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DC Beer Week is already halfway over, but there are some good events still on tap for the remaining days:

http://dcbeer.com/dcbw2012/

In my experience there are lots of marketing gimmicks and "tap takeovers" from established micros that don't offer anything new or rare, but there are a few here and there that seem worthwhile especially on the local front. I'd go to pretty much anything at ChurchKey since they seem to get the rarities and have a real interest in showcasing them. Note the DC Brau event on Friday and a couple of preview brews for their own upcoming brewpub near Nats Park (Bluejacket).

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Here are my tasting notes from the beer cruise. Highly recommended. Note: no rankings within each category.

Excellent:

3 Stars Saison

Chocolate City Copper Ale

Blue Jacket Saison

Victory Headwaters Pale

Troegs Perpetual IPA

Ommegang Biere de Mars

Ommegang Art of Darkness

Founders Reds Rye PA

Very Good:

Mad Fox Kolsch

Oliver Brewery Iron Man Pale Ale

Oliver Brewery Cherry Blossom Ale

Uinta Wyld Extra Pale

Belhaven Stout

New Belgium Sour Brown

Flying Dog Chinook and El Dorado Imperial IPAs

Ommegang Zuur

Ommegang XV Anniversary Trappist Dark Brown Ale

Good:

Chocolate City ESB

Mad Fox Molotov Hoptail

District Chophouse Pale Lager

21st American Bitter America

North Coast Brother Thelonius

Rhino Marzen

Founders Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale

Fair:

3 Stars Porter

District Chophouse Saison

Flying Fish IPA

Flying Fish Summer Ale

Poor:

Blue Jacket Washington OC

21st American Back in Black

Victory Festbier

DC Brau Porter

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Here are my tasting notes from the beer cruise. Highly recommended. Note: no rankings within each category.

Excellent:

Chocolate City Copper Ale

Poor:

DC Brau Porter

Ha! Interesting. I probably would have swapped those around. Was the DC Brau porter their "regular" porter or one of the myriad riffs on that recipe? I've had the normal one and some of the cask-aged offerings and thought they were all excellent. Chocolate City Copper Ale on the other hand? Meh. But copper/red ales don't do it for me.

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Ha! Interesting. I probably would have swapped those around. Was the DC Brau porter their "regular" porter or one of the myriad riffs on that recipe? I've had the normal one and some of the cask-aged offerings and thought they were all excellent. Chocolate City Copper Ale on the other hand? Meh. But copper/red ales don't do it for me.

My ratings are based on styles, and personal taste of course, and not straight up comparisons. I like Copper Ales, and I thought the Chocolate City one was excellent. Porter isn't my favorite style, but the DC Brau porter was so sweet it was completely unbalanced and literally sent me to the food bar for a roll to clear my palate. Awful.

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DC Beer Week is back starting on Sunday night, and there appear to be a ton of events.  Does anyone have any recommendations from prior beer week experience?  Is anyone going to any of the shindigs?

www.dcbeer.com/dcbw2013

The Hop Chef event sounds interesting, but Breaking Bad is going to win out on Sunday evening in our house.  The Old Ebbitt BrewHaHa also looks like it could be fun (or it could be a ridiculous madhouse).  Interested in reading peoples' plans!

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Note that the official site is http://dcbeerweek.net/ - dcbeer.com is "the Washington metropolitan area's premier resource for craft beer coverage, covers and promotes DC's craft beer culture through its locally-focused beer website and tasting and educational events."

Thanks, DanielK - my computer wouldn't load the .net site for some reason, so I've been using the DC Beer site to find events.

We are doing the H Street bar crawl on Monday and the BrewHaHa at Old Ebbitt on Saturday. Anyone else?

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The H Street bar crawl (actually, they called it a "progressive beer dinner") was a lot of fun, but I probably got more out of the food than the beer.  It was hosted by Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada - mostly local distributers/reps, but the co-founder of Sierra Nevada was the crawl leader, and he had some good stories to tell and interesting info to share.  We went to five different locations (Rock & Roll Hotel, H Street Country Club, Cusbah, Big Board, and Smith Commons), and with the exception of RnRH, each restaurant prepared three small bites/courses - the first was created to pair with the Sam Adams beer, the second was created to pair with the Sierra Nevada beer, and the third was created to pair equally well with both beers.  Jason and I tapped out early and skipped Smith Commons, but we were absolutely STUFFED and rather tipsy, so the offerings were generous in my opinion.  I really enjoyed a perfectly cooked chicken thigh with braised veggies at H Street CC, a lamb curry dish at Cusbah, and the spicy slider at Big Board.

As for the beers, it started pretty traditional at RnRH, but then the breweries offered small batch and limited edition beers that we had never tried before.  I wish I could remember some of them!

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The BrewHaHa at Old Ebbitt on Saturday was kind of a bust.  Don't get me wrong, most of the beer and food we sampled was tasty, but the logistics were kind of a nightmare.  They set things up in the Atrium, which is a decent space for hosting "mix and mingle" type events, but the band, while actually pretty good, was SO LOUD that you had to scream to talk to the person next to you.  Also, they did not have more than a few high-top tables where people could stop and put their beer down and eat, which was a shame since a LOT of the food was not "eat with your fingers" friendly.  To use the restroom, you had to leave the Atrium and go to another building across the street, but they wouldn't let you bring your glass outside, so you either had to leave your stuff with a companion or set it down in the hallway/corridor and hope that someone didn't take it/crush it/spit in it/otherwise defile it.

Next year for Beer Week, I will stick to the smaller neighborhood events.

Who am I kidding - every week is Beer Week in our house!  :P

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