WASHINGTON DC
Down a walking path across the freight rail depot in an old industrial warehouse half a mile north of Lost Generation Brewing at the Edgewood section of Northeast DC, CITY-STATE BREWERY opened up in this rustic art venue space during June ’21. Doing a splendid job crafting a rounded selection of familiar styled beers, the raw community pub resides close to quaint family-oriented row-housed neighborhood. Former congressional aide, James Warner, along with experienced head brewer, Vincent Falcone, create amiably consistent fare never too far beyond stylish parameters.
Celebrating local cultural landmarks, the white back wall sports red, yellow and green framed collages of all 48 DC neighborhoods and a purple side wall (across the rear brew tanks) dons a black and white-painted City-State insignia.
Two overhead doors lead to the cement-floored, wood-columned interior featuring a twelve-seat left side serving station (with strung Edison lights), several orange community tables and two wood beer stands near the arcade games (across the room from the Skeeball table).
In early March ’23 on a Sunday at noon, my wife and youngest son play arcade while I suck down seven dewy delights before heading back to Jersey.
Tranquil light-bodied clear straw German pilsner, Lost Laws, placed floral yellow fruiting atop honeyed cereal graining.
A tad lighter, floral lemon spicing gently sufficed for Equal Marriage Blonde, leaving a mild herbal respite on the dry pale malt bottom.
Dewy chocolate wheat malting gained bittersweet cocoa powdering for Equal Marriage Dark Wheat, soaking up dank wood resin.
Piney hop fruiting bedecked 8 Wards IPA, a West Coast variety with red-yellow-orange fruiting slightly embittered by juniper herbage above raw-honeyed pale malts.
Vibrant Spoonbill Hazy IPA secured its tangy tangerine adjunct with mild lemon-pitted orange peel and yellow grapefruit bittering given dry wood resin and crisp mineral graining as well as ancillary yogurt-milked peach, mango, guava and green grape tartness
Candi-sugared Monk’s Cavern Dubbel, allowed spicy dried fruiting to pick up mild dewy fungi over toasted amber grains – moderating its rum raisin, date and fig regalia.
Creamy milk-sugared coffee and sugary chocolate nougats guided Kingman Extra Stout, picking up a molasses-smoked hazelnut and pecan glaze, dark cherry tartness and lightly embittered dark-roast hop char.