Best Christmas ever pt. 3 - Blue Jacket D.C.

Greetings. It has been a while since my last post. I would like to say that I have  been doing fabulous things, however that would be untrue. Much like what happens to us all, life has gotten in the way. Two over scheduled daughters, one over scheduled wife and a new position at work has made me not very interested in writing. However, the aforementioned reasons have contributed to my steady beer consumption. So what has me going back to the blog you ask, our bi-annual Christmas trip to Virginia, which this time around included a brewery tour.

Although it is an 18-hour 1,200 mile drive from Southwest La to Northern Virginia, it is well worth it to spend a week with family in a relaxing setting. I refer to it as a drinking beer in sweatpants kind of a vacation. The most important things we do there, besides a whole lot of nothing, is catching up and enjoying each other's company.

Even though there are minimal goals for the trip besides getting there and relaxing, we did manage to make it to our Nation's capital to visit the national zoo, and most importantly for my girls, see their pandas. One other trip we made to the city was to a new brewery/restaurant called the Blue Jacket.

Margaret's cousin, Chad is a bar tender in DC and has many friends in the industry. One of his friends opened the Blue Jacket in October of 2013. It is located near the DC Navy yard in a building where munitions for Navy ships were previously manufactured. It gets its name from the Blue Jacket manual that was given to all enlisted sailors. It is also located within walking distance of the home stadium of the Washington Nationals baseball team. Think Wrigleyville in Chicago, but cleaner and with much better beers.

The space is very impressive with two floors. The first of which houses the restaurant and on the top floor resides the brewing equipment. Their menu includes 20 hand crafted beers on tap and 5 cask aged beers. All their beer is brewed on the premises. They offer full size pints and generous sample sizes. Between the 4 of us there that day, we made our way through about half of the beers on tap. Not bad for the Monday before Christmas and starting before 11am.

A particular favorite of mine and the group is the Mexican Radio. This beer is described as a spiced sweet stout. The thought that came to mind when I tried it was a similar flavor as the smell of the pipe tobacco that my dad used to smoke when I was a kid. Although it is sweet, it is not too sweet so as to be a dessert beer. Other notable beers for me included the Expat, the Panther and the Redhead.

Their menu below is very comprehensive and includes beer stats and tasting notes.

As noted above, thanks to knowing someone on the inside, we were able to get a behind the scenes tour of the brewing operations. Being a home brewer, I know the importance of keeping brewing equipment clean to avoid contamination. This fact, combined with the newness of the place was illustrated by the gleaming condition of the equipment.

The view from the 2nd floor

Boiling Vessels

Open Air fermentation. Letting nature do its thing. 

Oak Casks for barrel aging beers

The trip to the Blue Jacket was a nice treat and helped make our holiday "the best Christmas ever. Pt. 3." Margaret's family is not shy with superlatives. The girls got a nice haul from Santa and to see their beloved pandas and I got a present of well made beers in a pristine setting. Well done by the folks at the Blue Jacket and thanks for the hospitality and tour. Most of all, thanks Chad for setting it up.

For more information on the Blue Jacket, please see Blue Jacket DC.

Until next time (no promises on when that will be).

Cheers!