Mother Earth Brewing Dark Cloud
Where In Town: Kangaroo Boxing Club, 3412 11th St. NW
Price: $6/12 ounces
Hoppy Beginnings
Brisket comes before brews at the newly opened Kangaroo Boxing Club—the pastrami is the real deal. With its dozen unassuming but solid beers served at a cozy wooden bar, though, KBC will endear itself to you like a friendly little joey. (Full disclosure: I’ve known co-owner Josh Saltzman since before his food truck, PORC, ever started rolling.) It’s a place for a sandwich and a laid-back Oskar Blues pilsner or Lagunitas IPA, a place where co-owner Peyton Sherwood won’t mince words if you ask about the blackberry wheat beer: “It’s like blackberry on the nose, and it’s almost flavorless, but it’s alcoholic,” he told another customer. Instead, try the Dark Cloud from Mother Earth.
Finer Carolina
It’s a surprising treat to find Dark Cloud at KBC. Beers from Mother Earth and most other North Carolina breweries are about as rare in the District as tobacco fields and college basketball dynasties. Mother Earth calls this Munich-style lager “a mild lager that just happens to be dark.” I prefer to think of it as a porter that’s been slimmed down for summer with bolder notes of chocolate than most German beers, but with an utter lack of heaviness. If Foster’s is Australian for beer, maybe this is Carolinian for goes-well-with-’cue.