-tapped Marzen from Gordon Biersch. Downtown D.C. also has two other Capitol City brewing locations, and another Rock Bottom, called the District Chophouse, as well as a John Harvard’s brewpub – but there is only so much beer and biking a person can (and should) do in one day. Plus, biking the streets of downtown D.C. is an adventure of its own that requires a sharp mind. Alternatively, it is quite easy to stroll to all five downtown D.C. brewpubs. Mmm, sounds like a plan.

Randy for Randall
R.F.D. had not opened yet at the time of our brewpub bike tour. But I did manage to stop there over the recent holidays and meet what they call Randall the Enamel Animal. Randall, which was created by Dogfish Head and has also been called the Organoleptic Hop Transducer Module, is a cylinder of fresh hops through which your choice of draft beers passes just before it pours into your glass. The result is a brilliantly aromatic pint full of hop bliss. It’s fun to try it with the Dogfish Head 60, 90 or 120 minute IPA. But if uber-hops is not your thing, you can also choose from over 300 different bottled beers, 30 taps, and a rotating cask of real ale. The kitchen fixes several beer dishes and provides expert recommendations for beer pairings with each plate.

Mr. Dogfish Head Goes to Washington
For a city that gets so much wrong, Washington D.C. is managing to get beer more and more right. And from this, good things must follow. In fact – this just in – Dogfish Head is planning a string of six restaurants in the D.C. metropolitan area. The first of which is scheduled to open in Silver Spring, MD in June of this year. Hooray!