A Pint Half Full

If you didn't know, there's a new Dogfish Head Alehouse (www.dogfishalehouse.com) that opened in Chantilly, VA, not too far from the office. After visiting the Falls Church site, I was pretty excited that another one was opening up close to work (happy hour anyone?) A couple of my co-workers and I visited last week to check it out. Needless to say, the place was packed as the DFH beers are pretty popular and local to our area. I have to say this new venue is pretty nice and they have about 9-10 different beers on tap, varying in price from $5-$13. Their happy hour is $1.50 off drafts and $2 off pizza making their $5 drafts around $3.50. Not too bad to support a microbrew and their quality beers.

DFH beers are generally quite flavorful, using interesting ingredients and tend to be more hoppy (at least the ones I've tried). I particularly like their Indian Brown Ale as it's smooth, dark, and malty yet balanced.

However, this DFH Alehouse had one beer I'd been reading about that wasn't at the Falls Church one - "Theobroma"! They base their recipe off of what they believe was used in ancient Aztec drinks, including chiles and cocoa. I ordered it and it was still $10!!! This was during happy hour. I was expecting alot.
Unfortunately, it didn't FULLY meet my expectations for such an expensive pour. It was very drinkable and light; the 9% ABV wasn't overpowering at all which was nice. The cocoa and chiles really started coming to the forefront as I continued drinking which was quite pleasant and interesting. I feel like it actually brought out the flavors in the beer. It was nice, but for the price, probably wouldn't get it again.

They also had Raison D'etre which was a treat. Liked this one alot.

I will need to go back there and post more thoughts on the other offerings. If in the area, definitely check it out.