things to do: dc brau brewery tour

Tony, Jamie, and I piled in the car Saturday afternoon and drove to the DC Brau brewery. We heard it has free tastings and tours on Saturdays from 1-4 p.m., and we wanted to check it out.

The brewery is way, way out in the Northeast part of the city, in a neighborhood you would never normally venture to. It's in an industrial area on Bladensburg Road, in an alley behind a post office.

But once we got inside, it felt like we just walked into a party at the house of a friend of a friend. The three of us got samples of each of the four beers on tap and drank them while sitting on folding chairs on the loading dock. And all of the beers were fantastic. My favorite was the Belgian beer, called the Citizen.

It's not a huge operation, and we got a tour from the CEO himself, whose shirt made me smile:

He told us about all the ways DC Brau is expanding to keep up with demand. After the tour, I found myself invested in the brewery's success as a small business, rooting for it to succeed. DC Brau has a new fan.

Here's the canning machine, which reminded me of something that Lucille Ball would've had fun with.

And look at all of these cans, just waiting to be filled with delicious beer.

I came home with a couple six-packs. (They also fill growlers on Saturday afternoons.) And I'm adding the brewery to my list of places visitors might like to see when they're in D.C.

tourism: dressing right

It's pretty cool that I live in a city where people choose to come on their vacations. The tourists tend to get on the nerves of locals, and I have to admit that I, too, at times have been annoyed when the Metro escalators get clogged with tourists who stand on the left side. (Stand on the right ... walk on the left ... thank you.)

But, overall, I like that tourists come here, and I happily oblige when asked to take group shots at the monuments.

Yesterday morning I was walking around the Capitol, and one group of school kids on a class trip caught my eye. The boys were wearing khakis and button downs, and the girls were in summer dresses. And I have to hand it to their teacher or whoever coaxed those kids into their Sunday best. When you're visiting Congress or the White House or the Supreme Court, dressing up shows you have respect for the institution. And you'll command the respect of all those grumpy locals if you leave the white tennis shoes and baseball caps at the hotel.