DC Beer Week in Old Town

Last week was DC Beer Week in town.  There were dozens of events, tastings, and beer dinners at different beer bars and restaurants around the city.  We decided to pick a more low key/inexpensive one to attend, and with our busy week, Monday would be the only day we could go to any of the events

We love the first 2 Pizza Paradiso locations, and have been wanting to try the newest one in Old Town Alexandria.

Old Town is a wonderful part of the DC area - King Street is the main drag, and Old Town runs from the Masonic Temple to the river.  The area is full of wonderful shops, restaurants, bars and cafes.  The blocks around the main street have dozens of gorgeous, old row houses.  I'm lucky to work in such a great area.  It's loved by locals and visitors alike, and is a fun thing to do when you have company visiting. 

They were featuring a very special version of one of husband's favorite beers - the Habanero Sculpin.  So, Ballast Point Sculpin is one of the most coveted IPA's out there - and somewhat hard to find.  Well this one is the same beer but brewed with habanero peppers.  They got they only cask of it in all of Northern Virginia. 

The bartender was keeping track of the number of beers he was serving, and when we left at 7:15ish, he only had 2 more left. 

Husband had 1, and that was all he could take before moving to Stone's Imperial Russian Stout.  I had 1 sip of the Habanero Sculpin, and that was plenty for me!  Instead, I enjoyed the Victory Whirlwind Wit, which was delicious! 

With our beer, we split some pizza and a salad.  They make one of my favorite salads of all time - the Insalada Paradiso.  It has baby arugula with goat cheese, sweet peppers, mushrooms and pine nuts with a very light vinaigrette dressing.  It's absolutely delicious, and I have to get it every time we go to Pizza Paradiso. 

To go along with the beer, they had a pizza special too - Dia de la Pizza made with jalapeno tomato sauce, roasted sweet corn, garlic, basil, sausage & buffalo mozzarella .  Husband obviously had to get the special pizza, and really liked it.  I had one slice of it - it was good, and definitely had a kick.  I really liked the roasted sweet corn on it - not something you usually see on pizzas!

We also tried a new pizza for us, the Bottarga.  It has tomato, garlic, parsley, Parmesan, bottarga with an egg cooked right in the center.  It was pretty good, but not my favorite of their pizzas.  Next time we'll stick with our tried and true. 

Pizza Paradiso is one of our DC favorites - great beer selection and delicious food.  Be sure to check them out - besides their Old Town location, they are in Georgetown and Dupont.