Photo by Samer Farha The title of this event, “Chimay Vintage Beer and Cheese Tasting,” was only partially misleading. There was some “vintage” Chimay to be had – one six-liter bottle of 2007 Chimay Grand Reserve (the blue label). And there was Chimay cheese to taste, if you ordered the special pizza with Chimay cheese. Good thing I read the full description on the DC Beer Week Facebook page, and ended up getting what…

With the holidays and Obamauguration solidly behind us, it’s time to ditch the gimmicky and focus on the delicious. Winter is typically my favorite beer season of the year, but the overspiced and generic “winter” ales can tend to wear on a beer lover after only a few weeks. Now is the time when the good stuff really comes out. Birreria Paradiso Pizza Paradiso is running a Valentine’s Day dinner special (the entire restaurant,…

Written by DCist contributor Eric Denman As summer lingers on, the average D.C. resident may be tempted to stay indoors, limit excursions, and camp out in front of the A/C unit with a tongue-numbingly cold, mass-produced lager. There is a better option! A nice Belgian beer can quench your thirst while also satisfying your palate. Although some Belgian styles may be a bit heavy for summer, many of them fit the bill perfectly (Witbier and…

To Beck With It The buzz is all over the place about Brasserie Beck, Robert Wiedmaier of Marcel’s new Belgian gastropub on 11th and K, NW. Though not open quite yet (scheduled for an opening in the next couple of weeks), the Brasserie scored two articles in this week’s Post, and a post full of restaurant eye candy over at the Washingtonian. The Post used Beck as the latest example in the growing trend of…

Thor Leaving Birreria, Taking Hammer With Him For those of you who haven’t been to Birreria Paradiso, the basement bar in Pizzeria Paradiso in Georgetown, I recommend you go now. Thor Cheston, the genius behind Birreria’s high-quality-only beer selection, is setting sail for different shores. In a posting to the D.C.-Beer mailing list, and re-posted to Don Rockwell, Thor said goodbye to Washington, indicating he was leaving for Philadelphia at the end of month. Damn…

Thor Cheston is serious about beer. The manager of Birreria Paradiso, the new basement bar of Georgetown’s Pizza Paradiso featuring 16 taps and 80 bottled beers, can rattle off adjectives about brews that are usually reserved for fine wines. Here’s Thor on the Duchesse de Bourgogne, a Flanders red ale: “It’s very complex. It would go well with desserts,” he told DCist. “There’s a palate-cleansing sourness.” Beer as a palate-cleanser? Maybe, but the Duchesse, a…