Bluejacket  is the newest addition to the rapidly gentrifying Naval Yard area of Washington DC. I was hearing the hype about this new brewery even down here in Florida.  I was really expecting this to be a great experience but it didn’t deliver.  In the words of a friend, “this beer tastes like disappointment” and the overall experience was a disappointment.  First of all, the decor was a bit pretentious with lots of metal and wood. I didn’t feel like I was in a brewery but an upscale, yuppy bar.  For those of you who know me, I like good beer and a friendly, down-to-earth atmosphere. I definitely didn’t get this here.  The place was packed and with people who apparently didn’t drink much real craft beer.  I was told by other patrons that this beer or that was the best — and believe me none of the beers were the best of anything.  Even the bartender admitted that the beers weren’t very mature and none of them were that great.  I also was very confused by the layout of the place– the brewery was a converted warehouse still complete with roll up doors.  Warehouses are notoriously under-insulated and often hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  The fermenters were located near the ceiling and heat rises, won’t this make it hard to brew in the summer? I mean DC is known for hot, humid summers. Of course, I am not a brewer, so I asked the bartender and he said he didn’t know if anyone had ever thought of that.

Now to the beers.  The brewery had only been open about 2 weeks when I visited, yet there were 20 beers available on draft.  I have never heard of a brewery opening with 20 beers.  Don’t you usually want to perfect your signature brews and then move on from there? The whole thing seemed, not to overuse the word, pretentious.

Now on to the beers….. I visited with a friend who is also a regular beer drinker who pointed out after the third or fourth sample that it seemed like there was some sort of underlying beer recipe to which other things were just added.  The beers seemed to have a formula taste and all of them were basically the same.  I have to agree that this seemed to be the case, as might have to be with trying to open a brewery with 20 brews from the start. I  am not going to go into every one of the beers since there were so many but will hit some highlights.  Overall, I noted that most of the beers had very strong noses, which made me expect big taste; however, the taste generally did not deliver. Strompy was one of the better beers with a good dry and bitter taste.  The Imposter IPA was also good with a strong piney taste.  The Tooth and Nail had a feet like smell and left behind a very strong aftertaste.  The Duel IPA was brewed with Belgian yeast so I expected something a bit different; it like many of the beers disappointed.  The New Zealot was very yeasty and didn’t taste like a mature beer.  The Figure 8 had a great nutmeg nose but the taste did not hold up. The Bitterschon had too much hops than you would expect in a bitter and you could both taste and smell the hops.  The Suede smelled very chocolately and I expected a great porter but the taste was more sour so I suspect it was immature.  Trouble had a horrible nose like bad apple cider and tasted like skittles had been put in the beer. Panther was the best of the darker beers with a good nose and taste.  James and the Giant Peach seemed to be many of the patrons favorite but I found it a bit too sweet.  Ingenue was brewed with lactose and had a blue cheese nose– this absolutely had to be one of the worst beers I have ever tasted as it made me almost gag and tasted like very old, moldy cheese that had been left in the sun. Seersucker was supposed to be a Weiss but tasted way too sour.  Stowaway also tasted too sour. Butcher was supposed to be a dobblebock but it didn’t seem like one to me.

My advice here– avoid the hype and avoid this place for a few months.  Wait until baseball season starts again, then head down before a Nationals game.  Hopefully in six months or so, the beers will have matured and the brewmaster will have settled on a few signature beers that are well-developed and true to the name.

I have to also mention the food. We  only had appetizers because the place was way too packed to try to get a seat and actually eat a meal.  We had some chickpeas that were quite good. My friend got the pickle pot, which we expected to be pickles.  However, there were lots of different pickled things in the little dish including pears and grapes.  I am not a fan of pickles so I might not be the best judge of things but why would anyone pickle a grape? This might have been one of the oddest and most foul appetizers I have ever tried. Really? Stick to things people like– you’re a bar for goodness sake.