What's so special about Hopslam? City Paper's former "Beerspotter" columnist Orr Shtuhl explored the brew's ambrosial qualities in this very space two years ago. For a fresh perspective on its lingering popularity, Y&H turned to—who else?—ChurchKey's walking malt-and-hops encyclopedia Greg Engert, who reminds us of the local connection between the city and its most sought-after seasonal import. Engert points out that Bell's Brewery founder Larry Bell had attended George Washington University and it was here in D.C. where the young collegian turned into a hophead. “He started drinking craft beer at the Brickskeller and it really opened his eyes and got him to start brewing himself in 1985," Engert says.

ChurchKey's brewhound-in-chief is especially fond of Bell's ultra-hoppy suds. “I think this beer is phenomenal,” he says. “I sold 24 bottles of it the first night it came in ($9 apiece), based on just one tweet. I would put it up against any Imperial I.P.A. in the country. It’s beautifully balanced, hoppy but not a fruit bomb. Not too piney, but with great tropical fruit and herb notes. It’s everything you could want out of Pacific Northwest hops.”

Sipping the stuff during our conversation at Engert's noted beer hall on 14th Street NW the other night, I had to agree. I tend to dislike hoppy beers. No, I take that back, I despise them (apologies to my beer expert uncle, Peter). Probably has something to do with how my palette was ruined by Busch Light and Natural Light in college. But Hopslam has a roundness that sets it apart from the overly bitter pales I’ve tried in the past. I enjoyed it.

Engert also explains that Hopslam is unique because Bell’s Brewery has never changed its annual, small-batch approach to allocating the beer, despite demand that has increased year after year. In fact, as the appetite for craft beer in D.C. has grown and more high quality watering holes have opened, Engert has seen his yearly allotment go down.

Yet, somehow, he still manages to get an exclusive:  “We have the only cask of Hopslam in the area, and we’re tapping it for a special event next week,” he says (details here).

But whither Hopslam? Can its appeal last forever, in D.C. or elsewhere? Despite changes in craft brew culture, which have new breweries constantly cranking out special batches and one-off beers, Engert still believes Hopslam reigns supreme. “There’s not going to be another Hopslam,” he says. “This beer comes from a different era. It has such credibility because it has been so good for so long.”

Image courtesy of Bell's Brewery

Tonight, the newly rebranded 2100 Prime (ex-Jockey Club) caters a splashy—and I mean, splashy!—opening reception for the Capital Wine Festival at the Fairfax Hotel. Sip on samples from two Virginia wineries, Leesburg's Tarara Vineyards and Middleburg's Boxwood Vineyards, and some 45 others. Admission is $65 per person, with buffet fare included. Across town, Belga Cafe celebrates the national drink of its thematic homeland with a three-course Genever-themed dinner for $39 per person.

Tomorrow, the National Portrait Gallery hosts a reception for slow-food pioneer Alice Waters, with light grub whipped up by Restaurant Eve's Cathal Armstrong, Graffiato's Mike Isabella, Equinox's Todd Gray and Proof's Haidar Karoum; drinks by Karoum's cocktail counterpart Adam Bernbach. Tickets are $100.

Coming up: ChurchKey beer director Greg Engert launches his new "Beer Academy" at Rustico in Arlington and the Newseum hosts its Saturday Night Sips reception for charity, featuring food and drink from some of the area's brightest cooks and bartenders.

For more info, click on any link in the Y&H food events calendar above.

Got something tasty going on? Send tips, daily specials and event listings to hungry@washingtoncitypaper.com

Check out the full video below.

Get the full details, if you're interested, below:

Beer Director Greg Engert Introduces The Beer Academy at Rustico

Get Schooled on the Basics of Beer at Brew U.

Arlington, VA − On Saturday, January 21, Rustico, located at 4075 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, will officially become home to The Beer Academy a.ka. Brew U.  Guided by Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s Beer Director Greg Engert, The Beer Academy will offer a comprehensive curriculum for beer enthusiasts with two-hour tutorials, once a month for the entire year. Each class will be held from 1 PM to 3 PM on Saturdays at Rustico in Arlington, and is priced at $24 per person. With a Food & Wine “Sommelier of the Year” as their guide, students will receive a first-class education, as well as tastes of at least six beers, hand selected by Greg to exemplify the featured theme of each class.

Those who attend the inaugural class on Saturday, January 21 will get schooled on Tasting Craft Beer: Examining the Flavor Spectrum across the History of Beer. During this course, students will be led on a journey through Greg’s flavor profiles (Crisp, Hop, Malt, Roast, Smoke, Fruit & Spice, Tart & Funky), while sipping and studying six different beers. Future classes will focus on topics such as casks ales, sour ales, farmhouse ales of the world, and brewing locally vs. locally sourced brewing. To heighten the experience, Rustico will offer their full brunch menu a la carte with standouts such as buttermilk biscuit sliders, sweet potato skins and crispy deviled eggs to the attendees.

The Beer Academy will commence on January 21 and run every four weeks, with subsequent classes scheduled for February 18, March 17, April 14, May 12 and June 9. Dedicated students, who wish to enroll in the full year will receive a discount of $6 off each class (additional discounts for packages of three, six and nine classes are also offered). To reserve a spot for The Beer Academy please call Rustico at (571) 384-1820.

As the beer director for Neighborhood Restaurant Group, Greg Engert draws on his extensive beer knowledge to create the beer programming for the company’s ten concepts.  To source unparalleled selections, Engert works with breweries around the globe both renowned and remote to find the best beers available. Engert specializes in domestic microbrews as well as international craft rarities that are not readily available in the United States. Recognized for his work, Engert has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, Food & Wine, Food Arts, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, Beer Advocate, All About Beer, Imbibe, Draft and Mid-Atlantic Brewing News and appeared on national television programs such as Cooking Channel’s Foodography and Unique Eats.

About Rustico

Rustico is a neighborhood restaurant that pairs honest, robust cooking with an amazing beverage program. With a cache of over 400 beers, a bustling bar scene and a passionate kitchen committed to its craft, Rustico is a restaurant to visit with family and friends time and time again. Rustico in Ballston is located at 4075 Wilson Blvd. in Arlington, VA. For reservations or more information please visit www.rusticorestaurant.com or call 571-384-1820.

Logo courtesy of Chocolate City

This Thursday, join me and several D.C. craft beer insiders and enthusiasts at the Bier Baron to discuss the "State of the Brewnion." The conversation will cover the D.C. area's rapidly advancing craft beer culture—everything from the growing popularity of home brewing and expanding beer menus at local bars and stores to what District beer enthusiasts can look forward to in the near future.

If you had a moment at the podium yourself, what would you ask the panel to reflect on? What is your take on how D.C. became such a thriving craft beer town and what may be next for the District's booming beer scene? Stick your questions or ideas in the comments and we will select some suggestions for the discussion.

In addition to this tantalizing conversation, the event will feature interactive beer trivia with guest star contestants and complimentary tastings, appetizers and prizes. The event is free and will run from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the upstairs bar. RSVP on Facebook and arrive early to secure a spot. The list of featured guests is after the jump:

Thor Cheston – Former general manager and beer director for Brasserie Beck and Mussel Bar
Tom Cizauskas – Beer blogger at Yours For Good Fermentables and salesman for Select Wines, Inc.
Ben Matz – Co-founder and head brewer for Chocolate City Beer LLC
Mike Dolan – Founder of DCBeer.com and DC Homebrewers club
Barrett Lauer – Head brewer at The District Chophouse & Brewery
Teddy Folkman – Co-founder of DC Beer Week and executive chef at Granville Moore's
Jeff Hancock – president and head brewer for DC Brau
Dorlyn Catron – Bar manager at the Bier Baron
Mike McGarvey – CEO and co-founder of 3 Stars Brewing Company
Jeff Wells - Co-founder of DC Beer Week and sales manager for DOPS, Inc.
Greg Engert – Beer director for Neighborhood Restaurant Group including Birch & Barley and ChurchKey

...and a few more surprise guests

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been corrected. A prior version mistakenly identified Jeff Hancock as CEO of DC Brau. He is the president of the local brewery. Brandon Skall is the company's CEO. The author regrets the error.]

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Firefly

The dramatic element of this charity event: Firefly's ownership group, Kimpton Hotels, is flying in its master sommelier, Emily Wines (yes, that's her real name), to face-off against B&B/ChurchKey's beverage director, Greg Engert, in a beer-versus-wine food-pairing contest. In the end, participating diners will vote to decide which bevvie pairs best with the various foodstuffs. The legacy of D.C.'s prevailing drink of choice is on the line! Full details after the jump:

‘BEER VS WINE’ BATTLE FOR BREAST CANCER

Birch & Barley and Firefly Chefs Prepare Five-Course Fundraising Dinner While

Master Sommelier Emily Wines and Beer Master Greg Engert Battle for the Best Pairing

What:

Chef Danny Bortnick of Firefly will partner with Chefs Kyle Bailey and Tiffany MacIsaac of Birch & Barley to prepare a five-course fundraising dinner benefiting the Susan G Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure™, which Bortnick and his wife will participate in this fall.  Chefs Bailey and Bortnick will prepare two courses each featuring their unique takes on American cuisine from their popular neighborhood restaurants. Award-winning pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac will delight with a selection of breads and fare for a sweet ending.

This, however, will not be your ordinary multi-course tasting menu. The spirit of the evening is a friendly competition, where only the best bottle will win. From San Francisco, Kimpton Restaurants’ Master Sommelier, Emily Wines, will select her perfect varietal for each course, while Neighborhood Restaurant Group’s Beer Director Greg Engert will present his favorite beer pairing. In a true test of what pairs best, two of the industry’s most notable beverage experts will go head to head in a “bottle battle” of beer vs. wine. Guests will enjoy a reception of passed canapés and libations, followed by five dually paired courses. A lively discussion of each pairing will be detailed by both competitors. In the end, guests will elect their favorite and votes will be tallied, deeming either wine or beer as the victor.

The evening’s menu will include:

Reception canapés by Danny Bortnick

• Summer squash and smoked mozzarella gratin
• King salmon tartare, mustard seed cones
• Chicken liver toast, pickled ramp
• Grilled octopus, avocado, olive, potato chip

Bread service by Tiffany MacIsaac

• Assorted breads

First course by Danny Bortnick

• Heirloom tomato, bread and basil salad, house-made mozzarella, EVOO

Second course by Kyle Bailey

• Corn tortellini with Maryland crab, rapini and toasted pine nuts

Third course by Danny Bortnick

• Pan roasted halibut, green garbanzo bean puree, crispy eggplant, garlic confit, roasted fingerling potato

Fourth course by Kyle Bailey

• Braised lamb belly with curried fregula sardo, squash blossoms and fresh fava bean salad

Fifth course by Tiffany MacIsaac

• Almond pound cake, popped blueberries, sweet corn ice cream

When:

Monday, July 25 at 6:00 p.m. Cost for the dinner is $150 per person.  Price includes beer and wine pairings, as well as tax and gratuity.  **Proceeds to benefit the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure™.  To purchase tickets, visit http://bottlebattle-esli.eventbrite.com/

Where:

Birch & Barley located at 1337 14th Street, NW Washington D.C., 20005 TEL: 202-567-2576

Photo by Entheta

The mixed-use development, dubbed "The Yards," will house a Harris Teeter, seven new restaurants, a riverfront park, and a plethora of office space and residential units—good news for those who want to stake out a claim near the taps. The new brewery and restaurant will occupy a 6,400-square-foot space and is slated to open in late 2012.

So far, the folks at NRG are being pretty tight-lipped about the details, as they are still in the early planning stages.

Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer director Greg Engert tells me via email:

We are excited to be bringing a new craft brewery to Washington’s vibrant and growing beer scene. We are still in the development stage, so we do not have more details to share at this time. We hope that before the end of the year we will be able to announce the details of our brewery concept and introduce our brewery team.

Engert, who built the craft beer program at Rustico before opening beer mecca Birch & Barley/ChurchKey in 2009, will likely have a strong role on the team. He has already been involved in brewing projects with Sierra Nevada, where he attended Beer Camp in 2009; Baltimore's Stillwater Ales for Birch & Barley's first anniversary beer; and Schlafly on the recent D.C. collaboration ale, House In Session.

Under Engert's direction, a parade of highly-regarded and innovative brewers from around the world have visited the D.C. area to feature their brews at his draft nights and pairing dinners. Connections with big-name brewers Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery and "gypsy" producer Mikkel Borg Bjergsø of Mikkeller lend themselves to unique opportunities for collaboration.

According to NRG rep Megan Bailey:

We have crafted some amazing relationships over the years with brewers, chefs and other passionate, quality-driven, food and beverage folks that we are excited to approach for collaboration. None of them have been confirmed yet, but the possibilities are endless and exciting.

If NRG's visible commitment to high-quality, education-minded craft beer programming is any indication, the new brewery is indeed something to be excited about. With this news, all the new breweries opening in the area, plus Brasserie Beck / Mussel Bar owner Robert Wiedmaier's impending brewpub project (which Beck beer director Thor Cheston assures me is alive and well), D.C. should expect some great developments over the next year in the arena of local beer and food.

Image courtesy of Neighborhood Restaurant Group

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Last week, the Washington Post announced the final results of its annual Beer Madness tournament. For the past five years, the Post's food section has put together a panel of local beer enthusiasts and had them position dozens of beers against each other in a blind tasting. The Post then shares the bracket results in a multi-week series that mirrors college basketball's March Madness.

Unlike previous years, I am taking note of the 2011 Beer Madness winners. Here's why:

My bad attitude about the beer competition isn't over not being selected for the panel, which I applied for back in 2008 before I started my tenure at Y&H.  (I thought my story about hiding and successfully retrieving a nice bottle of Belgian beer outside RFK Stadium after failing to smuggle it into a Nats game would get me in, but no dice.)

My initial excitement and desire to participate quickly waned when I saw which brews were selected, and worse yet, how they were organized. Year after year, the list of contenders seemed to me a bizarre mix of primarily mass produced beers, the kind that are light on carbs and even lighter on the palate (think of your typical grocery store beer aisle). Among them was only a sprinkling of brews with actual flavor.

And often beers were seated in pairs so different from each other that they seemed impossible to compare. For example, in what has to be the worst matchup ever, Ommegang's delicate but complex Hennepin artisanal farmhouse ale was put head-to-head in the 2008 bracket with Miller Chill (as in "chelada"), a mass-produced light American lager spiked with lime and salt. Whether a panelist chooses the subtle grass, earth, and citrus flavors of the saison or a margarita-themed light beer is likely a matter of personal preference.

"Within the groups it seemed like they picked beers out of a hat and randomized which beers were put up against each other. It didn’t seem like there was any logic," says Raul Arroyo-Mendoza, who sat on the 2010 Beer Madness panel.

This kind of nonsense led to winners like Brooklyn Lager (2007), Hook & Ladder Backdraft Brown (2008), Tröegs Hopback Amber (2009), and Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (2010)–all decent beers, with Hopback Amber at the top of the list, but none worthy of a championship title in my opinion.

But this year Beer Madness was run differently. The organizers at WaPo partnered with Birch & Barley/ChurchKey beer director Greg Engert. Together he, food section editor Joe Yonan and beer columnist Greg Kitsock, who has orchestrated the event each year, made some significant improvements.

First, they decided to choose only American craft beers, meaning those from breweries in the U.S. producing under six million barrels per year. There were no Budweiser, Miller, or Coors products, or lines of beer owned by affiliated large companies like Rolling Rock or Red Hook (AB-InBev) or Blue Moon or Leinenkugel's (SAB Miller).

Engert suggested categorizing the beers by flavor profile, similar to the way he organizes his beer menus, rather than by ales and lagers, a grouping that means little in today's terrain of innovative brews mostly dominated by ales. Within each profile, he wanted to pair beers of similar styles and alcohol content against each other to avoid early round mismatches.

"I wanted to leave that subjectivity of preferred style to the end, in the later rounds," says Engert.

Engert himself selected the breweries and made a list of styles in each flavor profile he wanted to cover. This year's tournament would be a four-quadrant bracket with eight to ten styles in each flavor category, represented (when possible) by two breweries each–for a total of 64 contestants. He then started the grueling process of filling the slots with a beer from each brewery's year-round offerings.

The organizers also split the tasting into two sessions on separate nights instead of one marathon evening of boozing. This counteracted palate fatigue and allowed for not only more beers than in previous years, but also the inclusion of brews with higher alcohol levels, which tend to be the most popular ones. According to Engert, the organizers actually wanted to spread the tasting across four nights and are likely to do so next year.

Finally, the organizers had a different way to choose the panel, which included industry professionals with developed palates as well as the usual Joe Sixpack. WaPo recruited Kat Bangs, sommelier at Komi in Dupont Circle, JP Caceres, mixologist at Bourbon Steak in Georgetown, Brian Robinson, executive chef at Restaurant Three in Arlington, and Ellie and Bob Tupper, brewers of Tuppers' Beers and celebrated local beer enthusiasts. Along with these four panelists (the Tuppers counted as one vote), five readers were selected from this year's application pool: Justin Garcia of Centreville, Hiromi Kowaguchi of Arlington, Whitney Meager of D.C., Duff Gillespie of Kensington, and Christina Hoffman of Arlington.

The panelists received a crash course in beer judging before participating. "I wanted to turn things away from pure subjectivity, but didn't want to tell people what to think," says Engert. "I told them it should be a balance between what you prefer but could incorporate some ideas of what makes certain beers more palatable or interesting than others."

The upshot of all this thought and effort is a winner's circle worth noting. The victors in each profile, which are each champions themselves, include:

• MALT – Misery Wheat Wine Ale from DuClaw in southern Maryland
• FRUIT & SPICE – Exit 4 American Trippel from Flying Fish in New Jersey
• ROAST – Rise Up Stout from Evolution in Delaware
• HOPS – Maximus IPA from Lagunitas in California

These four brews then competed against each other for the Beer Madness title. Misery and Exit 4 faced off in the semi-finals, as did Rise Up and Maximus. The victors, Exit 4 and Maximus, then competed in the championship round, with Flying Fish Exit 4 American Trippel, a 9.5 percent alcohol by volume Belgian-style ale, grabbing the win in a 6-3 vote.

Personally, I would have flipped the semi-finals bracket to pit the Malt and Roast champs and Hops and Fruit & Spice winners against each other–just to see how the final result may have been different. Other than that, this year's tournament took most of the madness out of Beer Madness, and for the first time I am looking to the winners list and seeking out the late-round beers I have yet to try.

Image courtesy of WashingtonPost.com

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House In Session Ale

The brew's release celebrates the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act currently being introduced in Congress. The legislation, if passed, would help small-production breweries have the capacity to grow by lowering excise taxes on beer. But politics aside, the group of delegates who made this 4.2 percent alcohol by volume beer wanted the project to also show a different side of the District.

Courtesy of the project's grand architect, Jeff Wells of local beer and wine distributor DOPS Inc., the brew crew even enjoyed half-smokes and chili from Ben's Chili Bowl and listened to D.C. punk and go-go music on their brew day at Schlafly. (Wells brought the goods in his carry-on. When stopped by security, they laughed and let him and his frozen dogs on the plane).

But beyond pop culture, the collaboration was meant to capture the spirit of camaraderie that exists in the District's craft beer community. "The underlying theme in all of this is that the beer really is about collaboration. For us to go off to St. Louis together to make a beer for D.C. shows people what the D.C. beer scene is really about," Meridian Pint's Fitz explains.

"It shows D.C. is a more unified place than most people assume, especially with what D.C. is as a whole, being a very political town. People project that same adversarial relationship on bar managers in D.C. We wanted to showcase something that shows we are all friends and that it's more something like who gets a keg every now and then that we fight over, not business," Jasgur said.

In an effort to show the spirit behind the beer, Wells, Jasgur, Fitz, and Engert have planned the official launch event for House In Session Ale at Old Ebbitt Grill tonight at 6 o'clock. In a tip of the hat to the history of beer in America and one more tie to politics, the release was scheduled on National Beer Day, April 7, to celebrate the day beer became legal to produce and sell in the United States after Prohibition. On this date in 1933 the Cullen-Harrison Act, a law that raised the legal alcohol level for beverages to 3.2 percent, went into effect. House In Session commemorates a time when low-alcohol, session beers were all that was available to drink.

I don’t think you will taste half-smokes or hear Bad Brains or Trouble Funk when you drink House in Session Ale, but it will be hard not to get a sense of the history and politics, both in the local beer scene and in federal legislation, behind this special D.C. brew. If you can't make it out tonight, look for kegs and casks at ChurchKey, Meridian Pint, both D.C. Pizzeria Paradiso locations, as well as a handful of select spots including Estadio and Ben's Next Door.

Read more Y&H coverages of House In Session Ale here and here.

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