FINAL DAY IN DC! ASBMB Day 6

Today was the day I have been waiting for all week. Today was the day when I finally present my work at the ASBMB conference! The conference went well, my data and talk were well received and the entire session was informative and very interesting. Science is typically an "individual sport"... not a "team sport". However, when you are presenting your work in an environment where you are surrounded by a bunch of well respected scientists and great minds, it makes you feel like the collaborative spirit of science is still alive and well!


It also makes you want to get drunk and talk more about science! In fact, most of my "ahhhh HA" moments in science have been while having discussions over beer! Needless to say, we found a bar close to Chinatown that had an excellent selection of beers on tap. I started by drinking a Dogfish Head "Aprihop" apricot flavored IPA. This is an extremely flavorful and surprising brew. I imagined that because this beer is made with apricot, that it was going to be overly sweet; this was not the case. Aprihop was clean and light and had just a hint of sweetness from the apricot. This beer is distinctively Dogfish Head because the hops dominate and give the beer a wonderful juxtaposition between the sweetness of the grains and apricots and the bitterness and citrus-y-ness of the hops. I was pleasantly surprised by this beer and if I had access to this beer at all times, I would order it more often than you would think!

My next beer was from Old Dominion Brewing Company. It was another IPA that, to me, was just another bump in the road IPA. Old Dominion's "Hop Mountain" lacks the body and the refinement of a Dogfish Head and seems basically like they just packed the thing with hops just to be hoppy because they thought that would be cool. Maybe my perspective on this beer is a little skewed because of my experience with the Aprihop. I suppose I would drink it again... or maybe give it another chance if I saw it somewhere and had not just had a "revelation of a beer" just minutes earlier!

Upon returning to the hotel, I grabbed one my remaining "Longboard's" and hopped in the hot tub for a bit. Obviously a nap ensued shortly thereafter. Upon waking an hour later, I was hunger and craving some good beer again. I saw and took this opportunity to hit up "Pizza Paridiso" again!

No one likes drinking alone, however, so I called up a new friend, Chuck to see if he would meet me there. He agreed, and we had a great night talking about beer, science and running. We sat at the bar where our knowledgeable and generally kick ass bartender, Darrell, hooked me up with my first "House in Session Ale" followed by his suggestion of Port City's Pale Ale. Port City Brews is a relatively new brewery in the DC area. So new, in fact, that I could not even find a website for the brewery! I was able to find their Twitter account though, and if you are interested, you can follow Port City at @portcitybrew. A delicate and crisp east coast Pale Ale that lacks the body and hoppy-ness of a west coast IPA but had an incredible drinkability and clean flavor. This would be a great "hot summer day" beer, perfect for the beach or playing a round of golf. I really enjoyed this beer and would like to thank Darrel for the suggestion and for book marking (and hopefully now following) my blog in his phone!

Chuck and I sat around eating pizza and talking until they kicked us out, at which point we went our separate ways. It was not the raging conclusion that I expected from the completion of this conference, but in a way, it was almost better this way. I feel like I made a good connection and friend, I grew closer to an already great friend (Lex... that's you) and I got a chance to share my science... It has been a great week!

If you would like to follow me, please click on the link on the right where you can subscribe to my feeds. you can also follow me on twitter at @williepawn or @drinkadventure or friend me on Facebook. You can also email me here. I am also keeping a compiled list of beers tasted HERE that you can look at.