Last year, I worked Snallygaster, the big DC beer festival. As a thank-you for working in the pouring rain, setting out glassware, pouring beers, and skipping lunch, I got a $50 gift card to the Neighborhood Restaurant, which includes places like Birch & Barley and Churchkey. Churchkey! This place has the best beer program in DC, nestled in a second-floor spot just west of Logan Circle. Aside from a huge amount of drafts, they've got an extensive aged beer collection and a list of some pretty rare stuff.
So armed with gift card, and appetite for delicious craft beer, I made my way to this oasis to try some interesting and unique beers for my first post of the new year. I wanted to get a nice spectrum of beers, and I made a point to try stuff I'd never had before and things which I thought were somewhat fun.
Bluejacket Brewery - "Art of Almost"
This is a 3.70% ABV English dark mild-style ale, in collabortion with Good Word. Bluejacket is based here in DC. Let's take a look!
Appearance: Deep brownish red, with a bone-colored head.
Aroma: A little sweetness, with some woodiness.
Palate: Very soft, flat, a little thin, with some malt and a touch of smoke.
It's actually a nice representaton of English dark mild ales - essentially beer-flavored soft drinks meant for every day consumption. This one is a cask pour, so the flatness is to be expected and in fact somewhat welcome. Don't take my comments to mean it's somehow bad; this is a faithful representation of the style.
Ritterguts Leichtenhainer Spezial
So this is a first for me - trying a Leichtenhainer, which is a historic beer style originating in Leipzig, Germany. I didn't get a chance to visit Leipzig when I was in Germany last year, but maybe next time. It's a sour, smoked wheat beer - an interesting mashup of styles, and one I've never seen before.
Appearance: light gold, some sticky foam.
Nose: a bit of fruit, white peppercorns. Fresh!
Palate - a bit sour and puckery up front; lemony, definitely a gose-adjacent style. Not funky. But here's where it gets neat - after that initial burst of sour, it smooths out and fattens up into more like a farmhouse ale. A little spice, some woodiness on the finish. White peppercorns, some dried flowers.
Yum - very good. Not too sour, not too bitter, and a nice round character. At 4.3% ABV, it's basically a soft drink.
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Live Oak Brewing Co. - "Pre-War Pils"
Live Oak is out of Del Valle, Texas, just outside the state's craft beer capital, Austin. This beer is based on 1912 German-American recipe and is mashed with 35% corn grits. They call it "Pre-War Pils" as it originated prior to the Great War in 1914. Tip: if you're buying spirits, you may find this timeframe called "Pre-Prohibition."
Appearance: Very light yellow
Nose: not much here - maybe a bit of malts.
Palate: Very light, attenuated, decent balance between crisp and buttery. I get a little bit of the corn sweetness in the back end, but nothing crazy (unlike a cornbread sour I had a few years ago that was *wild*.)
Crushable, and would go very well with, naturally, some bratwurst. I had it with some of Churchkey's housemade tater tots.
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Dewey Beer Co "Secret Machine: Blueberry Cranberry Vanilla Crumble"
OK, OK, bear with me - I love these kitchen-sink approaches, because more often than not, it works. The Bruery used to make weird stuff like this and I'm always a fan, even if it's not an every day beer. I get it that it's not for everyone, and that's fine, but why not try it?
Appearance: electric burdgundy, thick cap of bone-colored foam. Super sticky lacing.
Nose: Wow, smells like candy. Vanilla and fruits!
Palate: Smooth as silk, nice and full, but not overly sweet. Tastes like a cobbler. I get some puckery from the cranberry, naturally. It's like fresh cranberries, not the sweet pie filling kind. Almost a little tart. There's a vanilla backbone here - there but not overdone.
It's interesting how in-balance these ingredients are. I'm not getting anything overweighted or out of whack. That being said, I could have one of these, but just one. It's a fun and funky one to try and at 7.00% ABV, not a bad sipper.
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Wheatland Spring Farm & Brewery - "Noble Light"
This is a 5.90% ABV oak-aged export lager from Virginia. Export lagers are an older style, originally fortified for export (i.e. to survive many months in a ship's hold.)
Appearance: Thick cap of foam, deep gold body
Nose: Not much, but some dark malty wheat
Palate: It's honestly like a dark golden ale, soft and straightforward with nice accents of malt. Pretty clean as far as that goes, with not a lot of spice. It's also not as sweet as it could be, which is a relief.
I've been seeing Wheatland Farm around a lot lately, and am curious to see what else they've got
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The Veil Brewery - "Apple Brandy Toast-e Coilz Imperial Oatmeal Stout"
A trip to Churchkey wouldn't be complete without trying one of the palate-wreckers they have on draft. They've got plenty of "big" beers and lots in bottles.
This one was off the draft menu, and is a collab with Monkish, Trillium, Other Half, and Cloudwater. Occasionally you see a long list of breweries collaborate to create a beer; I always wonder how they come to a decision.
This beer is a double oatmeal stout inspired by French toast with maple syrup. It's 12.00% ABV, likely to be super sweet and a palate wrecker, so here goes.
Appearance: Jet black with some brown menisucus. No head to speak of.
Aroma: Bourbon barrel scents from two feet away. Strong sweetness.
Palate: Thick, heavy, with a noticeable flavor like an apple crisp, with a heavy aftertase. I will say the finish is refreshingly short; some of these things just linger and stick. Not something you can probbaly have more than one of. Not as heavy as the Abraxas, of which I also had a taste on the house.
Deifnintely the last one of the night! Another great visit to Churchkey.
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