I thought Redskins were peanuts? G.A.M.E. Trip 2014

Five friends and I took our now-annual Grown. Ass. Man. Extravaganza. (G.A.M.E.) trip this year to see the woe-is-us Tennessee Titans play the Washington Redskins in D.C.  It was another great trip (and another loss for the Titans) with at least some great beer as well.

Bluejacket Brewing was just a 15-minute walk from the house we rented and their beer was outstanding as was the fancy way they listed them.  No dusty chalkboards for these guys!  I had half-pints of the Lost is Space IPA, The Darling Buds: Citra IPA and the Gauntlet black IPA, the Paramour IPA, the Mexican Radio milk stout (my favorite of the bunch) and The Wake imperial stout

On our second trip to Bluejacket I had the amazing kielbasa for dinner along with more beer, of course, including the Spectre IPA and the Bretta World Peach IPA. 

Although I have been to DC several times, I still got to experience new things on this trip including my first visit up to the top of the Washington Monument.  What a thrill and what an absolutely beautiful day for a visit.

More "new to me" visits included the powerful new Martin Luther King Memorial, the FDR Memorial (below) and the fairly new World War II Memorial where we had the honor of visiting it at the same time as a large crowd of veterans from the war.  Thank you, good sirs!

We walked A LOT (over 10 miles) in DC and here my aching dogs are getting a break as I crack open a Sister of the Moon IPA from Mother Earth Brewing (NC).  We had a great little convenience store a few blocks away with a very nice craft beer selection (MUCH more on that later).

We also got some inexpensive tickets to a MLS match-up between DC United and the Chicago Fire at the old RFK Stadium near our rental house.  It was a thrilling game with DC scoring an amazing winning goal right in front of us.  The crowd was decent-sized and very raucous.  It was a great time.

At the soccer game (and back at the house) we tried a few good, local canned brews by DC Brau including The Corruption IPA and  The Public APA.

As mentioned before, the Titans chalked up another road loss as Washington's third-string QB came in the game the second-half and we made him look like the second-coming of John Elway.  Our seats were high up, but dead center, and we had a good time despite the outcome of the game.  The DC fans were pleasant enough (since their team kinda sucks right now too) and FedEx Field is a very nice venue.  The weather also continued to be perfect.

Did I mention we had a pretty good selection of craft beer near our house?  Well, 58 beers and 6 ciders later, they were all dead and on display in our rented living room.  Here's a quick list of what I had:  Loose Cannon's Heavy Seas IPA (Baltimore), Lakefront Brewing's IPA (Milwaukee), Double D Imperial IPA from Dominion Brewing (Delaware), and Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing (Michigan).

More dead soldiers from the 58 Beers Campaign...

We had much better success with beer at the house than we did out and about other than the outstanding  aforementioned Blue Jacket Brewing.  Just for listing sake, I will mention a few others I had.  I had a Heroes Never Die IPA from Beer Army Combat Brewery (NC) at a place called The Ugly Mug.  It was buttery in taste and maybe one of the worst IPA's I have ever had.  I had a good Two Hearted Ale (IPA) from Bell's Brewing (MI) at a place called The Hawk and Dove...which might have been a gay bar...not that there's anything wrong with that...For our last night and dinner in DC, we sought out the Heavy Seas Alehouse in downtown DC and while we had enjoyed their beer up to then, the service and food here SUCKED out loud.  Very disappointing.  While there I did have a guest beer on tap, the Hoppacalypse Imperial Red Ale from Apocalypse Ale Works (VA)..very underwhelming and  a Peg Leg Imperial Stout from Heavy Seas themselves which was the lone bright spot of the evening.

And then...

The following weekend, Ashlee and I took a quick trip up to the The Smokies for a few days.  We happened upon a place that finally has some good beer on tap in this area that has been woefully lacking in the past.  It's definitely worth a mention here.

Despite getting a bit of grief from the barkeep when I walked in with my Predators pullover on (he's a Red Wings fan), the English-style pub in the woods near Gatlinburg  called The Fox and Parrot Tavern is pretty cool.  I had a draught of the Rocky Hop IPA from Saw Works Brewing in nearby Knoxville (that's a new one to me) which was nice and hoppy.  I followed that up with a Vanilla Cream Ale from Blackhorse Brewery in Clarksville, TN.  Their authentic pub food was good as well.  We shall be back to this great place on our next visit this way!