So, my birthday was this past Saturday, and I decided that my grand ol’ 23rd had to involve three of my favorite things: hiking, beer, and food. And so it did. I went hiking with Dan here:
(“Here” being Great Falls, the Virginia side)
And then went to dinner with Dan, my parents, and my brother here:
This “here” would be ChurchKey (thanks to my parents for all the photos of ChurchKey- my camera, of course, ran out of batteries as soon as I pulled it out there!)
ChurchKey, though a relative newcomer, is one one of DC’s beer meccas, an establishment devoted to celebrating the diversity of craft brewing and one of the few places in the city where you can find cask ales. A little background on cask ales, for those not in the know: it is unfiltered and unpasteurized, and is aged, conditioned (including secondary fermentation), and served in casks. It is brewed without added nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure, so its carbonation is natural and also very mild. It is served much warmer than normal draught beers (not room temperature exactly, but closer to that end of the spectrum), which is supposed to bring out subtleties in flavor and texture exponentially (we, as Americans, supposedly drink our beer way too cold and way too carbonated, and mask any subtlety in them by numbing our tongues with bubbles and icy temperatures). Dan and I have sought out cask ales and, before ChurchKey, had tried three different ones on three different occasions from three different brewpubs: twice we were very impressed, once we were distinctly unimpressed. So I was very curious to try ChurchKey’s.
This was my first beer of the dinner, and it was a 4 oz. pour (one thing I LOVE about ChurchKey is that you have the option of a glass- which can range from 10-16 oz depending on the beer- or a 4 oz sample pour, which is ideal for sampling many different types, especially if they are strong/high in alcohol). Now, I can’t be ENTIRELY sure of this beer’s identity, because I didn’t write it down, and while I remember that it was the last beer on the first page of the menu, ChurchKey’s menu on their website is outdated and the beer I ordered is not on there. But I’m 95% sure this was Paradox Smokehead from BrewDog Brewery in Scotland. This is an imperial stout, aged for six months in Smokehead single-malt whiskey barrels. Here is my review:
Holy delicious.
OK, let me try that again, in the form of a brew-haiku (for newcomers, refer to this to see what a brew-haiku is):
Stunningly smooth. Soft,
warm breaths of peat smoke, bitter
roast of sweet, wild game.
I’ll let you drool over that picture one more time:
It was intense-tasting, with a surprisingly airy mouthfeel- like smoke washing over your tongue: intense, heavy, and present in taste and smell, but seemingly soft and ethereal to the touch of the surface of your tongue. It was the PERFECT beer to go with the cheese plate Dan, Mom, & I split, full of strong-tasting cheeses (a Camembert of some sort; Monte Enebro, a goat’s milk cheese; and some sort of cow’s milk cheese that I forget…darn outdated menus online again!), breads, and sides (including mango chutney, pickled cherries, honey walnut paste, and some sort of fig thing that I again can’t quite remember). The tastes were strong enough to stand up to each other, with the buttery, creamy feel of the cheeses complimenting (through contrast) the wispy feel of the beer.
We also had a charcuterie plate (which had salami, bologna, sausage, chicken liver pate, some sort of thing that was like prosciutto, grainy mustard, bread, and gherkins) which also paired beautifully with the beer (though more of this first beer was had with the cheese, as it was brought out first) and a waldorf salad, and for some reason Dan and I found it completely necessary to order deep-fried sticks of macaroni and cheese after all was said and done as well. And finish my dad’s sweet potato fries. And come home to giant chocolate chip cookies and coconut macaroons. Yep. I do birthdays right! (Apologies for the lack of photos of everything else, but I decided that I wanted to be present for the meal and fully experience the tastes and smells and the company I was with, without interrupting it to take pictures of everything)
I also had two other beers: a Flanders Old Bruin style beer called Paulus (which luckily is on the outdated menu, and was tangy and sour, with a sweet, lactic edge- think tart cherries) and a saison that I can’t remember the name of and isn’t on the outdated menu! Gah! I need to call up ChurchKey and have them mail me a current menu or something. But rest assured, it was also delicious. So were all of Dan’s and my dad’s beers that I also sampled.
Verdict on ChurchKey’s cask ales? Two gigantic thumbs up.
Verdict on ChurchKey’s non-cask beers? Two more gigantic thumbs up.
Verdict on ChurchKey’s food? Two final gigantic thumbs up.
If only I had 6 thumbs to give…
That was a fun time at ChurchKey. I am not really fond of cask ales I learned. There is a small, very small, number of beers that I like. I am looking forward to the autumn when the pumpkin beers come out.
I wouldn’t be so quick to write off all cask ales- any style of beer can be cask-conditioned, so it could be that you didn’t like the heavy styles of beer Dan and I ordered. You can have IPAs on cask, which I know you like! You should look out for one of those to see if it changes your opinion 🙂
[…] it would also go good with a strong-tasting, soft cheese like smoked gouda or this cheese we had at ChurchKey, a Spanish sheep’s milk cheese called Monte Enebro. It would also pair well with some morels […]