Firefly

Even though DC was buried deep in a Snowpacalypse, we still managed to achieve the F, Firefly. This was partially due not to our determination, but to the fact that for reservations of more than 5 people you have to give your credit card, and they charge you $15 a person if you don't show up. So I made certain we made it.

For this one I decided to do a brunch, since they have a $1 mimosa special. We took advantage. I was really pleased with my food and all in all it was great to get out of the house, even if we did have to trudge through a ton of snow to make it there.

Eventide

For E, there was a lack of consensus as to whether we should go to Eventide or EatBar. I eventually decided since they were nearby, we should do happy hour at Eventide and then have food at EatBar. This didn't really work out, though, since by the time we arrived at EatBar there was no hope for a table. In the end, the E was really decided for us by the fates.

Eventide is maybe more of a restaurant than a bar, but they have a pretty good happy hour (half price beer, $5 select wines) and some fancy craft cocktails. It doesn't really seem to be designed for large groups though, at least if you want to sit down. We sat in a round table by the front windows and slowly began to acquire all the chairs from the tables around us as more people arrived and tried to cram around ours (think Katamari Damacy). One table was left completely bereft of chairs by the end. Why we didn't just pull it over to us I can't really say, but we may not quite have had our wits completely about us even at that early point in the night.

The beers were good, a lot of local Virginia stuff (I didn't know Charlottesville had breweries, but cool). They were priced from $4 to $8, so as long as you're there before 7 it's a pretty good deal.

The cocktails, though not discounted, were where it's at though. I had one called the Cooper Brothers' Cocktail, made with bourbon, elderflower and ginger liqueur. Theresa had the mulled wine, which tasted kinda like a warm fruity tea—we judged it to be probably pretty deadly if you could resist its sedative effects.

After getting pretty buzzed on fancy drinks we tried to head to EatBar, but that planned failed as aforementioned. We ended up going to Ray's Hell Burger and then the Rosslyn Safeway for some Hurricane.

And then the night went slowly downhill (uphill?) from there.

Here's the quote that I typed into Blogger as it was said to make sure I didn't forget to include it on here. Thank god.

"You know what's great? Beer. Hurray for beer!"

The Dubliner

So for my D bar I chose the Dubliner. I've gotta admit though, we kind of half assed this one. We basically just stopped by after work for some food and a drink and then went off to our respective Friday night activities. I did have some tasty fried oysters and there was some Magner's cider to be had, so it wasn't an entire failure on our part (that came later in the night when I drank too many long island iced teas and lost my wallet on the metro).

It wasn't entirely our fault though. False claims had been made on the interweb about so called "Irish Fridays."* These claims involved $3 Yuengling, half price appetizers, and live Irish music. None of these were true.

*Why one day has to be specifically referenced as "Irish" at bar called the Dubliner I never understood.

Real specials were $4 Blue Moon and Sam Adams. Fine, but we'd been lured by falsehoods.

Chef Geoff's

I've heard a lot about the Chef Geoff's happy hour basically since I've lived here, and the specials are pretty bitchin.

The main attraction is the SuperMug, i.e., the almost 40 for when you're taking a break from the Schlitz: 33.8 ounces of draft beer. They have some pretty good options too. I got a Magic Hat #9, and there was a winter cask ale and a nut brown. The mugs are $7.95 at happy hour, which goes all night on Mondays and Tuesdays. Monday is also half priced bottles of wine night, which we didn't actually take advantage of on account of our liters of beer, but I saw some on the list that sounded worth it. There are specials on burgers and pizza too.

The down side was that I couldn't really lift my beer without threatening to give myself tendinitis, but it did help me take the edge off of my crappy week. And yes, I do realize that it's Monday.

Highlights of the night included realizing the napkin was resting on the candle, Teresa realizing the bar used Papyrus font and regretting having set foot in it, hiding from Ebo and Danielle for no reason but having them totally not notice, Ryan getting confused between northwest and northeast, and meeting the Duke of Ebo's neighborhood on the walk home.

Bourbon

After Asylum, I decided to kill two birds and head a few doors down to Bourbon. This was definitely a very different scene. We went straight upstairs, but it looked like the first floor was pretty quiet, with some nice tables and mood lighting. The second floor was a more crowded dance scene, so we worked our way over to the bar by the front windows.

As soon as the bartender handed us the leatherbound volume of a drink list, we knew we were not in the land of 50 cent Natty Light anymore. In fact, I think even the Miller Lite was about $6. Luckily for me, as I was looking it over I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, and it was a guy who works in another office on my floor with a beer in his hand for me. Score.

Later I got lucky again when the Weave realized she'd overindulged while beating the clock, so she gave me her almost full old fashioned. I must say it redeemed the bar a little for me, as I guess a bourbon drink had better at this place. Another friend told me later that the bartender made a mean Rob Roy too.

We got down to business, clearing a large area for Ebo to tear it up to. Well, not exactly....his dancing just kind of cleared it on its own. Apparently it was not large enough though, cause he did a crazy kick thing and ninjaed the glass Sarah had right in half.

I'm not sure exactly how the Bud Light got broken (I hear it involved Katherine somehow) but it seemed to happen at the same time, so they both got in the picture.

Later there was a dance off between Ebo and this other guy we didn't know, resulting in the other guy being seriously owned. And then them becoming best buddies. I guess that's how these things work.

Asylum

For my first step along my journey of 26 new DC bars, I chose Asylum, a dark and kind of gritty Adams Morgan dive that hosts live music. It reminded me of a place you might have seen a punk band in the 80s.

We went down to the basement, which had some vinyl booths tucked into nooks, but these were all taken, so we pulled up some rickety tables to a long bench along the wall. There's a pool table down there too, which we definitely spilled a lot of beer on at one point...

The real reason to go to Asylum on Saturday nights is that they do a beat the clock special, where beer starts at 50 cents at 5 pm and goes up by that much each hour. We got there at 6 and still got pretty drunk for less than 10 bucks each. The beer wasn't great or anything (I think it was Natty Light?) but for a price you could probably find in your couch it wasn't bad.

I hear they do a good vegan brunch on weekends too. But it has real food too (I made sure).