Port City is my kind of brewery– located in an industrial area off the beaten path, filled with friendly staff, and a haven for locals.  I greatly enjoyed my trip to this brewery and it wasn’t just because the satellite radio was set on the 80s station.  The beers were great, as was the atmosphere. I would highly recommend a trip to this brewery if you are in the DC area.

Port City offered several beers of different styles, all of which were very good.  The Optimal Wit was a great Belgium style beer, even for someone like me who isn’t a fan of Belgium beers.  The Downright Pilsner had a great flavor for a pilsner and was a bit heavier in body than a traditional pilsner.  The Essential Pale Ale was my favorite– a traditional pale ale with good hoppy nose and flavor but not overpowering.  The Monumental IPA was a bit weak for me, as I like the good piney, hoppy IPAs.  The Porter had a great coffee flavor, but lacked a little on the nose.  The specialty beer was  Revival Stout, an oyster stout, which was very popular with the regulars, but to me, although not bad, was nothing to write home about.  The oyster stout was brewed using local oysters and part of the proceeds goes to the Oyster Recovery Partnership– who can say no to drinking beer while helping the environment?

If you are in the area, stop by for  a beer.  Lots of regulars were stopping in for growlers and both customers and staff were willing to give you feedback on their favs.  We visited on a Friday night and they had a local food truck outside, so you could make an evening of your trip to the brewery.  Port City also had some cute souvenirs for the friends back home, including a dog collar complete with beer opener–a great gift for the beer drinking, dog lover!

So I finally got back from a trip to DC during which I was able to visit some breweries.  BJ’s Brewhouse was my first stop as it just opened about 2 weeks ago at a new location in Tyson’s Corner, VA.  In fact, the location is so new that it doesn’t yet show up on the locations page of their website. Although a chain, I was not familiar with them, their food, or their beers. Apparently, their primary locations are out west but according to their website they do have some locations in the Ft. Lauderdale area.

I started by ordering a sampler that consisted of 8 beers.  I was very disappointed when I received the sampler, because it was clear the server didn’t know much about the beers. They were clearly mislabeled and misplaced. I find this is a common problem– brewpubs hiring staff that know next to nothing about beers.  I was, however, impressed by the way the sampler was served.  The restaurant has a great iron beer sampler holder that provides for a unique presentation.  Needless to say, I had to correctly label the beer myself– good thing these were all pretty standard beers.

I was really looking forward to a good pumpkin beer. I had been out of town, for the most part, during pumpkin beer season and completely missed my favorite, Dogfish.  The pumpkin beer here at BJ’s was good but not great– the presentation would have been greatly enhanced by sugar and cinnamon on the rim. It was, however, good enough that I ended up going back during my stay and getting a second.  The Piranha was a standard pale ale– nothing to write home about but very drinkable.  The Hop Storm IPA reminded me very much of Shipyard and was, therefore, another very drinkable beer.  The Oasis amber was standard.  The Jeremiah red tasted exactly like Killian’s.  The Nutty Brewnette brown ale was quite weak, as was the Octoberfest.  The worst beer, by far, was the PM porter which was very bitter with a weak chocolate taste.

The beers at BJ’s Brewhouse are pretty fair; however, the food here was quite good and varied.  The pub offers a wide range of entrees from salads to pizzas.  A friend got the pizza and said it was good but not spectacular.  I got the signature appetizer of the avocado egg rolls. I would highly recommend this appetizer and it made it well worth the trip.