by contributor Wendy Gordon
DC beer week takes place from August 12-18, but we here, tend to get a little impatient.
So imagine our glee when we caught wind (or foam) of the official debut of 3 Star Brewing on Thursday at Churchkey. Although we all had copious amounts of work to do, we made the supreme sacrifice of a couple hours from our busy day to run over to sample the goods.
We took one for the team; and of course, far be it from us not to support our local products. You’re welcome.
The brewery, founded by co-brewers Dave Coleman & Mike McGarvey, is located in the Takoma Park neighborhood in upper NW DC.
Much to our delight, they offered up draft versions of their first three beers – the Urban Farmhouse, Southern Belle and Pandemic Porter – as well as five variations of those brews in cask with some surprise tweaks like Urban Farmhouse including Cascade Hops & Orange Peel; two in cask variations of the Southern Belle – one steeped with Fresh Vanilla Beans and the other finished in Lightly Toasted Oak – and two variations of Pandemic Imperial Porter, one brewed with cold-pressed Local Qualia Coffee, the other with Heavily Toasted Oak.
Beginning in 2007, Mike and Dave began brewing beer at home and sharing it with their friends and fellow beer lovers. Although the success of these first attempts was sometimes less than stellar, they were sure they were onto something. After many hours of extensive research and recipe they created beers that met their own high standards and had broad appeal. A business was born.
Better, the 3 Stars grain program is designed to directly fight hunger in the local community. They are working with local chefs and charities to combat hunger through that program.
Check out the 3 Stars Brewing Co.’s website for a full description of what we can all look forward to from Dave and Mike.
We did. And we’re thirsty, thirsty people. We hope they have some really, really large casks. Thanks Mike and Dave. We’re actually willing to give you four stars.
