From Chelsea Rinnig. Email her at chelsea[AT]borderstan.com. 

The first annual DC Beerathon took place on November 10, 2012–an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon–and ran a course through 26 of Borderstan’s own restaurants and bars. Participants were provided with maps and a day-pass that granted access to one beer per location from noon until closing. I embarked on this journey early afternoon on Saturday and observed as those with eager spirits and high tolerance journeyed from Nellie’s on U Street to to Stoney’s in the heart of Logan and Madhatter in Dupont.

Many ambled the streets casually, without much anticipation in covering every location or expectation to finish more than twenty beers. Others, however, donned exotic costumes and Americana regalia in festive spirits. A group of Vikings I came across regaled me with ambitions to venture to every location mapped on the course, even if that meant yelling, grunting and bringing a friend in a penguin suit into restaurants as low key as Ulah Bistro and Bistro LaBonne.

For all though, the event provided to acquaint oneself with the neighborhood and new beers to sample. Highlights included the Pumpkin Blue Moon at Ben’s Next Door – which by the way, if you haven’t noticed, has not been carried by a single bar since well before Thanksgiving – and the Pork Slap Pale Ale at Touchdown. The DC Beerathon will hopefully commence an exciting new tradition for competitive beer enthusiasts and plans to return annually to the District.

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