Sweetwater
Tavern /
Falls Church, VA
A
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NG
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P
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G
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VG
|
O
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Ooh, ooh, that smell.
I
smell it at the bank.
I
smell it at the CVS.
I
smell it the gas station.
I
even smell it sometimes at my daughter's old middle school.
If
you're within 1/4 mile of Sweetwater Tavern, chances are good that you'll smell
it too. The smoke from the wood burning grill Sweetwater uses for their ribs,
steaks and chicken. It just calls to you, "Something good is cooking
inside." And the smoke don't lie.
And
once you step inside, you'll experience a host of other, even better smells. Over the baseline smell of fresh beer, you'll
smell the diners' orders as the legions of servers quickly whisk past you. The
steaks, jambalaya pasta, the sizzling fajitas!
So
after 2 days of tormenting myself with these delicious smells, and not
partaking myself, I could hold out no longer. Last evening I returned to
Sweetwater a little earlier than my scheduled 9pm arrival, this time with the
family in tow for dinner. Drunken Ribeye, medium rare. Yumm.
If
you live in Northern Virginia and you haven't eaten at Sweetwater Tavern,
what's up widdat? Mark? Every night is busy, and Fridays and Saturdays
are always packed. So get a pager, have
a beer and relax - it's worth the wait. And I definitely recommend call-ahead
seating - it will shave a LOT of time off your wait.
I had
a relatively large group for my Sweetwater Flash Mob last night. My wife and daughter joined me at the bar for
moral support, but didn't join me in the Beer of the Day (Linda was still
nursing her wine, and Katie's just 16). My
friend Greg and his daughter Carrie (of legal drinking age) also dined at
Sweetwater, and joined us at the bar when they were done. John, who participated in this beer bacchanalia, and lives around the corner, couldn't pass
up a free pint. Corey, who has joined the quest every day this week so far,
came through the revolving door with 3 minutes to spare. And Mark just made it
under the wire, walking in at 9:00pm exactly, according to my iPhone.
The
beer of choice was the Iron Horse Black Lager, described by Sweetwater as
"a medium bodied black lager with a smooth roasted flavor." I will
admit, this is a bit of a "chewy" beer for a hot summer day, but IMHO
the A/C at Sweetwater negates that factor. It's a very dark beer, with a two
finger tan head out of the tap. I enjoyed the roasted malt taste, and I ordered
up a-nother when I finished it.
OK,
I'll see if I can recall people's thoughts on this one... John wanted to give it a grade somewhere
between a G and VG. Corey was a fan, and had a-nother as well. Mark thought it
was a bit too sweet, and switched to the award-winning GAR Pale Ale for his
second beer. Greg also like the roasted taste, but his daughter Carrie not as much. We ended up with 3 Very Good votes and 3 Good
Votes. It’s my blog, I am the tie
breaker, I am the decider, so we’ll give the Iron Horse Black Lager a collective
Very Good.
We
(OK, my daughter) also clued in the Sweetwater bartenders as to what I was up
to, and they thought it was pretty cool. And yes, I beer-geeked out and brought
my YTD beer calendars and ratings cards for my friends.
I’ll
be back! (Tonight at 9pm!)
SCORECARD
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
|
|
Gold Rush Ale
|
Wit’s End Ale
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Iron Horse Black
Lager
|
|||
Jeff
|
G
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G
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VG
|
||
Corey
|
G
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P
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VG
|
||
Henry
|
VG
|
||||
Kevin
|
G
|
||||
Greg
|
VG
|
||||
Carrie
|
G
|
||||
John
|
G
|
||||
Mark
|
G
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||||
Average Score
|
G
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G
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VG
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