Virginia trip

Last week, I attended a training class on QSM’s SLIM tool in McLean, Virginia. The tool suite is awesome, but this post is about something far more important…beer! Ok, it’s more of a stream of consciousness dump of my entire trip. But it’s mostly about beer. I was on the prowl for Weyerbacher Double Simcoe and Troegs Nugget Nectar.

I watched the new Star Trek movie on iTunes on the flight. Awesome movie! Upon landing, I immediately went to Brickskeller in Washington DC. They have the world’s largest beer selection, about 800 bottles but only 12 taps. It was a bit of a hole in the wall, but I like this sort of aged, disheveled appearance in a bar. I had a Brooklyn Blast Imperial IPA, Victory Old Horizontal Barleywine vintage 2003, and a buffalo burger. All were good. After dinner, I became hopelessly lost on my way to the hotel in McLean. It took me over an hour to make a 30 minute drive. Bring a GPS if you go to DC or Virginia.

On Wednesday night, I had dinner with my Uncle Terry and Aunt Carolyn. We had dinner at Artie’s in Fairfax. I had filet and crab cakes…mmmmmm. Everything was yummy, especially the crab cakes. I enjoyed visiting with my aunt and uncle, who I only get to see about once a year. We went to Total Wine together and I was pretty impressed with the beer selection and prices. I bought a sixer of Troegs Nugget Nectar.

I made a total of 5 stops at liquor stores. I was at Total Beverage 3 times and Norm’s Beer and Wine in Tysons Corner twice. Norm’s had big bottles of Weyerbacher Double Simcoe. These are unfiltered and even better than the regular ones. I think I bought about 6 bombers of Nugget Nectar, 6 fifths of Double Simcoe, a sixer of each, and a few assorted Terrapin. I was able to get 6 big bottles in my luggage and I shipped the rest home by FedEx.

On Thursday night, I had dinner at Dogfish Head Alehouse in Falls Church. I sat at the bar and ate crab soup and jambalaya – both were great. I had a taste of Worldwide Stout (18% alcohol) and a 75 Minute IPA. I’d never heard of that, so I asked the bartender…she said that they pour half a glass of 60 Minute IPA and half a glass of 90 Minute IPA. It was really good.

Class was done by 11:30 on Friday. I stopped at FedEx to ship the boxes, then headed to the airport. My American flight was leaving around 3:00. Unfortunately, we boarded the plane, entered the runway, and returned to the terminal twice. I was moved to a United flight and arrived in Chicago around 8:00 sans luggage. So instead of getting back to my house around 5:30, I arrived around 9:00. My suitcase (beer intact) was delivered to my house at 2:30 AM on Sunday.

- schneid