Coalition of the Swilling: The Red Derby
I count 29 different cans of beer. Yes, 29. No beer bottles, no tap handles, just cans. Sure, The Red Derby has a fully stocked liquor selection, and six wines at $6/glass, but really, the comfort beverage of choice here is the canned beer. Understanding this unusual approach to beer selection requires a quick detour through the history of beer in America.
In the beginning, there was beer. It was good. It was poured into drinking vessels from large tanks: this was time efficient and cost-effective, but it lacked portability. Then along came the bottle, which provided portability but lacked the cost-effectiveness of draught beer. It wasn't until 1935, two years after the end of Prohibition in America, that the technological hurdles were overcome and beer was produced in canned form. Cans are lightweight, don't allow light to reach the beer (exposure to light is a major cause of beer spoilage), and the raw materials involved are cheaper. The big breweries that remained after Prohibition started canning more of their beers, and as the larger breweries bought out the remaining smaller breweries, they were able to use economies of scale to make canned beer even cheaper.
This all continued, business as normal, until the craft beer movement began in the 1980s. The large breweries were producing a mostly uniform product with slight variations on a pale lager, but customers began clamoring for more flavor and variation of style. As microbreweries starting springing up throughout the country, canned beer became synonymous with cheap lager, and many beer drinkers shunned cans in favor of bottles and draught beer. It wasn't until 2002 that Oskar Blues, a small brewery in Colorado, started breaking down the "canned beer cannot be good" myth by releasing Dale's Pale Ale in cans. Although customer perception was a big impediment to early sales, their production has since gone through the roof, and they have added several canned beers to their lineup. About two dozen breweries around the country have followed suit, from Sly Fox in PA (the Pils is great in the can) to 21st Amendment in San Francisco.
But I digress: The Red Derby's canned beer list runs the gamut from the inexpensive light lager category (Schlitz and Natty Boh are $2) to the American micro category (Dale's Pale and Brooklyn Lager are $4) up to the relatively more expensive imported cans (Old Speckled Hen and Young's Double Chocolate are $6). As for bar food, The Derby offers a quality selection ranging from mac-and-cheese wedges and sweet potato fries to foot long fish dogs and grilled boursin and american cheese sandwiches.
If you're worried about enjoying your beverage or food in a dingy environment, don't be: although the decor is sparse, the music is eclectic (customers can plug in their iPods to be played on the sound system) and a projected movie always seems to be playing sans-audio on a side wall. The glow of the white Christmas lights against the red walls somehow highlights both the action of Full Metal Jacket and also the drama of Five Easy Pieces, which was playing on another visit.
Due to the location (a good walk either north from the Columbia Heights metro or west from Georgia Ave-Petworth), the customers seem to consist primarily of local residents. Despite all the things that make The Red Derby unique, it's the neighborhood feel that makes me wish I lived nearby. Hipsters certainly are a presence here, but they are far from dominant: either they haven't discovered it yet, or the Derby's location is far enough away that they don't frequently make the trek. The Derby only opened a few months ago and for now, it's a nice mix of patrons and a great beverage program to boot.
The Red Derby
3718 14th St. NW (at Spring St. two blocks from the 16th street S1/S2/S4 buses)
202-291-5000