Via Facebook
It’s hot and sweltering and miserable out there today, hardly the kind of setting in which one yearns to drink outside. But loyalists of Arlington’s old favorite, Bardo Rodeo—which later reincarnated as Dr. Dremo’s—have a reason to brave the heat this evening on Bladensburg Road NE.
That is, if they’re willing to sweat it out for a meager beer list, an as-yet-complete brewpub, and lack of facilities connected to the sewer grid. The new Bardo opens this evening on a slightly less vacant lot at 1200 Bladensburg Road. But the bar, built by original Bardo owner Bill Stewart and his brother, Andrew, isn’t nearly finished yet. The brewpub that the Stewarts plan on opening is still in the works, as is the plumbing.
For now, Bardo drinkers who need the facilities will have to get by with portable toilets. And the nacho-slinging kitchen is still unfinished; instead, a few food trucks will back up onto Bardo’s lawn. That lawn will also contain a few picnic tables and bean bag games, the Stewarts tell Young & Hungry.
So, what will patrons be quaffing tonight. Remember, in the five-and-a-half years since Dr. Dremo’s closed down its converted car dealership, D.C.’s beer scene—and Northern Virginia’s, too, for that matter—has come a long way. But the 20-beer draught list at tonight’s launch is disappointingly pedestrian. The most interesting pour is perhaps North Coast Brewery’s Old Rasputin imperial stout, a fine brand of that style, but hardly something worth celebrating in today’s diverse beer market.
John Fleury, DCist’s beer correspondent, calls the draught list “totally uninspired.” And the only local brew is Devils Backbone Brewing Company’s Vienna lager, which is fine, but available readily throughout the region.
Fleury writes:
Total lack of attention to details in beer list (“hard cider”?), Porta Potties, and lack of professional communication (did you sees that Indiegogo video? It could’ve been a Funny or Die spoof). With a number of local brewers creating highly competitive beers, the Bardo devil may be in the details.
Here’s the full beer list, unspecified hard cider included:
- New Belgim Fat Tire
- Sierra Nevada pale ale
- Abita Purple Haze
- Yuengling
- National Bohemian
- Spaten lager
- Franziskaner hefe weiss
- Franziskaner dunkel weiss
- Devils Backbone Vienna lager
- Victory Hop Devil
- Smuttynose porter
- Starr Hill stout
- North Coast Old Rasputin imperial stout
- hard cider
Bill Stewart also tells Young & Hungry that he omitted Pabst Blue Ribbon from the list because it is “filled with hipsters,” which he hates. But he is including an array of cornhole boards, because everybody wants to drink with flip-flap-clad bros, right?
Correction: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect address for Bardo. It is at 1200 Bladensburg Road NE, not 1200 H Street NE.