Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune are smart, funny, beautiful, and really know what they are talking about when it comes to beer. Their recent book, The Naked Pint, made our list of top five beer reads last week. At that time, we tortured you with the fact that we would be among the lucky few to meet the L.A. duo this month at an exclusive media-only event.

Well, thanks to the hard work of some folks at Flying Dog and ChurchKey, and steady encouragement and applauding from us, there is now a fabulous opportunity for you to meet the talented writers. Next Tuesday, November 17, from 7:00 to 9:30pm, Christina and Hallie will be at ChurchKey at 14th and Rhode Island, NW, doing what they do best, sharing their love of craft beer.

The two famous beer chicks will be on hand to talk about beer, give away signed copies of their book, and sample and discuss ChurchKey’s offerings with you. On top of the Logan Circle hotspot’s regular list, there will be a special selection from local award-winning brewery, Flying Dog. Drafts include Gonzo Imperial Porter, Double Dog Double Pale Ale, and Belgian IPA Raging Bitch, which the Lagerheads got to try at the beer’s world premiere at the Brickskeller in May. The cask will be Flying Dog’s Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale, and as if all this great beer wasn’t enough, the brewery will be giving away plenty of schwag.

Read More “Hang with The Naked Pint Authors at ChurchKey Next Week” »

Dave Chappelle is a comedic genius, and his skit for Samuel L. Jackson Beer compares favorably with any of the fake commercials produced by SNL. 

I wonder if Greg Engert at Birch & Barley/ChurchKey can add this to his 500-plus beer list? Maybe even hire Chappelle to do his Sammy Jackson shtick? It might actually clear out enough people at the Logan Circle hotspot so that I could get a seat.

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” »

Late October has proven to be a great time to be a beer lover in DC. Yesterday was a big day, with a beer dinner at Belga Cafe, one at Rock Bottom Arlington, and the glorious opening of Birch & Barley/ChurchKey (whose taps start running at 4pm today).

There’s plenty more beer to drink and fun to be had over the next week. Check out our DC Beer Events Calendar below the list for details on each event.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24 & 25

• Northern Virginia BrewFest at Bull Run Park in Centreville

MONDAY, OCTOBER 26

• Smuttynose Dinner with Lead Brewer Dan Schubert at Birreria Paradiso
• Octoberfest Dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery in Arlington

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27

• Garrett Oliver Brooklyn Beer Dinner at Brasserie Beck [Sold Out]
• WHY IS THERE BEER? Panel & Tasting at the Brickskeller
• Beer Class & Straffe Hendrik Launch Party at Belga Cafe

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28

• All-American Harvest Celebration at Granville Moore’s
• Great Pumpkin Beer & Food Tasting at the Black Squirrel

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30

• Night of the Living Zoo (from the Cauldrons of Magic Hat) at the National Zoo [Sold Out]

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31

• Sam Adams/Washington City Paper Halloween Bash at RFD

Read More “A Big Week for Beer in DC” »

Bar Trick Challenge – The Impossible Beer Lift – The funniest videos are a click away
In honor of Birch & Barley/ChurchKey’s long-awaited opening, Y&H offers this nifty bar trick that will, no doubt, impress your friends — and annoy the crap out of the servers at the new Logan Circle establishment as the sound of dropping bottles reverberates throughout the place.

For a first yet another peek at the long-discussed Birch & Barley and ChurchKey, check out the ChurchKey blog, launched today with a post by beer director Greg Engert. If you’ve ever asked Engert a question about anything, you know the man’s got some verbosity, and this post is no different. The 900-word treatise covers everything from beer selection to restaurant philosophy to food to temperature and storage. Make that lots of detail on temperature and storage — which is great for drinkers like me who don’t want their beer with icicles in it, or poured anywhere near a frosted mug.

Still no word an opening date, though. I knew you were going to ask.

Kyle Bailey was shopping for wedding rings with his fiancee at a Jersey City mall last month when he got a call on his cell. He didn’t recognize the number, but he decided to take the call anyway.

On the other end of the line was Michael Babin, co-owner of Neighborhood Restaurant Group, who was phoning to see if Bailey might be interested in one of the most intriguing culinary positions in the District: executive chef of the forthcoming gastropub, Birch & Barley/ChurchKey near Logan Circle.

The call couldn’t have come at a better time for Bailey.

Less than two weeks earlier, Bailey had parted ways with the respected, romantic, candle-lit Allen & Delancey in Manhattan, where he was hired, just eight months earlier, to lead the restaurant’s kitchen. He had decided to walk away from his first-ever executive chef job when A&D’s owners apparently wanted to effect more cost-cutting measures than Bailey could swallow.

“I can’t do what I don’t want to do,” Bailey told Y&H this afternoon. A chef needs motivation to devote 16-hour work days to a job, he added, and Bailey knew that, with the pending budget cuts, he wouldn’t be able to summon up the necessary desire. So he left Allen & Delancey, despite making quick fans out of bloggers like Gothamist.

Read More “Birch & Barley Hires NYC Chef to Replace Frank Morales” »

Don’t know the difference between a beer geek and a beer snob? It’s easy to predict (think Comic Book Guy), but Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head Brewery, gave a pretty good explanation during his salon at Savor this year:

There’s beer geeks and there’s beer snobs, and I’m a card-carrying, dyed-in-the-wool member of the beer geek community. How I differentiate between a beer geek and a beer snob is this: they could have an equal amount of knowledge about beer; they could have equally awesome palates; [they] can articulate everything about the qualities of beer; [and they can] tell you the history of brewing styles. Their knowledge might be the same. But a beer geek loves beer because he or she loves beer, and they want to learn more always, try new beers, and share that with the people they love. Whereas beer snobs try to know as much as they can about beer as a power point and to lord it over people, or to stick out as an expert in a field of neophytes.

Later that very night, our “neophyte” friend Beth was insulted for mistakenly calling the beer she was trying a “Malbec.” The snob rudely commented, “That’s a maibock. It’s beer, not wine.”

Read More “Beer Geeks vs. Beer Snobs” »

Until recently, Duck-Rabbit Craft Brewery’s beers were only available in Tennessee and the Carolinas. Last Tuesday, the Lagerheads trekked down to Rustico in Alexandria for Duck-Rabbit’s northern Virginia launch party. We were joined by Smoky Mountain natives sporting the mind-bending logo, who have clearly been fans of Duck-Rabbit for years, as well as the regular crowd of Alexandria locals taking advantage of another opportunity to horde pint glasses at a Rustico glassware event.

Out of the five specialty dark beers available, we tried three. Duck-Rabbit’s top-selling beer, the Milk Stout went down like a glass of milk that had been used for dipping Oreos, sweet and smooth. On the Porter, the Lagerheads lived up to our name; while Bruce thought it was the sudsy equivalent of a Starbucks Mocha, Tammy thought the beer’s highly roasted grains produced coffee and dark chocolate flavors that were too bitter for the beer, throwing it a bit off balance. (Guess which one of us is the coffee drinker.) The star of the evening was easily the Rabid Duck Russian Imperial Stout, a high-ABV seasonal that was dark and creamy like the other Duck-Rabbits. But this one had a nice kick, a hint of smoke, and a bitter aftertaste–qualities that reassured us that we were drinking beer, not iced lattes.

We couldn’t leave Rustico without inquiring about how their long-awaited DC beer bar, Churchkey, is coming along. According to General Manager Jason Asher, the Logan Circle beer mecca is on track to open in late summer or early fall of this year.  We know you’ve heard it all before–the deck, the loans, and all the other reasons DC beeries have been waiting so long for Churchkey to open its doors (or at least take that Dakota Cowgirl sign down). But as far as we are concerned, great things come to those who wait and we trust that Churchkey will be worth it.

The Lagerheads are not sure how we missed trying Duck-Rabbit the last time we were deep in the heart of Duck-Rabbit country for the World Beer Fest in Durham, but we are glad to have finally discovered these dark delights. We know many of you will appreciate having some darker beer options amidst the variety of pale ales that fill most shelves and taps these days. Look for Duck-Rabbit at the following places and let us know what you think: Whole Foods, Norm’s Beer and  Wine, Westover Market, Magruder’s DC, Cleveland Park Liquors, Rustico, Lost Dog, and RFD.

For reasons that don’t bear close scrutiny, I found myself last week wandering the streets around Logan Circle on an unseasonably warm afternoon. Like others in the ‘hood that day, I pressed my face against the window of the old Dakota Cowgirl space, hoping to see how far construction crews were on the forthcoming Birch & Barley/ChurchKey gastropub on 14th Street NW.

Not far, as it turned out. From my limited viewpoint, all I could see was drywall, trash, and exposed walls. One of the most highly anticipated watering holes in recent memory seemed nowhere near opening, despite the fact that it’s almost a year after the first announced launch date. So when, exactly, will the Neighborhood Restaurant Group (Rustico, Vermilion, EatBar, etc) open its first D.C. property, which is promising 50 draft lines, 500 bottles, and two different menus crafted by chef Frank Morales?

Read More “Birch & Barley Slated for Summer Opening. Maybe.” »