The Washington City Paper has an article on cask ale, or real ale depending on who's speaking, in an article by Orr Shtuhl in the just-released edition, available online here.
Fellow writer Tim Carman also covers the rumors, speculation, and debate circulating around the all-but-confirmed sale of the iconic Brickskeller, the pioneering "1,000 beers" bar near Dupont Circle in Washington D.C. The name doesn't sell, and presumably neither does the inventory; do the Alexanders transfer either/both to their other operation, R.F.D. on 7th Street NW, or do they open a new establishment? Read the excellent article. And if you haven't been there ever before, plan on a trip down, just to say you've been on such sacred ground.
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Have mixed feelings about the "end" of the Brick. On the one hand, I've been to some great events there, most recently having an opportunity to sample oak aged Dark Lord at the Three Floyds event. On the other hand, this comment in the Carman article says it all:
"Almost everyone I contacted mentioned that the new owners must fix the longest-running joke in D.C. bar circles: the Brickskeller’s beer list, which at one point promised as many as 1,300 different bottles and cans. The list has a higher AWOL rate than U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War."
Truer words were never spoken, and it's routine when visiting the Brick to make sure you have a second, third, forth and sometimes fifth choice selected in anticipation of the waiter telling you they're "temporarily" out of your first choice. As others have suggested, a bottle list maybe a forth the size of the currrent list would be a welcome addition/change, assuming that the new beer bar actually stocks most of the beers listed on the menu. In any event, interesting articles, and I'll be curious to see how this all plays out.
My record was SIX out-of-stocks before finding one on hand. When the odds are that bad, you need to give the tables pads for writing the orders down to save all the wasted shoe soles.
Didn't they used to SELL those menus as souvenirs? At least the ones that KcLinger's sold in Hanover, Pa. were useful as a cross-reference of styles; the ones at the Bricks were just geographical lists.
"Didn't they used to SELL those menus as souvenirs?"
Could be. I don't recall now... I know Monk's sells their beer bible ($3 a pop? Or maybe it's $5 now), but I'm just not sure about the Brick list.
I hear you on the table pads. It really slows things down when you're first three or four picks are "out," and then you have to reconsult the "list" again in hopes of finding something they're not out of.
Has to be pretty annoying for the staff as well I would think.
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