Loving Long Lunches

The saying is, “You shouldn’t mix business with pleasure.”  I’m not sure where it comes from since I’ve always believed that you have to make your fun no matter what the circumstances.  So when my folks had offered to watch the kids, and I had a business trip to DC where I had a downtown hotel, Jenn and I jumped at the chance and headed down south for some fun.  And fun for me has always included searching out some new and some famous beer spots.

So I decided to check out a new area, and headed over to Arlington for a few spots that were recommended by Beer Advocate.  My first destination was a lunch spot, Rustico (http://www.rusticorestaurant.com/), that had a great menu and an even better beer selection.  This place was awesome! Jenn got an eggplant parmesan sandwich that she loved (good for me since I can keep picking beer bars as long as Jenn enjoys the food menu).  I got the lunchbox special, a soup (corn chowder), a salad (cucumber, tomato, and mozzarella), and a half of the brisket cheesesteak coated in jalapeño cheddar cheese.  The beers could be ordered individually in 4 oz samples (like Bier Abbey or Church Key), which is obviously perfect for me.  I tried the two available casks; Baltimore’s Pratt Street Alehouse Bishop Breakfast stout and Utah’s Epic Mid Mountain Mild.  Both were perfect beers for cask and great representations of their styles.  I then got a wonderful rauchbier from a Bluejacket and DC Brau collaboration called Embers of the Deceased.  Finally, there was a rare specialty beer that I needed to try, the 25^th Anniversary Harvest Ale from English brewer JW Lees, an English Barleywine fermented with champagne yeast.  At 11.5% ABV, I was certainly glad for a 4oz serving.  Rustico has another location in Alexandria, and we both agreed this would be a great place to stop in anytime.

Our next stop is a bar that I didn’t even know had expanded out of Florida, the World of Beer (http://wobusa.com/).  I fell in love with this bar on my previous trips to Tampa and Orlando, and only saw that they had hit the DC area by sheer luck.  Jenn spotted the bar on the way in, and even stuck to her guns when I said that WOB was only in FL.  Turns out they had only been open for two weeks, and the beer selection was very impressive.  Jenn got a Sea Dog Blueberry (her favorite beer, and they even put blueberries in) while I got a Blue Mountain Mandolin.  Blue Mountain is a wonderful new VA brewery that is putting out top notch microbrews, and their version of a Belgian Tripel was outstanding.  WOB would be a great place to catch a game, and their limited food menu would even keep you going when you get the munchies.

Our final stop in Arlington was a new listing on Draft magazine’s top 100 US beer bars.  Lyon Hall (http://lyonhallarlington.com) looks like it was once a diner, but don’t let the outside appearance fool you.  We sat at the bar and the waiter and the owner were both gracious and knowledgeable about the local beer scene.  I tried a beer from DC Brau called The Corruption; an American IPA that had a good balance of alcohol and bitterness.  Jenn went a different direction, claiming it was time for dessert (I thought beer was a dessert) and ordered a crème brulee that was served with berries.  The food, beer and service were great, and would definitely go back if I was back in the neighborhood.

It was a great start to the week, but it was time to park the car and check in to the hotel.  Downtown DC awaited us, and we were definitely ready to continue our adventure. – 6100/12694

“I think this would be a good time for a beer.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt on the Repeal of Prohibition