It’s a frighteningly busy time for craft beer fun in D.C. Tuesday evening alone has more stuff to do than most entire weeks! Read on for some highlights and insider information on different events, but for details click on the event in our D.C. Beer Events Calendar above.
On Monday, ChurchKey will be pouring Rodenbach Vintage 2008, a limited-edition Flanders sour ale matured for two years in a single oak cask at the brewery in Belgium.
On Tuesday Liberty Tree chef Graig Glufling is hosting a four-course paired tasting at Little Miss Whiskey’s. Fall themed pairings include grilled butternut squash, pecans and arugula salad paired with Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin Ale and scallops with bacon and spicy Vermont maple syrup glaze paired with Kulmbacher EKU 28 Doppelbock. More on Tuesday include Belga Café’s monthly Belgian beer dinner and opening night for Rustico’s new Ballston location.
Also on Tuesday, Galaxy Hut in Clarendon hosts a night of hophead heaven with Left Hand Brewing Company (Longmont, Colorado) and Terrapin Beer Company (Athens, Georgia). The breweries are touring with their third Midnight Brewing Project series collaboration, Oxymoron, a 7.2%-ABV American Pale Lager. Also available will be Left Hand’s Warrior Fresh Hop IPA and Twin Sisters Double IPA, and Terrapin’s Hopzilla Douple IPA and So Fresh & So Green, a fresh harvest ale brewed with 360 pounds of Amarillo hops flown in overnight from the Yakima Valley in Washington State. Galaxy Hut is a small place so if you are worried about squeezing your way to those taps, check out Rick’s Wine & Gourmet from 4:00 to 6:00pm for a tasting of Terrapin and Left Hand beers.
Speaking of wet-hopped, on Tuesday and Wednesday night the Brickskeller is hosting Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing and Lost Abbey in California to lead a tasting of fresh harvest ales. Featured beers include Pizza Port Carlsbad Plant to Pint, Pizza Port Solana Low Tide, Pizza Port San Clemente Riptide, Pizza Port Ocean Beach Get Wet IPA and Port Brewing High Tide IPA. The tasting will also include Weyerbacher Harvest Ale, Sierra Nevada Fresh Harvest Ale, and Sierra Nevada Estate Harvest Ale, a beer brewed with hops grown on-site at the brewery in Chico, California.
On Wednesday PING by Charlie Chiang’s in Arlington is hosting a six-course paired dinner with seasonal and limited release beers from Bell’s Brewery in Michigan, including Hell Hath No Fury… Belgian-style stout and the Oracle Double IPA.
On Friday, there is no reason to be upset that Night at the Living Zoo tickets have been sold out for weeks. The Brickskeller is hosting a “Sanity vs. Fear” tasting featuring some serious beers from two of the most accomplished brewers in the area: Jason Oliver of Devils Backbone in Roseland, Virginia, and Bill Madden or Mad Fox in Falls Church. Highlights include Madden’s oaked Wee Heavy aged in Rye barrels, and Oliver’s Kung Pow Enter the Hop, a far eastern influenced single hop IPA brewed with flaked rice and Sorachi Ace hops, and a chance to see owner Dave Alexander perform some blues on the stage with Celebrator Beer Magazine owner and publisher Tom Dalldorf.
Also on Friday, Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland, is hosting a Halloween bash with live music, 12 taps of fresh beer, a $500 costume contest, and haunted brewery tours. [UPDATE: Sold out]
And don’t forget the regular weekly events: Room 11‘s Monday night guest tap, which is Smuttynose IPA this week, and trivia night at Biergarten Haus on Tuesday and Meridian Pint on Wednesday.
Send submissions for the D.C. Beer Events calendar to thelagerheads@gmail.com.