Posted By Kate on March 6, 2009

While in the greater Washington DC area over last weekend, Chad and I got to visit some pretty sweet breweries.

On the way into town, we stopped at the Flying Dog Brewery - Frederick, MD.  While the artwork donned on all of the logos is done by Hunter S. Thompson’s very own artist complete with Thompson’s, “Good People Drink Good Beer,” there was no beer to be had at the brewery upon our visit.  Because they don’t have their retail license, tours are only offered on Saturdays at 1:30pm.  For $5, you get a tour, a souvenier tasting glass, and a sample of several of their brews.  They did, however, keep the gift shop open for us so that we could grab a few items at off-hours.  Luckly, we already had some Flying Dog brews with us for the trip, so we weren’t thirsty dogs.

The next day, we tried out Hops Grill & Brewery (a chain) for a quick beer and appetizer.  The beer was good and the nachos were very tasty indeed. Chad tried the Red (which I wish I would have had) and I ordered the Gold. An alright place, we’d probably have to spend more time there to fully appreciate what is has to offer.

We also traveled into town to the Capitol Hill Capitol City Brewery.  A very cool place indeed.  One of 3, this location, is housed in the National Postal Museum, providing a view to the Capitol Building peeking over some trees.

There was a great variety of beer – we each did the sample which features 11 beers (mainstays and seasonals) – but the manner in which we had to remember what we were drinking proved to be difficult.  The tasting map only provided slots for the signature brews, so we had to process and try to remember what the other beers the waitress handed to us were.  I tried to place them next to beers she said had similarities of taste/coloring/style, but I knew I wouldn’t remember them all.  My favorite was the Belgian Tripel and Chad liked the Pale Rider.  All in all there were some really good beers there, a good menu, and a really cool atmposhere.

Finally, we topped off our mini brew tour with Shenandoah Brewing Company, a quaint, tucked-away brewery that was reminiscint of the Six Pack HOB if they were to brew.  I tried the Raspberry Lambic and Chad had the Old Rag Mountain Ale.   Cozy, super chill, and kind of bright inside, we learned you could brew your own beer there! Since we got there later in the evening and we didn’t make an appointment, we will definitely have to hit the SBC up next time we’re in town.  What a good find!

Unfortunately, Hook & Ladder didn’t have their DC site ready for touring or brewing, they off-site brew out of Rochester with hopes to be in DC by year’s end, so we’ll have to wait to hit them up next time we swing into our Nation’s Capitol.

Categories: Bar/Tavern Reviews, Food, Microbrew, Microbrew Reviews, Microbrewery, Microbrewery Review, Reviews
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