Beer and bargains, playing is half the fun, but time waits for no thirsty man

DC Brau's Stone of Arbroath at Bier Baron

There are two things that you can't get away from when going out to enjoy good beer.  One is that you will be able to have beer on tap which is something you can't do at home (unless you have your own home bar and kegerator).  The second is, usually you will be spending more money, particularly when it comes to drinking non macro produced brews.

For me, drinking beer in the DC area can be expensive, that is why I was so excited in early April to read about a promotion that was going on for neighborhood bars and restaurants.

The Washington Post had an article about a passport that you could get to promote DC beer week. You buy a small badge for $10 dollars, visit the venues and you could get certain discounts.  The deals on beer varied from venue to venue.  Churchkey for example, had a promotion for the badge to have half off any cask beer on Mondays.  It was obvious when I looked at the offer the badge price would be quickly compensated for the deals that were offered.  The real kicker was that if you visited all of the places in your passport, you would get stamped, and could enter your passport in a drawing.  15 winners would get a $50 dollar gift certificate to 1 of the 15 bars, and... wait for it... 1 grand prize for $50 gift certificates to.. ALL OF THEM.  Looking at the list there were many venues I was quite often a visitor, some that I had not visited in some time, and some that I have never been to.  It was time to move post haste and get my badge and earn the prize... or... not.  Perhaps it is of no use to mention this deal now, since the end of April is upon us, but if I could make one saving grace to tell you about this promotion, it is that I have not got a chance to grab the brass ring.  But I tried!!  and found also some real new interesting things along the way.

Nugget Nectar at Churchkey

The first place I thought of going to was an obvious one and that was Churchkey.  I am at this place often, and it is no stranger to anyone in the DC area as a premier destination for beer.  Here is a place to chase 40 taps and a bottle list that fits in a huge binder.  If you are a beer nut/geek/dork/freak, you need to visit.  It was also one visit here that during my passport hunt I met someone I will refer to as only "The Man".

"The Man", like myself, is a guy who comes into Churchkey with pen and paper in hand to review, not unlike me and many other beer reviewers.  There is one exception. "The Man" is retired, he's also much older than myself and is up to nearly 10,000 personal reviews of beers.  Striking a conversation with him we could talk about beers till we were blue in the face.  The hardest part, was he wouldn't let me leave!  Needless to say, I still had to figure out how to get to all these other places on my passport.  Me and "the man's" path I am sure will cross again.

Meridian Pint was a no brainer, It's often in between my work and on the way home so that was no big deal.  The Dupont Circle area was close to my area for work for after tipples that fit places like Pizza Paradiso, Kramers, Bier Baron  and so forth.  A few spot places could also be managed.  But how was I going to do the rest?  It was obvious that a good chunk involved a return trip to the Adams Morgan neighborhood.  The last time I was there to imbibe was during my last bachelor party which should put things into perspective, and will be a story I won't dare repeat here.  So what's new in Adams Morgan 7-8 years later?

One of three walls of Jack Rose

I went to a place that never existed back in the day called Jack Rose.  Upon walking in, my eyes nearly exploded.  Rows, and ROWS and ROWS lined the shelves filled with mostly whiskey bottles.  I was rather stunned to see so many bottles on display, it was a physical library of whiskey.  I grabbed a seat though thinking about what beer to have, and more importantly, if the beer selection would be just an afterthought to the whiskey choices offered here.  With 20 choices on tap and a quick glance of the handles my mind was made up in an instant.

Schlenkerla Eiche on tap at Jack Rose

Peering out was a familiar name, and more so, it's name on a distinct green background that makes me drool everytime on first sight, that beer name is Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche, their oak smoked rauchbier.  I love this beer to death.

The tap list here at Jack Rose seems to focus on malty offerings, a Smoked and Oaked Epic beer popped out as well.  No doubt the offerings here at Jack Rose are bent to hit on the whiskey smokiness offerings, and the beers seem to hint at dark richness focusing on malt and smoke.  It is a place that I need to visit again.  A quick chat of the bartender mentioned that the place has the largest whiskey selection in the United States.  I really need to return...

Summer Solstice - Anderson Valley at Smoke & Barrel

Smoke & Barrel was another place I visited that is also new.  This place was a mystery to me at first, and it sort uh... made me wonder what happened to the old Asylum that use to be around here?  I quickly forgot settling in with a familiar favorite cream ale from Anderson Valley, their Summer Solstice.  Really nice atmosphere, and very friendly staff was what I left with for an impression.  The place contains BBQ but I did not have any when I visited at the time.

Tryst tap shot and staff photos in Adams Morgan

Being in Adams Morgan reminded me for an overdue visit to a place I always think of, but never get a chance to visit as much as I would like and that is Tryst.  A great coffee house, it has had what I would consider a very noticeable make over since my last visit.  Where is all the ratty ripped furniture?  Woah these walls are actually painted (and cleaner).  Still the portraits on the wall of the coffee staff are still there, this time against a clean yellow creme background.  I still get a kick out of the one guy who has a cup of joe over his groin, the camera angle posed and shot to make it look like he's a pic right of an ... ahem... porno mag.  Hey your espresso isn't THAT big buddy... ;)

Espresso at Tryst

I was surprised they were participating in the promotion for beer, I couldn't even remember if they even served beer back in the day?

Still, I took a breather and had of course great coffee. I almost forgot one of my favorite touches they have when they serve, and that is, animal crackers on your saucer.  Even though I didn't have any alcohol they still stamped my passport which was nice, remarking that it was yellow and VERY hard to see.

The totality incomplete

Still, after all this time adventuring, I am still not finished.  Time has nearly run out, and even the budget with the discount hasn't quite made it happen.  Technically of this writing I could "still" complete this passport but I am down to four places.  One is in my favorite DC neighborhood of H ST NE, called Granville Moore's.  Another is the District Chophouse that servers a nice side of corn bread in a cast iron skillet the size of your face.  The Big Hunt, while also in the Dupont neighborhood has always eluded me...  But as I understand it, when May 1st comes time is up for the passport.

I suppose.. and I say this with all hypothetical possibilities cause what I am about to say next is "technically" possible... BUT.. I could visit all of the four remaining places within the next 48 hours.

Somehow though the time and the funds always seem to run out, but the good beer and places in DC never does.

No fooling around! Tom's Foolery applejack is on the block

Back in the day, applejack was what American whiskey was. Way before moonshine, bourbon, all that stuff.. there was applejack. As we moved away from colonial days, and into modern time, this spirit has still for the past 50 years been very much under the radar, but lately it has been sort of coming back. For decades there has always been one name synonymous with applejack and that was Laird's. Laird's boasts itself as America's Oldest Family Run Distillery.

At one point there were actually several producers of applejack, but as time went on Laird's bought them out, leaving themselves to be the only producer of this product. In most circles this would seam like a lecherous act bent on mass producing a product while giving up quality control. If anything it seems the opposite happened, specifically two things. 1) The company wanted to maintain it's love for this product as the premier producer 2) By consolidating the other applejack producers they essentially saved this spirit from extinction. So when you think of applejack you would think of Laird's... until now.

Spending some time with other whiskey fans and spirit connoisseurs, I heard of a very small family run distillery that was run by a husband and wife team. The name was Tom's Foolery and they are out of Ohio. Once again, the pioneering small craft distillery is making things happen. They have made applejack and I was lucky enough to get my hands on a bottle of this stuff. There are currently only 240 bottles of this made, because this is a VERY small producer. Their website is also filled with lots of historical information and techniques on how this product was made so check it out.

I do wonder though how long it was aged, my wild guess is that it wasn't aged very long, probably about 2 years max and that I think is a stretch (who knows)? I've asked the owners about this and hope they will respond soon. Regardless, for applejack this is a great time to celebrate, and this is also a great product. I tasted them both in comparison side by side, and to have even more fun I tried them both in a simple cocktail... the one that makes applejack a win, and that is a Jack Rose.

Please Note that some consider this NOT a fair comparison. It should be noted that the Laird's used in the comparison is blended applejack. It contains GNS (Grain Neutral Spirits). The Tom's is 100% applejack. Laird's does make a 100% applejack product but it's not as widely distributed as the blend. 65% of this Laird's product is GNS.

Check out the review, tasting, and Jack Rose cocktail below. CHEERS!