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Monday means it’s time for The Lagerheads to bring you the week in beer. (Click on an event for details beyond our descriptions below.) Many events this week are for Belgian National Day, when Belgophiles the world over will celebrate July 21, the day Belgium proclaimed independence from The Netherlands in 1831. You can get things started Monday at ChurchKey where two distinctive Belgian beers, Rodenbach Classic, a Flanders Red (that means sour, you’ve been warned), and Palm Speciale, a Belgian Pale Ale (that means hoppy and lager-like, you’ve been warned again), will be featured on draft.
Also on Monday, as part of their week-long Belgian National Day Celebration, Brasserie Beck will feature a special three-course menu highlighting mussel creations from Robert Wiedmaier of Beck, Bart Vandaele of Belga Café, and Claudio Pirollo of Et Voila! If you can’t make it on Monday, head to Beck anytime this week to try their Mussel Throwdown winning dish. The three toques’ Belgian National Day celebrations continue with Belgian chocolate at Et Voila! on Tuesday and big bashes at each of the three restaurants on Wednesday.
Become the beer nerd you have always wanted to be (or confirm your current nerdiness and perhaps kick it up a notch) at the Brickskeller’s Beer School, headed by bar manager Rachel Murray (a.k.a. DC Beer Goddess). The three-class series continues with Session 2 this week, which focuses on beers from around the world. Classes cost $35, which includes 3 oz. tastings of 12 beers, and are offered Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. The course will culminate with Sessions 3 next week.
If this won’t get you out to H Street, nothing will. On Tuesday Biergarten Haus is hosting their first trivia night and promising 10% off all food and drink orders starting at 6:30pm for people willing to participate. But wait, there’s more. The winning team will get a free boot of beer. Das BOOT! Perhaps the best bar trivia prize ever.
More appropriate for a Das Boot reference, on Thursday Rick’s Wine & Gourmet is hosting a guided boat tour of the monuments with Nick Dean from Harpoon Brewery. The one-hour ride down the Potomac River features an assortment of beer, wine, and hors d’oeuvres, costs $50, and leaves from the Georgetown dock at 31st Street, NW.
This Saturday modern-day gladiators Juliana Santos, Wine Director at Columbia Firehouse, and Greg Engert, Beer Director at ChurchKey, will go head-to-head (well not exactly since wine has no head, one of its many disadvantages) in a beer vs. wine smackdown at Columbia Firehouse in Alexandria. Guests will try six beers and six wines selected by each contender to pair perfectly with six small dishes prepared by chefs from each restaurant. You can taste it all and help choose the winner of this first annual “Battle of the Bottles” for $45.
Oh, and Mussel Bar is definitely opening this week, most likely on Wednesday.