Field Trip: "Drink the District" President's Day Weekend beer festival

Happy President's Day! On Saturday, I attended the "Drink the District" beer festival held here in DC. It's held in a former shipping warehouse which is now an open-air market / event space called Union Market, pictured below. And no, it was not sunny and warm out - that's a photo I found online.

Source: K Street Magazine.com

The event itself was held indoors, on the upper floor of Union Market. It was a sort of post-industrial space / loading dock converted into event space. Lots of exposed beams, metal, and some brick. It was actually a neat venue, reminded me a lot of my college dorm senior year.

They also had an outdoor area with restrooms on one side and couple of foodtrucks on the other (including CapMac, a mobile mac n' cheese truck, which I obviously visited.)

There are two factors that made this event impressive. One - you paid $35 for unlimited 4 oz tasting pours. 4 oz may not seem like a lot, but when you can get as many as you want for three hours straight? That's serious. At Shirlington, we had to pay to get additional drink tickets, and ergo we had to be more judicious on which beers we could try.

Second point - there were quite a few big-name breweries there. A few that caught my eye were Dominion Brewing Co., Kona Brewing Co., Rogue Brewing Co., Lonerider, and Troegs to name a few. There were also a few vendors there, a DJ, and some games. Seemed like a good event, but let's see what beers they served. First up we have Uinta Brewing Co, which as you may recall produces the fine Baba Black Lager. I wanted to start out with something light, so I chose their 5.6% ABV Belgian white ale.

I liked it - it was sort of typical, but my first time having Uinta's offering. As noted on the placard, it had the typical notes of spices, orange zest, and yeasty tastes. Only a few tables away from Uinta was Kona Brewing Co., which I haven't tried in quite some time. They had a light Belgian ale, which I skipped, in favor of their "Big Wave" golden ale. 

It was nice and refreshing, not too strong, and full of caramel malts balanced with some nice tangy hops. I like the honey flavors. Not bad at all - I'd buy some for a summer BBQ or patio party. Next up is North Coast Brewing Co., with their "Red Seal" American Amber ale.

I really liked it. It's way maltier than I expected, which was cool. Reminded me a lot of Peak Organic's "King Crimson." I like the faint sweetness. The finish is just as advertised - long and spicy.

And, of course,we've got Dominion Brewing Co. I guess they had a wear-a-silly-hat contest or something. Despite the silly Skyrim-esque horned helmet hat (which is popularly misattributed to the Viking Age) there's nothing silly about the beer, the "Candi" Belgian trippel. Nice dark sugar tastes up front with a seriously sweet finish. I like it! I'd definitely buy a large-format bottle of this to try.

Laughing Dog is next, offering their "Fresh Hop." a 5.6% ABV pale ale with a sharp taste and a grassy finish. Pretty good, not my favorite, but it wasn't bad. Tastes like a standard pale ale, but certainly tasty.

 The last station I visited was Troegs, staffed by Jack Antonoff's body-double.

It's Troeg's "Hopback," a 6% ABV amber ale. It was pretty hoppy, as the name suggests, with some not-quite-fresh-hop floral tastes on the way out. I liked it as an IPA / amber ale mashup. Sounds like something I'd drink regularly. This ended up being a great end to the evening.

One downside to the event which I do need to mention (since it ultimately precipitated my leaving early) was the volume of people. It was just packed, and people congregated everywhere, making navigating the venue really hard. There was no real designated spots at the venue, so people pretty much stood around where they pleased. This made it hard to get to the beer stations, and even tougher to balance a full tasting glass.

However, I think that despite these shortcomings, and the fact Rogue was nowhere to be found, it ended up being a positive event. I went by myself, but I think it would be better for groups since there were games, a couple of tables outside, and a photobooth. I'm sure I'll try it out next year!