Drink The District

I recently went to Drink the District’s Red, White, and Brew wine and beer festival in DC and though it was fun basking around in the sun and drinking alcohol, we felt like the event was very overpriced, considering the wines and beers were very, very cheap. I know there is something to be said about the social aspect of it all and we had a fun time socializing, but we seriously could have picked up bottles of alcohol for much cheaper (and of comparable or greater quality) at Trader Joe’s or Harris Teeter. I don’t regret attending this event, as I think it’s fun to do once if you haven’t done it before, but I probably wouldn’t go again. If you’re into day drinking cheap alcohol and playing beer pong with random strangers on a concrete yard, then this event may be more up your alley. Overall, my fiancé and I don’t regret that we went, but we would likely skip it for an actual wine festival or visit to a winery in the future. The one plus side is that they have some decent food trucks at the event. We made sure to pick up some yummy cookies from the Captain Cookie and the Milkman food truck (which I’d visited twice before).

I went to the Drink the District President’s Day Beer Bash this past weekend. Honestly, it was not what I expected at all and I probably would not attend another one of these events again.
CONS:
1. I was instantly irritated when I walked in the door due to the fact that the coat check was full. It was freezing cold that day, so obviously most would be wearing winter jackets. They knew the event was sold-​out, so you would think that they would ensure they had enough room for coats. Well, they didn’t. I had to walk around for 3 hours with my heavy winter jacket.
2. The layout was horrible, so it was almost impossible to move around the venue. Lines were extremely long, so eventually I just stopped trying the beers.
3. They closed the restrooms before the event even ended. I was told I could not use the restroom inside, and had to go outside (in the snow) to use a portable toilet. After two sessions, you could imagine how gross they were. I don’t mind that they closed the restrooms early; however, I feel that they should inform guests so we can plan accordingly.
PROS:
1. Other than the company I was with, the only pro would be the DJ. He played current music and a ton of throwbacks, so it got people dancing and having a good time.
Basically, I paid $ 50 to get free pours of bud light all night and dance to music. I would of much rather spent $ 50 at a club, at least they would’ve had room for my coat and bathrooms I could use. Most likely won’t attend another event by Drink the District.

Nice event! It was not what I expected (good and bad), but overall a good event and with some minor tweaks, it can be a great event.
Good: Printed map telling you what’s what and where. Very helpful. Large variety of beers. Some variety of wines. Lines moved very fast for both which was awesome! I was very surprised. I expected long lines and being able to try 5 – 8 different things max. So wrong — barely any lines (despite event being very well attended) and I was able to try multiple wines and beers. The tents were a good distance away from each other, so it never felt crowded or packed. The live bands were great, especially the cover bands. The obnoxious jenga was perfect and great ice breaker. I saw bean bag toss — people seemed to like that too. There was also a pie eating contest — oh boy! By the end of the session, hunger pangs set in, which is perfect since there were at least 6 or 7 food trucks and lines moved pretty fast. There was even a DJ for a little bit and some «very shy» dancers did their thing and the crowd went wild! It was great…
Bad: Wish there had been more wines. I also wish it weren’t in a parking lot?! The even is titled «Drink the District», so you would have thought perhaps you’d be gazing at a DC landmark as you are sampling libations. Nope. I even brought a mini-​blanket to sit on the grass. Doh! What grass? Again, it was literally in a parking lot. SO HOT so I’m glad we got evening tickets. Daytime must have been blazin’! At least they had tables and chairs near the food trucks, which was welcomed
Would I go again? Yes. Do I really wish it was at a different location? YES!

Went to this event while visiting DC this year. It was a pretty good event, it consisted of about 30 wine vendors scattered throughout a parking lot that you could try as many times as you would like. They also had some live music playing and food trucks where you could purchase some food.
I was able to have plenty to drink but it seemed like they sold too many tickets for the events because the lines were very long and since the booths were close together it got very crowded.
If you are looking for something different I would give this event a shot. If you have a choice, choose the later session. It is a parking lot and until the sun went down it was super hot and there was very little shade.

About 90% of the wines we tried were so cloyingly sweet, I half-​expected a big anthropomorphic pitcher to burst through a wall somewhere. Ooooooh, noooooooo. These were «wines» –wine blends, ewww– that should have had names like «Berry Blast» and «Rockin’ Riesling» and we could feel the diabetes developing with every sip. I hope the next wine tasting I go to has some more grown-​up wine available and not so many Mad Dog or Boone’s Farm equivalents.
Also, while the weather was gorgeous, with such a large group of people drinking a fair to high amount, it might be smart to have tents set up for shade, and more food and non-​alcoholic beverage choices. I am honestly surprised more people didn’t end up with sun stroke.

I went to the recent wine event at «The Block,» which is just a parking lot at 6^th & K NW. We were promised unlimited tastings of more than 100 wines, and full pours of certain wines. Overall, this event was a huge letdown.
First, they didn’t provide a printed map, and the map that was available online (only if you knew the address, because you couldn’t find it by doing a search) told you which wineries were in which booths, but not which «Table,» and each booth had 8 tables. No information was provided about which *wines* were at each table. You basically just had to pick a line and stand in it, hoping that what they had at the front was something that you wanted, or at least something that you didn’t hate.
Because ALL of the lines for everything were insanely long, we didn’t get samples of hundreds of wines, we tried maybe a dozen wines. For $ 30, it was definitely not worth it at all. It was also not a wine aficionado’s wine tasting. This is a wine event for people who really don’t give a $*!% about wine. Most of the wines were not very good, and even though each table had at least a couple of wines, most folks would just get a 1oz pour, down it like a shot and move on, or take it with them to go stand in another line for another 1oz pour. It was an attempt to get as many 1oz pours in 3 hours as you could.
We went to the second session, and some of the wineries ran out of wines more than an hour before the event ended. Their excuse was that they had filled the glasses of the folks at the early session, but we paid the same price that they did, so we should get the same opportunity to sample wine.
The only saving grace was that people were generally friendly, and when a good song was played by the DJ, we all had a blast doing a little Cupid Shuffle. We had a good time despite the wine.

I attended one of these events and was definitely not happy.
1) There were only 5 foods carts – none of which was vegetarian friendly. Some did accept credit card.
2) Was a «beer fest» with only 12 stands and ~22 beers on tap.
3) There was sand/​dirt in the ice mixed in for rails
4) Sound system was not so good; did not project well to half the venue
5) Speaking of the venue, it was tiny! Definitely had a much better time at the beer fest in National’s Park. Furthermore, they are located a moderate hike from the metro station vs. the other venue is just 2 blocks away.
The only positive part of this experience was there was a lot more seating near the food carts than competitors’ venues. The venue they hold this event in is awkward, small vs. at the nationals park which offers much more privacy and space. The biggest let down is perhaps the «beer fest.» This is a blatant lie. The other events I’ve been to have over 50 stands with over 100 (that’s right, ONE HUNDRED) different tastings. I was so disappointed I left early. I tried to give their events a shot, but now I’m one very sad beer lover. :(

I went to the Shamrock Beer Fest event with a Groupon.
The minus star is mostly for the lines at the entrance. If you were attending with a Living Social or Eventbrite deal, you were able to go to this crazy short line and get in immediately. If you come with a groupon, the line literally wrapped around the block. Why can’t all of the ticket takers accept all types of tickets?
However, my grumbles about the wait quickly changed to total gladness about how fun and well-​run the event was once we got inside. Awesome selection of beers, lines moved very quickly — definitely got out money’s worth. Great live music and good selection of food trucks, overall great event!

This wasn’t my least, nor was it my favorite Drink the District events. I was apart of the 12 pm crowd, got there at 11:30 and the line wrapped around 2 blocks. I loved the location, right off the metro. but I hated the porta potta situation!!! There was a MASSIVE line 1 hr in, at least 50 deep. They have to figure out the peeing logistics of 600 people chugging as much beer as possible over 3 hrs! The space was a little small for the amount of people b/​c the games, silent disco and beer stations took up a lot of space– lots of bumping. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the silent disco! The selections were pretty generic, nothing out of the ordinary. The food trucks weren’t my favorite either, and once again with 600 people, you need more than 5 to feed the drunkies! I’d give The Yards a ⁵⁄₁₀ for a beerfest– only b/​c it’s right off metro.

I went to this event with the LivingSocial deal for the Saturday 6 – 10 PM session. My friends and I arrived around 6 PM to get in line to get in. We printed out our vouchers as instructed and we generally got through the line pretty fast, even though it seemed intimidatingly long at first. As we entered the fest, it was well spread out across a field with a number of breweries, wineries, food trucks and vendors all available! All beer and wine was unlimited tastings until taps closed at 9:30 PM for last call. There were breweries and wineries from across the country — some of my favorites including Rogue, Redhook, and Ace Cider! The only detraction from this event was how muddy it was — the ice buckets and excess liquids made a number of puddles throughout the event making it challenging to navigate, especially given the summer shoeware most attendees were sporting. Finally, there were an ample number of port-​a-​potties available — the lines moved pretty quick (5 – 10 minute wait), even at the end of the night when it seemed like everyone had their calling from mother nature. Overall, this event was a pretty good one and I’d definitely go again. Rumor has it they are returning at the end of July!

I went to Drink the District during the sweltering 12 – 4 session, and generally had a blast!
THE GOOD: Massive regional beer selection, and vendors were pouring generous samples! Tons of food trucks (YAY RED HOOK!!!) and a great selection throughout. I thought the space fit the number of attendees – not too small/​crowded, but small enough that the space was filled and the atmosphere was exciting.
THE BAD: Um, why would someone sample Barefoot wine, or Two Buck Chuck?! I get that the event was geared toward beer, but I came to try new things, not to get the cheapest wine possible that I probably wouldn’t even get from the store. It also would have been nice to have some shaded areas and more tables. When my friends and I left it was because we were about to die of heat stroke, NOT because we were done drinking.
THE BOTTOM LINE: Great event! I think every 20-​something was at the Navy Yards that day. In the future, I hope they provide more shade and seating!

This was my first time to Drink The District and I must say that for such a crowded event, the organizers did a surprisingly decent job keeping this potential hot mess under control. That said, there were quite a few very annoying moments during this festival, namely…
1. Not having nearly enough port-​a-​potties (the wait was 15 min toward the end)
2. The grounds turned into a huge mud pit later in the night.
3. Not nearly enough food trucks. I had to wait almost 30 min for just a grilled cheese sandwich!
We did the $ 35 Living Social deal for the Saturday 6:00 — 10:00 pm session (I can’t imagine how brutally hot the daytime session was). I thought $ 35 was a decent, but not great value.
We arrived 10 min before start and proceeded in with no problem at all. It was nice to have a run of the house before the masses arrived, which took almost exactly one hour. I must say that it was nice having a table and seats for most of the night!
Beer: Beer is the highlight of this event. Great selection, although I was disappointed that some breweries they advertised were not present (Sierra Nevada). That said, most of the breweries had 1 – 2 beers available, and more importantly did not run out. A few of the more popular breweries like Black Rhino did run out of beer, which was annoying.
Wine: The wine selection appeared to come from the shelf below «two buck chuck» at Trader Joe’s. Think of every mass produced wine under $ 5.00 a bottle, and you will have covered 90% of the list. I love wine, but did mot consume one drop last night because the wines were completely undrinkable.
They did a great job with the food trucks; the lobster, grilled cheese and pizza were excellent. Some of the trucks did run out of more than one menu item not only half-​way into the event, which again was somewhat annoying. That said, I’m sure people were drunk enough by that point not care as long as the remaining items contained meat and cheese.
Overall we had a fun time, although it was not what I expected… like the «Two full pours of beer» they advertised was actually two cups of bud light or some nasty sangria. I think I’d go again next year just to make fun of the drunk fools at the end of the night.