SO MANY CHOICES, SO LITTLE TIME, BEFORE THE FIRST PITCH
Apostrophe American India Pale Ale, Bluejacket Brewery, Washington, DC. Abv 7%
Happily, Nationals Park’s cozy arrangement with AB InBev has left intact the seven local brewery rotation at some of the stands if you can find them. New to the park is a Devils Backbone bar featuring a session ale supposedly exclusive to the park and, we assume, a good range of the reliably drinkable DB beers. The beers are at “slightly” higher prices, which is like saying Mount Everest picked up some extra elevation.
We’ll be drinking a bit less in the park and a bit more in the neighborhood this year, however. The Navy Yard area has become a fine place to find great fresh beer. Travis Tedrow has been brewing excellent beers for some time, and the Gordon-Biersch chain has continued to lengthen the leash of its brewers, so look for lots of good brew there this summer. Bardo should be open within days if it’s not open now, and we can’t wait to grab two of the 750 seats in good weather. Bluejacket’s Arsenal is the rock star of the trifecta with a dizzying array of adventurous and high quality house made beer. We assume you’d have trouble fitting in edgewise on opening day, but the crowds will drop on cool April nights, and we’re looking forward to warming up at Bluejacket before cooling off in the stands.
Each of these breweries has its charms, and we’ll have more to say about all of them in a “Hopping Around” post later in spring when the weather is reliable enough to really enjoy the crawl.
Bar at Bluejacket courtesy of the brewery. credit Marissa Bialecki
Bluejacket is a world-class production and drinking facility with more emphasis on food than most of the big craft brewery showpieces. The sleek lines and high ceilings have an international feel that would be quite at home on the waterfront in Stockholm. A look around shows that no expense was spared in selecting equipment that allow brewers there to make almost any style they could imagine. It’s getting pretty common these days for breweries to produce a wide range of beer styles, but it’s not as common to have all or nearly all of them be fine examples of those styles Bluejacket is one of several breweries we’re featuring this month that manage to perform that magic act consistently.
We had a chance to try several of the Bluejacket beers at Greg Engert’s newest outpost – Owen’s Ordinary in Rockville. The Pike and Rose Center that contains it claims a Bethesda location, but don’t even think about walking from Bethesda’s metro stop – instead, Owen’s is a quick hop from Rockville’s White Flint station. The Apostrophe was our favorite of the night. Decent IPAs aren’t that hard to make, but considering the context of nearly 5,000 of them in the US right now, it’s hard to brew one that stands out from the crowd. Bluejacket does it with a somewhat unusual paring of hops, but the key to the beer is its overall balance of the two hops on the firm malt base.
Tasting notes: Hallertau Blanc and Azacca hops seem to give as much sweetness to the flavor as bitterness at the end. I don’t know if I would have spotted the Blanc without the menu description, but it rocks in the aftertaste. Some cream and chalk in the feel give a smooth ride and a touch of spicy pepper at the end finishes an exceptional balancing act. This is a beer from brewers who know what they’re doing.
Food Pairings: You have lots of food choices on the Arsenal menu, and if you’ve had everything they offer, you’re probably a television food show host. This has enough depth of flavor to hold up to an adventurous dish – order something you haven’t tried and the beer, at least, will guarantee a meal you’ll like.
Note: Beers at Bluejacket and Owen’s Ordinary rotate, so by the time you get there, you may not find our beer of the day, but you will find good examples of whatever style you seek, including American IPAs. Beer Review # 0097 20170403
Beer Review # 0097 20170403
TOMORROW WE’LL FEATURE A RYE PALE ALE FROM BEL AIR MARYLAND
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