Believe it or not, there has been other news in the world this week, aside from the opening of Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, the long-awaited Neighborhood Restaurant Group project on 14th Street NW. You wouldn’t know it, though, from all the local food coverage, which has devoted a ton of server space to detailing every nook and cranny and keg at the joint.

Let’s go to the highlights:

• WaPo’s Fritz Hahn has what’s on tap.
• Metrocurean has the glamour shots.
• The Beerspotter breaks down the cask list.

Read More “We Are All Just Pawns in Birch & Barley’s World” »

UPDATE: NRG spokesperson Amber Pfau says that Birch & Barley/ChurchKey will open tomorrow, “barring natural disasters.” For an inside look, see Metrocurean’s preview on the place.

The DC-Beer listserv has been humming today on a rumor that Birch & Barley/ChurchKey, the long-awaited twin-concept, beer-soaked bar and restaurant (which is not a gastropub!), will finally open tomorrow. Neighborhood Restaurant Group has been conducting mock services already, but one member of the listserv writes:

My wife got a press release/e-mail in her e-mail from a local business networking group which states that Birch & Barley opens tomorrow.

Beerspotter Orr Shtuhl says the rumors are true, but I’m trying to get confirmation on this from NRG. More as I know it.

Hey, you, beer nerd. I’m sure you’re used to doing things by yourself. But DC Beer Week should not be like most of your lonely existence. That’s why Tammy Tuck and Orr Shtuhl have written a guide to the week’s events. It’s not just the first-ever Beerspotter/Lager Heads collaboration, it’s also really fun to read!

Photograph by Darrow Montgomery

Your semi-humble Y&H is taking a break before his brain turns into congee. I will be out for the next two weeks, but in my place, Editor Andrew has devised something that may mean the end of my job permanently.

Starting Monday, Y&H will morph into Two Week Bender. For the next couple of  weeks, this space will be devoted to fermented beverages, distilled beverages, anything liquid that alters your brain chemistry for a few glorious hours. Well, anything short of drain cleaners and the like, I guess.

The line-up of writers is top shelf. Not only will the blog’s usual beer scribes — Orr Shtuhl (aka the Beerspotter) and Tammy Tuck and Bruce Falconer (aka the Lagerheads) — be on board for the ride, but we also have a couple of ringers: man-about-town Mike Riggs and master mixologist/historian Derek Brown, whose writings on cocktails for The Atlantic are first-rate.

I hope y’all enjoy reading about booze for a couple of weeks, because I’m actually going to be imbibing some.

Update: Through some legal snafu, Brew at the Zoo will not be technically affiliated with D.C. Beer Week. All events are still on, though. For beer drinkers, this mostly means that you won’t see them listed on the same poster.

The Lagerheads piqued our interest earlier about a potential D.C. Beer Week in August that would culminate with Brew at the Zoo on August 20.

It’s official now: The festivities will run from Aug. 16 to 21, and so far 15 tastings, happy hours, meet-the-brewers, food pairings, and plain old drinking parties have been announced. There’s lots of H Street NE action, what with one of the organizers being Teddy Folkman of Granville Moore’s. Brew at the Zoo still seems like the main event, but The party ends on Friday with a Nats game featuring a discount for Beer Week attendees. (They’re playing the Milwaukee Brewers, natch.)

Here are the full listings. You will want to bookmark this sucker because there will be updates. The Web site’s not finished, but they’re also Facebookin’ (sorry, federal employees).

Read More “Another D.C. Beer Week? Yes, Please.” »

The Obama beer meeting was last night, and by all accounts nothing happened. (Although WaPo’s Dana Milbank did totally hijack the Lagerheads’ titular pun for his own use.)

But my favorite post-summit coverage so far comes from Canada’s CBC, which came up with not one but two entertaining animated graphics: “Beer Diplomacy” (in the intro) and the even-better “The Suds That Soothed.”

Read More “Oh, Canada: Obama and ‘The Suds That Soothe’” »

Answer: President Obama drinking Bud Light.

(I told you I wouldn’t let this die.) I don’t know if I should have seen it coming, but this light-beer position is even less excusable than, I don’t know, torture. Light beer — especially the mass-produced variety— is less flavorful and less potent than “regular” beer. From both an alcoholic and ingredient standpoint, it is literally watered down. And don’t even dream of playing the “drinkability” card; it’s not as if regular Bud is some buxom elixir that is delicious but too rich for refreshment. If it can be funneled, it has drinkability.

The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union adds another cloud to the picnic, lobbying for the beers to be swapped for lemonade. Fine, WCTU, I’d take a virgin Tom Collins over a fizzy light beer. But this quote in the same article, from local crazy Rocky Twyman (founder of Pray at the Pump, a group that prayed for lower gas prices), is, shall we say, harder to take:

Read More “What’s Worse Than Obama Drinking Budweiser?” »

Every time President Obama eats a burger, Mr. Y&H (aka Tim Carman) has a goddamn field day. But now that Obama is set to crack beers with Officer James Crowley and Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates, Jr. to discuss Gates’ false arrest at his Cambridge home, it’s time for the liquid half of Young & Hungry to go nuts. And I’m going to milk this baby for all it’s worth.

First, CNN reports (with the urgent UPDATE in all caps) that Obama will have a Budweiser, which is what he had at the MLB All-Star Game. Crowley will reportedly quaff a Blue Moon, and Gates’s choice is still undetermined, though he has a preference for Red Stripe and Beck’s. Surprising? No, but so, so disappointing.

Read More “Obama’s Beer Meeting: Let the Lobbying Begin!” »

D.C. residents are lucky to have the craft beer selection we enjoy, and I’m reminded as much every time I walk into a good bar or store. But if you drink lots of beer (I call it “research”) the selection can be maddening. Though my heart is in it, I just don’t have the constitution to try every good beer at a restaurant with, say, eight taps and a fetching bottle list. Such are the problems in my life.

Enter the side-by-side tasting. Every now and then, my friends and I convene around a dinner table for a beer tasting with a mission: We choose one style, like IPA or stout, and taste each one “blind.” (More on this in a minute.) We compare notes, then reveal which beers were which. Invariably, some of us discover new favorites.

If those old household commercials have taught us anything, it’s that comparison is the best way to test something. When you taste beers side-by-side and discuss them with friends, your impressions are more likely to stay with you and inform your buying decisions the next time you pick up a six-pack. It’s fun, educational, and just a bit nerdy. But while I opt for the full-on, annotated geek-out, all you really need is friends, glasses, and beer.

Here are some tips to get you started:

Read More “6 Tips on Hosting Your Own Beer Tasting” »

It’s a short work week, and we at Young & Hungry Central have just the thing you need: beer and dining recommendations for the Fourth. We also have something for your reading pleasure:

The top blog posts of the week.

1. Obama Ate Here: The Working Map (with apologies and gratitude to BrightestYoungThings)
2. What Did Your $10 Ticket Get You at the Safeway Barbecue Battle?
3. On July 4th Weekend, Buy American Beer
4. Breadline Busted on 19 Health Code Violations, Ten of Them Critical
5. Dairy Godmother’s Owner Doesn’t Want the Obama Bump That Ray’s Hell Burger Got

Photo by cristinabe via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution License