Beyond Bud at Birreria Paradiso

I love Budweiser.  After drinking several the course of a night, a couple of Advil usually saves me from the tyranny of a hangover the next morning. As I was reminded after a recent visit, the beer at Birreria Paradiso isn’t quite the same. After two, a person with normal tolerance is toast. In one tasting, a friend said that she could feel the alcohol burn in her mouth after sipping a Belgian selected by Thor, the manager and beer connoisseur. 

 Though Birreria offers what seems like a thousand bottled beers, Why bother? There are so many interesting options on tap.  Birreria’s draught list includes Hennepin, Ommegang, and Dogfish for the conservative at heart, as well as Rasputin Stout and some banana flavored Belgian ale, which is so good, according to Thor, that it made him want to “take off his clothes and run down the street naked,” or something like that. And, according to him, a keg of German Kristal Weisse is en route–my favorite beer that’s available nowhere I’ve been aside from Germany and the general vicinity.  I’m pretty excited.

Combine Thor’s beer-wonkiness and general charisma,a well-edited catalog of beers, and an interesting collection of beer glasses to accompany each selection, and you’ve got one gem of a bar, despite that it’s in a Georgetown basement.   Not only is it worth the trip, its worth adding to your repertoire of regular places. In case you needed more convincing, all draught beer is two bucks on Tuesday and Wednesday between 5pm and 7pm.  And the pizza’s pretty good, too.

Birreria Paradiso.  3282 M Street NW @ Wisconsin in WDC.