INTERVIEW – FRITZ HAHN – Washington Post Reporter covering bars, drinks and nightlife – discussed what there is to do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in the DC area this weekend:
- Things to do in the D.C. area over St. Patrick’s Day weekend:
- St. Patrick’s Day weekend at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery: If you’re a fan of Irish beer, there are few better places to spend the holiday than Open Gate. Just know that you’ll need to plan ahead and purchase tickets in advance for Saturday or Sunday. There are two sessions per day — 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. — each featuring live music and a special menu, including the debut of the Guinness food truck. The $15 admission includes one beer, a souvenir button and a donation to local charities. Look for four new beers: An amber ale brewed with Irish breakfast tea and a stout made with black currant are going on tap, while the brewery has canned an IPA with Citra and Mosaic hops and a rye stout. “Of the stouts we’ve made, the rye has been our brewers’ favorite,” brewmaster Peter Wiens says. “The spiciness comes through.” Overflow parking is available at the Halethorpe MARC station, with a free shuttle to the brewery. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 10 p.m. $15.
- St. Patrick’s Day pregame at the Dubliner: The venerable Capitol Hill pub, which turned 45 last week, is one of the most comfortable barrooms in town. Doors open at noon on Saturday for a day of “pregame” music and pints, and Sunday starts at 9 a.m., with 45-cent Guinness for the first hour, followed by John McGrath, Brian Gaffney and Morris Minor performing traditional Irish music on two stages for the rest of the day. Through Sunday. Free admission.
- St. Patrick’s Day at Ireland’s Four Courts: Because beer apparently tastes better if you earn it, the holiday weekend at the Arlington pub begins with the Four Courts Four Miler — a downhill/uphill circuit through the streets of Court House and Rosslyn, followed by a party with live music, Irish food specials, dancers and a bagpiper in the pub. Festivities continue on Sunday with a heated party tent to make room for even more revelers. Doors open at 8 a.m. both days. Through Sunday. Free admission.
- St. Patrick’s Day at the Smashed Potato, a.k.a. Barrel: Barrel isn’t usually an Irish bar, but it will be through Sunday, thanks to general manager Ruairi De Burca, who hails from Cork. Expect a version of Irish coffee made with nitro cold brew, Irish whiskey and spices; discounted Irish whiskey; and $8 pints of Irish beers. Chef Walfer Hernandez is preparing dishes traditional (fish and chips, lamb stew) and not (green mashed potatoes). Through Sunday. Free admission.
- HAHN: Maryland’s new Guinness brewery is a destination for fans — and everyone else, too: (Washington Post) – More than 13 million pints of Guinness Draught Stout will be consumed around the world on St. Patrick’s Day. Although you can enjoy a couple of glasses of the black stuff at your local pub on Sunday, wouldn’t you rather drink Guinness at the Guinness brewery? The beloved Irish brewer made a splash in 2017 when it opened a taproom and experimental brewery on the site of the old Calvert Distillery just north of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, marking the first time since the 1950s that Guinness operated a brewery in the United States. Last summer, it unveiled an upgraded space in the same complex: Open Gate Brewery and Barrel House now has a larger brewery, a visitors center, a spacious bar, a sit-down restaurant and a gift shop, and outside, a wide lawn features an alfresco bar and plots where beer ingredients are growing. As a result, a brewery synonymous with the Emerald Isle has become one of the fastest-growing tourist attractions in the Old Line State. Diageo, Guinness’s parent company, set a goal of 300,000 visitors in Open Gate’s first year, but it took less than 90 days to notch 100,000. On an average Saturday, the brewery says, it’s not uncommon for 2,500 people to pass through the doors for guided tours, a meal or just to see what’s pouring in the handsome taproom, an area that has couches, tables made from old barrels and a huge central bar topped with illuminated glass bricks. If you’re wondering why a brewery has become such a destination, it’s worth considering the unique position Guinness occupies in the beer world. It’s beloved by the Irish American community and by those whose only association with Ireland is a love of pubs. Although it’s part of a multibillion-dollar company, sold worldwide alongside sister brands Johnnie Walker Scotch and Smirnoff Vodka, it’s not dismissed by the craft beer aficionados who turn up their noses at any association with macro-brewers, such as Heineken or AB-InBev. Open Gate Brewery tries to appeal to all of these audiences. While Guinness’s flagship stouts, including the best-selling Draught Stout, Extra Stout and Foreign Extra Stout, are still produced at the landmark St. James’s Gate brewery in Dublin, the company has given the Open Gate team free rein to create IPAs, sours and other “experimental beers” to supplement the taproom’s made-in-Ireland offerings. Of the 20 draft and bottle choices available on a recent visit, more than half were produced there in Baltimore County, mostly on a small system a level below the taproom. “This brewery has been built to remind people that Guinness is a brewery, not just one beer,” jokes brewery brand ambassador Ryan Wagner. It doesn’t hurt that the Baltimore brewers have solid craft beer credentials: American brewmaster Peter Wiens brewed at Stone in San Diego and in Richmond.
