Navy Yard’s forthcoming beer garden, The Brig, is on track to open at 1007 8th St. SE on June 5, a representative with the business told us this morning.
Of course, the real question is whether you believe them. After all, we’ve heard this before. The beer garden previously advertised it would open May 1 and May 13.
But the latest date might actually be the real deal. The business tweeted at Eater D.C. earlier today and said it would open in “two weeks”:
@Eater_DC We are opening in two weeks.
1007 8th St. SE Barracks Row— the brig (@BeerGardenLive) May 26, 2016
Whenever it opens, the new business will seat roughly 210 and serve 299 people from 20 beer taps.
Image via Facebook / The Brig
And now we have new signage with a target date, and some benches, at the Brig. pic.twitter.com/WBYfhxXZuX
— JDLand (@JDLand) March 26, 2016
It appears as though an opening date is in sight for a long-anticipated beer garden in Navy Yard.
The Brig aims to open at 1007 8th St. SE on Sunday, May 1, according to a new banner spotted by local blogger JDLand. The forthcoming beer garden also recently set up some benches, JDLand noted.
The new business will seat 210 and serve 299 as detailed in a building permit issued in 2014. Plans for a beer garden at that address first materialized in 2010, according to JDLand.
Although Bardo’s “BeerDisneyLand” near Nationals Park might not open in time for opening day, another area beer garden is set to serve baseball fans in early April.
The Bullpen at the Fairgrounds at Half and M streets SE is scheduled to open for the season April 1 for the Nationals’ exhibition game against the Minnesota Twins, spokeswoman Liz Bogie told Hill Now this week.
But St. Patrick’s Day revelers can visit the outdoor drinking venue a week from today for a free concert that begins at 5 p.m. The Pietasters and Warden are slated to perform.
Bardo Riverfront in Navy Yard is still on track to open this spring, after facing some opposition from locals.
The beer garden might start serving customers as early as this April at 25 Potomac Ave. SE between Nationals Park and the Anacostia River, owner Bill Stewart told Hill Now yesterday. But he wasn’t sure yet if it would be ready for the Nationals home opener on April 7.
The beer garden will have beers brewed on-location and space for food trucks, according to a liquor license application from Stewart. The two-acre lot also will host as a dog park, bike shop and open green space.
“It’s moving forward,” Stewart said.
Last fall, Stewart applied for a liquor license for a scaled-down version of the “BeerDisneyLand” he intends to create for Bardo Riverfront.
Stewart originally submitted an application to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration in March 2015 for a beer garden that would hold a maximum of 2,000 people. However, that application was rescinded due to concerns about unruly crowds, noise levels and security concerns.
He since has said he will cap the maximum total occupancy for the beer garden at 750 people and has made other changes to address concerns from community leaders and police.
Photo via Twitter/Bardo Brewpub
The owner of Bardo Brewpub in Trinidad has applied for a liquor license for a scaled-down version of the “BeerDisneyLand” that he planned to build on unused land in Navy Yard.
Bardo owner Bill Stewart originally submitted an application to the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration in March for a beer garden at 25 Potomac Ave. SE that would hold a maximum of 2,000 people. However, that application was rescinded due to concerns about unruly crowds, noise levels and security concerns, JDLand reported.
This time around, Stewart is planning to cap the maximum total occupancy for the beer garden at 750 people and made several other changes in response to feedback and concerns from local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners and D.C. Police.
“They wanted security personnel trained in an ABRA-approved course and to move the entrance closer to 1st Street, and that was fine with us,” Stewart said.
Stewart is also no longer seeking permission to have live entertainment at the beer garden, and has agreed to limit drinking to about half of the property. Other parts of the two-acre lot will be used as a dog park, bike shop and open green space.
The beer garden will still feature beers brewed on-location and space for food trucks, according to the license application.
Before Stewart submitted his initial application, several other groups had plans for larger-scale event spaces on the plot of land next to Nationals Park. All of those applications were rejected.
“Our main problem is that they associate us with the previous applications, which were just crazy stuff,” Stewart said. “They had plans for 100 port-a-potties and 6,000 people or something, and we’re getting tarred with that brush even though we’re a completely different thing.”
Stewart said he hopes this application will be enough to ease the concerns of the ANC members and the police, but says he still doesn’t know if ABRA will approve the project. Those who object to the beer garden have until Nov. 30 to lodge a complaint with ABRA.
Barring any complaints or application rejections, Stewart says he could still be ready to open the beer garden on opening day of the baseball season in spring.
“It can drag on for a while,” he said. “Maybe it’ll happen, maybe it’ll happen in April or maybe it won’t happen at all. I really don’t know.”
Photo via Google Maps
(Updated at 3:15 p.m.) The days are getting shorter, and the opportunities to sip German brews in NoMa are getting fewer.
Weather permitting, Wunder Garten at 150 M St. NE plans to stay open one more month with a tentative closing date of Nov. 8, said Biva Ranjeet, a co-owner of the beer garden. Until then, Wunder Garten intends to serve beer every afternoon and evening.
Ranjeet said today the beer garden will reopen next year, but it is unclear whether it will return to the space in NoMa.
The kid-friendly pop-up opened in late May, offering several varieties of German beers that cost $7 or $8 for 16 ounces. They also have other drinks and light snacks.
For now, the beer garden will serve its expanded Oktoberfest menu until this Monday. Some of the limited-time items include brews from Illinois and Virginia.
An outdoor “BeerDisneyLand” could arrive near Nationals Park with food trucks, a dog park and movie screenings by April, the business behind the forthcoming beer garden tweeted yesterday.
Bardo Brewpub‘s Bardo Riverfront is slated to open at 25 Potomac Ave. SE in time for Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, owner Bill Stewart confirmed, following a tweet about its opening.
MLB has yet to release a specific date for Opening Day. But it’s typically held in the first week of April.
Stewart said he is moving ahead with the Bardo location along the Capitol Riverfront, despite a failed Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign earlier this year. He said he obtained the $200,000 needed to fund the project from the bank instead.
Now that he has secured the money, Stewart said he is waiting for a permit from the D.C. government.
Founded in 1993 in Arlington, Bardo now only has a location on Bladensburg Road NE.
Image via Bardo Brewpub
A beer garden in NoMa is slated to start serving German brews and other drinks within days.
Wunder Garten at 150 M St. NE likely will have a “soft opening” this week, co-owner Christopher Lynch said in an email yesterday. But it wasn’t immediately clear what day that opening will happen or when the beer garden officially will welcome customers.
“We need a couple of days to make sure that everything is working well operationally,” Lynch said.
Located on a lot just west of the NoMa-Gallaudet U Station, Wunder Garten has eight German and Austrian beers, as well as local microbrews and wine, according to a menu posted at the beer garden.
The beers include the Hofbräuhaus Original, Erdinger Weissbier and Stiegl Radler. Prices range from $7 to $8.
As for food, the menu lists pretzels and chips. But the beer garden will have one or two local food trucks, too.
Last night more than two dozen picnic benches and a dozen umbrellas were set up around a white tent that covered what appeared to be a bar.
The 8,000-square-foot property also has portable restrooms with marble finishes and space intended for children to play and for REI sporting goods to hold classes on bike repair, camping and other outdoor activities, Lynch has said. REI is opening a store in nearby Uline Arena.
(Updated at 9:40 a.m. Friday) A kid-friendly beer garden in NoMa will open next month just west of the neighborhood’s Metro station, a community group announced today.
Wunder Garten is looking to start pouring German beer and other brews in a lot at 150 M St. NE in mid-May, co-owner Christopher Lynch said. But he didn’t have a specific date for the opening.
The 8,000-square-foot property will have “grand” portable restrooms with marble, and benches and tables for as many as 300 people, Lynch has said. The lot also will include space for children to play and for REI to hold classes on bike repair, camping and other outdoor activities. REI is opening a store in nearby Uline Arena.
Wunder Garten will have 12 beers on tap, as well as cans of beer. The beer garden will feature German beer, with some brews from other European countries and local breweries.
One or two local food trucks will be at Wunder Garten, too.
“We are excited to provide an inviting space for the neighborhood and the city to gather, enjoy themselves outdoors, and have a beer,” Lynch said in a statement. “With all the rapid growth in NoMa, bars and recreational spaces were two things we have consistently heard that residents want.”
Photo via Facebook/Wunder Garten
NoMa residents will be able to sip Bavarian brews near the neighborhood’s Metro station this month, if plans for Wunder Garten stay on track.
The kid-friendly beer garden with food trucks will open this month “barring any unknowns,” said L’Enfant Cafe co-owner Christopher Lynch, who is partnering with Allon Pultuskier and Biva Ranjeet to create the space. Wunder Garten would occupy 8,000 square feet of now-vacant space at 150 M St. NE, just west of the NoMa-Gallaudet University Metro station.
The landscaped lot will include a tent, “grand” portable restrooms with marble, and benches and tables for as many as 300 people, Lynch said. Space also will be available for children to play and for REI to hold classes on bike repair, camping and other outdoor activities. REI is opening a store in nearby Uline Arena.
Wunder Garten will feature 12 beers on tap, as well as cans of beer. The focus will be on German beer, with some brews from other European countries and local breweries.
One or two local food trucks will be on hand as well. But the owners have yet to finalize the food and beer lineup.
“Everyone is clamoring for information, and we’re dying to tell as much as we can,” Lynch said at an ANC 6C Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Committee meeting Monday night. But “not everything is completely signed.”
Wunder Garten would be open from early afternoon to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Noise is “concern No. 1, 2 and 3” from locals, said Drew Courtney, chairman of ANC 6C’s liquor license committee. The apartment building Flats 150 is just west of the beer garden lot. Pultuskier said noise shouldn’t be a problem.
“This is not a nightclub,” Pultuskier said. “This is a casual, outdoor environment where people can come have a few drinks.”
(Updated at 9:55 a.m. Monday) The owners of Bardo Brewpub on Bladensburg Road want to turn unused land in Navy Yard into a “deluxe” waterfront beer garden with food trucks, a dog park and outdoor movies.
In a three-minute video narrated by their mascot Bardawg, Bardo announced last night that they’re aiming to raise $200,00 in the next month to create a “BeerDisneyLand” at 25 Potomac Ave. SE, just south of Nationals Park.
“Same old Bardo fun, now on two acres of Anacostia riverfront property — 100,000 square feet of fun,” a voice says in video of the owners’ Australian cattle dog roaming the development site. “New, shiny stainless steel brewery tanks. Biggest dog park in the city … Outdoor movies, as always, this time projected on a floating screen in the river.”
Donors to Bardo’s Indiegogo campaign will receive Groupon-style discounts on beer once the business opens. For $20, a donor will receive four pints of beer. For $1,000, donors get “a hunnert pitchers of beer” for a party at the beer garden.
Representatives from Bardo presented the initial concept to ANC 6D earlier this month, as JDLand reported. The business was pitched as an interim use on an MRP Realty development site.
Bardo could operate on the lot for a minimum of five years, owner Andrew Stewart said in an update.
Video via Vimeo/Bill Stewart; map image courtesy of Bardo
Beer Garden Near Nationals Park? — A developer will pitch a plan to ANC 6D to create a waterfront “brew garden” and neighborhood park just south of Nationals Park. The beer garden would be temporary, in advance of construction of a residential, retail, hotel and office complex. [JDLand]
Affordable Housing in Ward 6 — Capitol Hill Corner explains who may be able to live in planned affordable housing units in the Hine school redevelopment and the Eastern Branch Boys and Girls Club redevelopment. [Capitol Hill Corner]
Eastern Market Cooking Demonstration Backstory — Chef Jonathan Bardzik is starting his fifth season of cooking demonstrations at Eastern Market. Every week in his home kitchen, he tests and tastes the recipes he’ll teach. [Hill Rag]
Capitol Hill Memoirist Dies — Writer Mary Z. Gray died in late January at age 96. She wrote about growing up over a funeral parlor on East Capitol Street, seeing wagons and gas street lamps. [Washington Post]
(Updated at 9:10 a.m. Wednesday) An overgrown lot just west of the NoMa Metro station may become Wunder Garten.
Three locals are planning a pop-up “community beer garden” with German and Austrian brews, European food trucks and possibly a playground, they said at a community meeting Monday night.
“We want to create a large grassy area for people to throw a frisbee,” Allon Pultuskier said. “During the day, we hope young parents will bring their kids.”
Wunder Garten would be created on 8,000 square feet of now-vacant space at 150 M St. NE, through an agreement being finalized with the developer Stonebridge.
Pultuskier and his partners — wife and consultant Biva Ranjeet, and Christopher Lynch, co-owner of L’Enfant Cafe in Adams-Morgan — first spoke with Stonebridge about the beer garden last summer but plans stalled. The notion got new life when outdoor goods company REI, which will open a store in nearby Uline Arena, began inquiring about possible spaces for free classes and promotional events, Pultuskier said.
“That really invigorated the idea,” he said.
Full of “beer benches,” Wunder Garten would be open from early afternoon to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, Pultuskier proposed to the liquor license committee of ANC 6C. The team is looking at how to level the space full of gravel and weeds and install a tent that would contain noise.
“It’s already a little bit noisy there. We don’t want to add to that.” Pultuskier said, referring to the pop-up as a “quiet beer garden.”
The Wunder Garten team is aiming to open the space in mid-April and would be able to stay at least through Sept. 1.
Two or three “European- or Bavarian-centric” food trucks would park in the lot, said Pultuskier, a Munich native who works in marketing. And “high-end Porta-Pottys” would serve as restrooms.
“It will look like a pop-up park,” Pultuskier said, noting the team is looking at whether the space can be dog-friendly.
ANC committee chair Drew Courtney responded positively to the tavern license request and said the ANC will help coordinate a meeting with residents of Flats 130, the residential building just west of the proposed beer garden.
“This seems like something we’re going to be able to move forward on,” Courtney said. “Everyone we talk to says this is something we desperately need in the community.”
The full ANC 6C board will weigh in at its monthly meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
