This Week in Beer (TWIB) is a feature where I’ll highlight some craft beers I had during this past week mixed with some related (and unrelated) thoughts. Yes, it’s a play on the name of the show This Week in Baseball which I grew up on and loved.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted a TWIB but that doesn’t mean craft beer has been quiet. Here are some recent happenings to me, my blog and the beer world.
I’m a Glass Half Full Kinda Guy
I finally got to sit down for a few pints at Glass Half Full Taproom in Ashburn, Virginia. It is a small bar inside the new Alamo Drafthouse movie theater. No movie ticket is required to enter and the bar is well worth going to even if you aren’t planning on seeing a movie. It has about 15-20 barstools and ten or so tables surrounded by a rugged wood decor. The staff is highly knowledgeable about their beer. They have 32 taps of which most rotate regularly.
Recently they’ve had tap takeovers from local breweries Lost Rhino, DC Brau and Devils Backbone. After MacDowell Brew Kitchen, this might be one of the best places to find a unique craft beer in the immediate area.
Victorious Purchase
One of the best purchases I’ve made recently is a mixed 12-pack by Victory Brewing Company. For about $17 at Total Wine, I got three Hop Devils, Golden Monkeys, Headwaters Pale Ales and Prima Pils. If you’re craving hops and flavor, this is your mixed pack.
You’ve Got (Beer) Mail
I can already imagine all the entrepreneurial beer geeks out there thinking up mail delivery beer companies after news that United States Postal Service is making a push to start shipping beer. How great would that be? You can share a local brew on the East Coast with a friend on the West Coast. I can’t really see a downside to this. If anything, it’ll only grow craft beer even more.
Hitting the Books
On My Impossible List is to become a Cicerone Certified Beer Server. I started publishing a study guide based on the syllabus provided from the Cicerone website. The first two parts on German/Czech and Belgian/French styles are already listed. Look out for part III on British styles later this week.
Conversations with Beer Bloggers Update
The first two episodes of Conversations with Beer Bloggers have been fantastic! We’ve met Carla Companion of The Beer Babe Blog and Bryan Roth of the This Is Why I’m Drunk Blog. Tomorrow we’ll meet Ryan Mould. More episodes in the works include Oliver Gray and Nick McCormac. Contact me if you’re interested in participating at well!
Final Thoughts
That’s it for This Week in Beer. Lots of new material coming out this week. Share your thoughts on Glass Half Full Taproom, great mixed 12-packs, beer via mail and whatever else below! Drink good beer. Share good beer.
Short On Beer 
You still going to try your hand at beer fiction? I know I’m kind of cornering the market, but I’d love to see what others could do with it 🙂
Yes, I can’t let you have that niche to yourself! Once Conversations with Beer Bloggers, the Certified Beer Server Exam and another not yet announced project are complete I want to focus most of my time on that. Plans are to start with a couple very short stories then see where that takes me.
I’ve always had a romantic idea of getting a six pack of beer from my hometown and mailing it to five other friends from home with a note that includes a day and time. We all open our beers at the same time and share a brew.
Very sentimental and what a way to stay connected. A lot of my friends are slowly drifting across the US and world. I might have to borrow this idea and share with them.
I wonder how the USPS decision to ship beer will affect state laws. I don’t know if it’s changed recently but a lot of sites that ship beer would list Maryland (along with a handful of other states) as “no ship states” due to state law. This always drove me nuts because it prevented me from signing up for a lot of cool monthly beer bottle clubs.
State laws would unfortunately still come first. Hopefully the craft beer community can put enough pressure on lawmakers to change them. The price of monthly beer bottle clubs have driven me away more so than any state law.
Love those Victory beers. One of my (and I’m sure many others) favorite breweries. You also can’t go wrong with the Troegs Anthology packs!
I can only find a few different Troegs sixers around me. No variety packs yet. Sounds badass though.