The Brooklyn Brewery Mash Tour Returns to DC October 6th through 9th. This year’s events include:
· Dinner With Friends at The Royal – Thursday, October 6th
· FREE SHOW! – Timberland presents Black Lips – Thursday, October 6th
· Beer Mansion at Blind Whino – Saturday, October 8th
· Adams Morgan Neighborhood Immersion – Sunday October 9th
You can check our our coverage of last year’s DC events. We are covering this year’s events as well.
-JAY
This “Ghost Bottles” (Galahad and Raspberry Whisper) are not available for sale. Galahad was my favorite beer of the evening.
Brookyn Brewery’s Secret Supper was held last night at Maurice Electrical Supply (a block from Union Market) in partnership with Dinnerlab. The rain prevented this form being an outdoor dining experience, but there was plenty of room inside for us all. Above are images of the evenings highlights, including all the dishes we were served.
Tomorrow at 3pm will be Brooklyn Brewery’s 3 Headed Beast event near Waterfront Metro. There is still time to get tickets ($35) for it, but it is not a vegetarian friendly event.
I also had the pleasure last night of trying Honeycomb Grocer‘s Pickled Watermelon Rind (made from heirloom Bradford Watermelon) and a great cocktail (Hemingway Daiquiri) from Prequel‘s Brick & Mortar (a speakeasy-like bar in the basement). Yes, it was a busy evening.
-JAY
October 4th – 11th, the largest craft beer tour of its kind will be coming to D.C. for a week long series of beer dinners, panels, film, secret suppers and tap takeovers – the Brooklyn Brewery Mash Tour.
Events include:
-JAY
Adams Morgan Neighborhood Immersion concept is kind of like a bar crawl but without all of the unlimited boozing. Brooklyn Brewery hosted this immersion, so you know some good brews were present!
You pay $20 and you’re guaranteed a free lunch at a participating restaurant and two beer tickets. Upon getting your tickets you are given a number of coupons that include your free lunch at Mellow Mushroom and another restaurant of your choice (Amsterdam Falafel, Pop’s SeaBar or Songbyrd) and coupons for discounts, raffles, etc.
First stop Mellow Mushroom for a free lunch. Lunch at the Mellow Mushroom was awesome. However, you’re not told what your “free lunch” entails until you arrive at the restaurant. It was a free small pizza with one topping of your choice. And who doesn’t like free pizza?
Mellow Mushroom is always a favorite and you can’t go to a place called “mellow mushroom” and not get mushrooms as your topping. Next stop was BicycleSPACE where they were raffling off a free bike. Very cool bicycle shop. I need a bike basket for my dog! =) We then headed over to Rise Bakery for some gluten free baked goods. So I’m not a big fan of gluten free pastries but I have to say it’s much better than some of the gluten free foods I’ve had before. So I’d say if you have a gluten allergy, this is a great spot to get your bread, cupcake and pastry fix. Of the three other free lunches to choose from I went with Pop’s Seabar because I’ve never been there before.
Options were free calamari or their boardwalk chicken…so I went for them both and then threw in an order of oysters on the half shell. Wonderfully fresh oysters and who doesn’t like fried foods. It’s definitely a spot I’d hit up again; however, I wouldn’t have considered that a “lunch.”
I didn’t hit up all of the spots that they had in their envelope of coupon goodies because they didn’t really entice me. Overall, I thought that this event was a little lacking and not at all interesting. The free lunch at Mellow Mushroom was great, free beer is always good and that paid for the tickets themselves. But I would’ve hoped for more restaurants to want to draw in the crowd by offering more than just some discounts and having to choose from their already small selection of restaurants (3).
-ADT
Editor’s Note(s): During this Mash Tour, I attended the Beer Mansion event and part of the dinner at the Royal. I do wish I’d had more available time on both days because Chef Andrew Gerson is amazing! His duck dish (Seared Duck Breast, Confit Leg, Celery, Orange, Grilled Shishito Peppers, and Duck Demi Glace) was wonderful and who else will serve you poke directly into your hand?
My favorite brews of the dinner at the Royal were Yokai (which includes sake leaves) and Local 1, while my dining partner favored Galahad and Framboisie (raspberries!). Ok, Sorachi Ace and K is for Kriek (cherries!) were great too, as always
Some highlights:
-JAY
Three meats, three chefs, and one hell of a cause. The Brooklyn Brewery ended their week long DC Mash Tour with the Three-Headed Beast competition at Blind Whino Sunday October 11th. All proceeds from the event went to The Food Trust, a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide everyone with affordable and nutritious food.
Who was on the guest list? Self-proclaimed foodies and beer enthusiast who spent the better half of a Sunday skipping brunch in favor of the promised ‘nose-to-tail’ dishes. No vegetarians with gluten allergies allowed. What was on tap? Brooklyn Lager, Oktoberfest, Defender IPA, Post Road Pumpkin Ale, East IPA, all of which are delicious and perfect for a fall afternoon.
Beer and good times aside, everyone was there for one, well three, things: meat, meat, and more meat.
Hosting the competition was Head of Culinary Programming at Brooklyn Brewery, Chef Andrew Gerson. His beast of choice was lamb. Filling his niche of slow cooked, the braised lamb was perfectly seasoned with Szechuan pepper, ginger and star anise. Pairing the lamb with roasted delicata squash and Romanesco atop a butternut squash puree was a subtle nod to Gerson’s love for Italian cooking. The East IPA was suggested to be most complimentary to the lamb’s seasoning, making it the perfect fall pairing.
Chef Kwame Onwuachi took a break from preparing for the highly anticipated opening Shaw Bijou. His beast of choice- Goat, head included. Drawing inspiration from a blend of cultures, the Bronx native serves his curry braised goat on msemsen bread topped with Kashmiri chili sauce and anticucho yogurt. Jealous? Seconds were had. The Defender IPA wasn’t a first choice but the right choice to amplify every spice in Onwuachi’s creation. The Defender IPA is your cousin who is Ivy League educated and also happens to be part of a female fight club. It’s more than just a red.
We’ve all been there for the whiskey, but Chef Russell Jones is the true gem of Jack Rose Salon. His beast of choice was pig. Staying fresh and keeping classic, the smoked pork shoulder and tail were topped with the best chow chow north of the Carolinas. A house-baked Parker House roll was served alongside true, good ole fashion pork rinds, and yes, the spice was just as good as the crunch. A classic dish calls for a classic beer for a classic girl with food all over her face. The Brooklyn Lager and pork rinds were a perfect combination.
All three chefs were winners of the Three Headed Beast competitions. “This is a perfect way to end, on a perfect day like today,” Gerson, toasting a Brooklyn Lager in the air to crowd.
-HGP (Haylee)
Editor’s Note: We’d like to mention that Kwame and 2 other local chefs (Chefs Marjorie Meek-Bradley and Garret Fleming) will be representing DC in the upcoming Top Chef season. Good luck guys!
