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Brickskeller To Close

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Rumors have been flying around for months, and now it looks like it’s just about official. The world-famous Brickskeller pub in Washington, D.C. on 22nd Street NW will be closing shortly.

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Opened by Diane Alexander’s family in 1957, and operated for many years by her and her husband Dave Alexander, the building will apparently be renovated and turned into a boutique hotel. The Alexander’s will retain the rights to the name and most likely moved the Brick to another location. As far as I know, their other location, RFD, is unaffected by the deal and may at one point even transition into the new Brickskeller.

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Bob Pease, COO of the Brewers Association (left), with Dave Alexander at a Brickskeller event this July.

The Washington City Paper blog Young & Hungry floated the rumor at least as far back as early October. Yesterday, the DC Beer blog tweeted that a “credible source [told them] that The Brickskeller will shut it’s doors for good on 12.18.” Young & Hungry picked it up from there and so has TBD Neighborhoods. And All About Beer publisher Daniel Bradford posted the news of a pending Brickskeller sale on his Facebook page. Between that, and my own unnamed sources, it looks like this is going to happen. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Dave Alexander yet, but I suspect that’s the next call. It will be sad to see the Brick gone. The last time I was there was July and it was great seeing the place packed for an event with several of the brewers attending SAVOR.

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Sanity/Fear: A Rally for Beer 10.29.10

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If you’re planning on going to either Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Stephen Colbert’s March to Keep Fear Alive on October 30 — or if you just happen to live in the Washington D.C. area — you’re most likely going to need something to do the night before. If so, have I got an event for you.

Sanity-Fear Poster

The Brickskeller in D.C. will host Sanity/Fear: A Rally for Beer on Friday night October 29, 2010. This is coincidentally the eve of A Rally for Sanity with Jon Stewart (The Daily Show) and Keep Fear Alive with Stephen Colbert (Colbert Report) on Saturday afternoon on the mall at our nation’s capitol in Washington, DC.

Join Celebrator Beer News publisher Tom Dalldorf (who’s alter ego Glenn Becks is named for a mediocre German import) as we consider Sanity in brewing and Fear of extreme beers with brewers Bill Madden, Mad Fox Brewing Company, Falls Church, VA and Jason Oliver, Devil’s Backbone Brewing Company, Roseland, VA. Several of their best efforts will be served along with some cellar treasures selected by the Brick’s Dave Alexander.

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Following this will be a performance by the Rolling Boil Blues Band defying Sanity by instilling Fear via beery tunes like Hop This Town, This Beer’s For You, Homebrew Hand Jive and (sadly) many more! The band features Dave Alexander on lead guitar and Tom Dalldorf on so-called vocals. Fortunately, the beer will be flowing!

Damn, that should be a lot of fun. Wish I could be there. Additional details and tickets are available at the Brickskeller website. Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online. Here’s the info from the website:

The SANITY vs FEAR Beer Tasting
Friday, Oct. 29th

TOM DALLDORF
Owner/Publisher of the Celebrator Beer News

Brings two brewmasters to our stage in a bearish recreation of the following days rally!

Dave’s old buddy, Rolling Boil Blues bandmate and fearless leader Tom Dalldorf, owner / publisher of Celebrator Beer Magazine returns to the Brick for a beerish re-creation of the next day’s Stewart-ish and Colbert-ish rally in a Sanity vs. Fear beer tasting! Tom always brings the bestest of the bestest beers to his events! Oh yeah don’t ya know after we gets’ em liquored up our lucky toe tapping guests will be closing their eyes screaming check please and covering their ears while me Tommy and a couple of real musicians get up on stage and start feeding back and blowing the endings to our favorite beer infused tunes!

HOP ROCKS!

These events will be held at
The Brickskeller
1523 22nd St NW

“Come for the Sanity. Stay for the Fear. Beer and Loathing at the Brickskeller, Washington, DC. Be there!”

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Beer In Art #93: Matt Dembicki’s Brewmaster’s Castle

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Today’s featured artwork is thoroughly modern, but on an old-time subject. It’s about the mansion built by Washington D.C. beer mogul Christian Heurich, who was born today in 1825. It’s a twenty-page independent comic book with a story by Matt Dembicki and art by Andew Cohen. Entitled The Brewmaster’s Castle, the story takes place March 7, 1945 as an 102-year old Heurich takes a bittersweet final stroll through the mansion he built between 1892-94. Here’s page 1:

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The actual building still stands, known today as the Christian Heurich House Museum it’s billed as “Washington’s Most Intact Late-Victorian House” and described as follows:

One of Washington’s best-kept secrets, The Brewmaster’s Castle is the most intact late-Victorian home in the country, and a Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places.

Built in 1892-1894 of poured concrete and reinforced steel by German immigrant, local brewer and philanthropist, Christian Heurich (HI-rick), it is also the city’s first fireproof home.

Heurich was Washington’s second largest landowner, the largest private employer in the nation’s capital, and as the world’s oldest brewer, ran his brewery until his death at 102.

A visit to The Brewmaster’s Castle is a visit back in time to the late-19th Century, when the Heurich family was in residence in Washington’s premier residential neighborhood.

Here’s what the mansion looks like today.

The Heurich Mansion (The Brewmaster's Castle)

But back to the comic book. Here, Christian Heurich strolls through his mansion.

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And near the end of the story, Heurich begins turning out the lights.

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The original Christian Heurich Brewery opened in 1873 but was closed in 1956 by Christian Heurich, Jr., who took over the brewery after his father died in 1945. Where the brewery stood is now the site of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. In 1986, Christian Heurich, Jr.’s son Gary Heurich started Olde Heurich Brewing, an early D.C. microbrewery that lasted twenty years, closing in 2006.

You can buy your own copy of the comic book for only $5 (plus $1 shipping) directly from the author. You can pay him directly via PayPal using his e-mail address of mattdembicki (@) gmail (.) com. He’s “hoping [they] might get some funds soon to print a larger run and get greater distribution. You can help. Support the arts and brewing history (not to mention independent comics) — all worthy causes IMHO — by buying this unique hand-crafted comic directly from the artist. Below is the cover.

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RustyCans.com has more on Heurich’s history.