Chesapeake Oyster & Beer Festival

[StorageLady]

Groupon is offering a good discount today (limited tickets available) for the Chesapeake Oyster & Beer Festival at the National Harbor on Feb. 18th. Tickets which are normally $80 are being sold for $55 if you click here: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu12848561

And - on the same site they are offering a deal where you can get $18 of goodies (cupcakes, desserts, coffee) for $9 at Georgetown Scoops

If you haven't discovered Groupon yet - you should! It's a great way to try to new places at a good price.

If asked, I wouldn't complain if you said JanisKedanis@gmail.com referred you to the site

[mdt]

Groupon is offering a good discount today (limited tickets available) for the Chesapeake Oyster & Beer Festival at the National Harbor on Feb. 18th. Tickets which are normally $80 are being sold for $55 if you click here: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu12848561

And - on the same site they are offering a deal where you can get $18 of goodies (cupcakes, desserts, coffee) for $9 at Georgetown Scoops

If you haven't discovered Groupon yet - you should! It's a great way to try to new places at a good price.

If asked, I wouldn't complain if you said JanisKedanis@gmail.com referred you to the site

Has anyone been to this before? Worth attending at either price?

[DanielK]

It looked interesting, but "more than 10 kinds of oysters". That's it? From the wording, it also seemed like the "other food" would be the volume, and the oysters just for tasting. So, no Oyster Riot competition here.

[goldenticket]

It looked interesting, but "more than 10 kinds of oysters". That's it? From the wording, it also seemed like the "other food" would be the volume, and the oysters just for tasting. So, no Oyster Riot competition here.

The event website indicates other food (though mostly seafood):

"National Harbor's and Wash DC's finest will be on-hand serving you their favorite oyster and seafood dishes."

[xcanuck]

For what it's worth, Lisa and I decided to pick up tickets for the Friday night. While it doesn't have the scope of the Oyster Riot, it also doesn't have the cost of the Oyster Riot. The beer list looks better than expected and these days, we're happy for an excuse to get out of the house.

[Sthitch]

It looked interesting, but "more than 10 kinds of oysters". That's it? From the wording, it also seemed like the "other food" would be the volume, and the oysters just for tasting. So, no Oyster Riot competition here.

If these are really Chesapeake Bay oysters offering 10 types seems to be twice as many varieties as I can think of (Rappahannock, York, Stingray, James, and “Chesapeake Blue Points” – Paramour and Old Salts are Atlantic Oysters).

[Ericandblueboy]

If these are really Chesapeake Bay oysters offering 10 types seems to be twice as many varieties as I can think of (Rappahannock, York, Stingray, James, and “Chesapeake Blue Points” – Paramour and Old Salts are Atlantic Oysters).

Maybe they have rocky mountain oysters from bulls that graze near the Chesapeake?

[Ilaine]

For what it's worth, Lisa and I decided to pick up tickets for the Friday night. While it doesn't have the scope of the Oyster Riot, it also doesn't have the cost of the Oyster Riot. The beer list looks better than expected and these days, we're happy for an excuse to get out of the house.

We bought Groupon tickets, too. As long as there are enough oysters, what matters where they are from? Yes, some are better than others, but the only bad oyster is a bad oyster . . . .

[Soup]

Groupon is offering a good discount today (limited tickets available) for the Chesapeake Oyster & Beer Festival at the National Harbor on Feb. 18th. Tickets which are normally $80 are being sold for $55 if you click here: http://www.groupon.com/r/uu12848561

And - on the same site they are offering a deal where you can get $18 of goodies (cupcakes, desserts, coffee) for $9 at Georgetown Scoops

If you haven't discovered Groupon yet - you should! It's a great way to try to new places at a good price.

If asked, I wouldn't complain if you said JanisKedanis@gmail.com referred you to the site

How did I miss this and I am on groupon. I'm assuming this is done since I cannot see it on groupon.

[xcanuck]

Well, we have a sick infant on our hands and aren't feeling quite so hot ourselves.

So our pair of tickets to Friday night's Beer and Oyster Festival are up for grabs. IM me and let me know if you're interested. The tickets are fully transferable and available for pickup at the door so we don't have to coordinate any exchange of hardcopy tickets.

[Ilaine]

I have no idea how many oysters I ate last night at the Chesapeake Oyster and Beer Festival. Dozens, that's all I know. Uncounted dozens. (Well, many of them were quite small. Never seen Wellfleets that small.)

Once upon a time in my life I doused oysters with cocktail sauce or ketchup laced with horseradish, because that's what everybody else did. And I swallowed them without chewing them because I was afraid to chew them.

But eventually I learned to eat them with nothing more than a squeeze of lemon juice, and chew them up, savoring every bite, and slurp up the oyster liquor right out of the shell. So last night I just stood by the bins for oyster shells, slurping them right out of the shell, not even using a fork, just tongue and fingers. Slurp, and spit out the grit (if the oyster shucker was careless, and some of them seemed to be partaking of the beer, and placed the oysters on the narrow side, not the deep side.) Dump the shells and go back for more. My shirt was drenched in oyster juice. My fingers were salty and my cheeks and tongue abraded by grit and brine.

Gawd, they were good!

A veritable orgy of oyster-eating. Oh! For the first time in my life, I ate as many oysters as I truly desired.

Nothing else there was worth a feck, except the beer. They should have had a lot of little stand up tables, rather than only sit down tables, which were quickly dominated by groups. But I still got all the oysters I ever imagined.

[DanielK]

Again this year. $89 for tickets, or $260 for 2 tickets and a hotel room (that's actually a pretty good deal - best promotional rate I've ever seen at the Gaylord is about $130.)

[Soup]

Groupon has $59 tickets for the event. I'm not sure but I think the origional ticket price is $89. Pretty good discount.

I've not been to this event. Are Oysters and beer all that is avaible or is there anything else? BTW, how easy do they make it so you get a couple of dozen from each station (e.g., I've been to todai and they give you 3 oysters at a time so you end up having to make a lot of trips).

[goldenticket]

I went last year and the lines (when they existed) were only a few people deep. They limit ticket sales to keep the crowd size manageable, and have a number of stations for different oysters so people are spread out. There were a few areas that were crowded just due to layout and the fact that several of the beer stations were in one place. Some of the more popular oyster varieties were gone very quickly (kumamoto), but there were more than enough oysters to keep everyone happy throughout the event. They did have grilled oysters, which came out as they were ready, so that station did have a wait and a portion limit. I don't recall any limit on the number of oysters you could take at the shucking stations. There were a few other food items (pit beef, some sort of stew) and some wine stations. If you like oysters, it isn't a bad value, especially with the discounted price.