The Bier Baron Tavern

I visited after work one day with a group. Loved the $ 10 burger and beer deal for happy hour, the burger was great. Loads of beers to choose from and many people in the group ordered flights, 6 healthy pours for a reasonable $ 15. We sat downstairs next to another large group, and the service was a little slow. Maybe a little disorganized due to the odd layout of the different spaces downstairs? Upstairs it seems like there are different entertainment events throughout the week. So far, my favorite beer place in town for the great selection and tasty eats.

The beer selection here is OFF THE HOOK. They have more beers than god himself. And the staff is awesome. Then there is the food… Amazing. The perogis are a family recipe. The shepherd’s pie is my go to when I am hangry. I am also obsessed with their mac and cheese. Really, you can’t go wrong with anything on their menu (in my experience).
They have comedy and burlesque shows on the regular upstairs, which are usually pretty amazing. If seeing a show isn’t your thing, their downstairs bar is relatively quiet and more expansive than you think.
Its a bit dark inside… but I vote that this just fits the «tavern» theme. This is one of my favorite bars to hole myself up into during the winter to warm up and ignore the cold.

For this to be our 3^rd time coming here i was truly disappointed. We were Not happy at all. Food was hella salty tonite. Service was hella slow if it wasnt for the hostess we would still be waitn. Wont be back for a while

I remember hearing that Brickskeller was closing it’s doors in 2011 and I was really disappointed. Brickskeller had a huge selection of beer from every country that you can imagine so it was always a little bit of heaven when I’m there. It’s been awhile since I’ve been back to see who has taken over the spot and was pleasantly surprised when I noticed Bier Baron’s menu when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Bier Baron kept the traditional going and maintained a fairly large amount of beer selection as well. They downsized it and actually only listed beers that they keep in stock on their menu. This was awesome .I can’t remember how many times that I’ve ordered a drink and only to have the waiter return and say that they are out of stock when it was Brickskeller. This so far hasn’t happened to me yet in Bier Baron.
I didn’t a chance to try out the food there but I was told that their burger are decent and I will have to update my review when I come back for some food. The only setback to this place it’s in a basement so if the weather is nice outside it’s just sad to sit indoors and stare at the basement wall. The staff are friendly and the bartender was attentive the few times that I’ve been there. She was fast to acknowledge me and there’s very short wait for your drink.
It’s really divey place, it has a neighbor bar feeling to it. Overall a good place to sit back and have a beers and run your mouth with your friends.

This place has an intentional edgy feel that works well for it. The basement bar is a great spot that is happy to differentiate itself from the sleek and snazy places that are popping up all over DC. Servers wear T-​shirts that say «Fuck Brunch» and the menu options cover a wide variety of traditional American bar food selections like wings and nachos. All this being said, and in spite of the excellent beer selection, the food quality is quite low for the price.

Visiting DC on a business trip and saw that there was this bar downstairs at the hotel I stayed at. Their $ 10 burger and beer happy hour deal is solid. Great beer selection as well — a good amount on tap and may bottled beers from around the world. Good service and bartenders are knowledgable about the beers. Will probably come again.

What a great menu! Both for beers and for food. Bartender was very knowledgeable of the beers. I had the poutine which was good. I’ll definitely be back

I came here for a performance last night and found the entire experience frustrating and painful — had I not been there for the performance I would have left.
– It was a warm summer evening in DC. If this place had AC, it barely works (I asked bartenders if it got any cooler, they said no). The basement was WAY too warm for comfort. This is DC, you guys. Get some working AC.
– menu is totally underwhelming and overpriced. $ 12 for a garden burger and limp, oily, not-​all-​the-​way-​cooked fries. Typical bar food options otherwise, all items priced higher than they should be given quality and quantity.
– The beers the bartender poured for my friends were rushed and spilled all over the bar when she «served» them. No napkins offered, no offers to refill the third of the glass she lost when she slammed it down
– totally under-​staffed (2 bartenders) for a sold out performance where people have to order drinks AND food at the bar.
I really don’t recommend this place. There are other places to eat pub food and drink beer in the district. Maybe they are more impressive on nights when not hosting shows, but my recommendation is to eat before you arrive and bring a fan.

The guy at the front door is a total dick. He talks down to people any chance he gets. Acts like being in this bar is a privilege.

The guy at the front is a total d**k. Completely lacked any sense of courtesy or professionalism when he turned away my 18 year old cousin visiting from abroad. Perhaps the law prohibited him from letting my cousin in, but since we had called ahead and were told my cousin would be allowed, I felt we at least deserved an apology and a little more respect than what we were shown.

I enjoyed Bier Baron, particularly for the $ 10 burger and beer special. The burgers are solid, and so are the beer choices. Admittedly, they ran out of my first choice beer (and I assume that happens a lot), but, they had a few sours on tap, which is rare. So, points for having a varied tap list!
The service is friendly, and fast as well.

According to WikiTravel, this place is one of the best to try beers from all around the world in DC. They do have an ample selection but, I could not find a single one of my favorites. To be honest, it seems they specialize in American beers instead.
Furthermore, the bartender pulled something extremely unpleasant on me: after serving the last round, he took my order first, then went ahead and took other orders around the bar (which is fine). Then, he started serving all the other orders before mine and when he was done, he started taking more orders and my beer nowhere to be found. I had to signal the other bartender to finally get my first drink around 7 minutes after I ordered it while sitting on the bar.

Bier Baron has really grown on me. At first glacé it’s just a grungy basement bar. But after a few visits I have come to appreciate their extensive beer menu, $ 10 burger + beer deal during Wednesday happy hour, and friendly bar tenders. (The servers can be weird about saving tables for large groups when the bar is completely empty.) Bier Baron is pretty divey and their food isn’t fancy (at all), but it’s a good place to meet up with friends and coworkers.
I’ve been to their Thursday night comedy show, which I would definitely recommend. Keep in mind this is a free show; some of the comedians have performed before and for others it’s their first time on stage. The sets are limited to 5 minutes so if someone sucks it’ll be over in 5 minutes. Bier Baron also has a «weirdo show» monthly that is on my bucket list.

This was in the bottom of our hotel so convenience was definitely a factor, but I think it was a good place anyway. The beer selection was good and updated daily. Prices were reasonable especially for other bars we went to in DC. The bartender was nice and the fastest beer pourer I have ever seen. We would put in our order look down and our beers would be in front of us instantly.
No games or anything (there’s a stage upstairs that does shows) but good beer selection and good prices for the area!

We frequent this establishment before every dodge-​ball game have not yet been disappointed! Solid beer selection and have always been able to find enough room to fit our team (8 – 10 people) on any given Thursday during happy hour.

I used to really like this place. It was a solid choice for happy hour after work given its happy hour special ($ 10 for a burger and beer combo). However, after the last few times there (especially the most recent one), I’ve come to hate it. I can’t speak terribly about the food because it is mediocre, but the service is the atrocious, possibly the worst I’ve ever experienced.
It’s not just that the service was incredibly slow and inattentive (that I can deal with). It’s the attitude and manner with which they helped us.
First, when we arrived with our large party of 10, it was pretty much empty but we were told everything was pretty much reserved. The waiter found us a table but demanded that we not have anyone else join us. There’s a polite way of asking us not to expand our party, its another to basically command it.
This wasn’t as nearly as bad though as when we went to order. The waiter said that we all had to order at the same time. His excuse was that it was crowded so he would only take our orders once. Since when does being busy and have large parties justify abandoning your responsibilities as a waiter to smaller tables? I was so taken aback by this. Not only that, but he didn’t even ask us politely. The tone with which it was said made it seem like we were privileged just to have the opportunity to order. Never before have I felt so mistreated as a customer dining at a restaurant/​bar.
Beyond the terrible service, I was also disappointed with the happy hour special, which only lets you choose one of the beers from the menu that does NOT have an asterisk next to it. However, half of the beers on the list have an asterisk! The selection really isn’t as expansive as it appears to be. And as for the burger and fries, the burger is consistently over-​cooked (but not bad) and the fries are extremely salty.
After this past experience, I can’t imagine returning… unless I suppose there’s a birthday celebration there that I can’t miss.

I really wanted to give them three stars for the food, but their amazing beer selection and knowledge saves them here.
First, the food. The menu is rather limited, but not barren (get it?). The fries are indeed fresh cut and tasty. The apps were creative, fresh, and delicious. The duck sliders… so lacking and so disappointing, though! Ground duck can be tasty, but I think there was too much fat in the blend. Consequently, they burned on the outside and lost the subtle ducky notes. The accoutrements did not help, as they were too sparse, and the meat itself was gritty, fatty/​greasy, and flavorless. The bratwurst wrapped in dough with mustard and sauerkraut was pretty dang tasty, though! I loved it!
Next, the drinks. They have an amazing selection of beers, though maybe not to the same level as before when they were the Brickskellar (MANY many moons ago). Still, they have more than the average bar, and their quality is high. The bartenders know their stuff, too. Also, be sure to check both the upstairs and downstairs bars, as the taps are different at each one.
The atmosphere is pretty fun, with tons of old school beer paraphernalia on the walls and all around. Downstairs has a kind of basement/​bomb shelter feel about it, but in a cozy welcoming way. Lots of exposed brick and a dimmer dining room. It has a great feel overall. Upstairs has plenty of room for entertaining and intimate entertainment (musical shows, guys, c’mon). We were there for a burlesque event and it was awesome. Just the right size for the crowd.
Overall, a great place for bier/​beer still, worth going back. Parking is atrocious, however, so be prepared to walk a few blocks. It’s near DuPont, so there should be some garages around. Just not right next door.

Over the course of my time here in DC, I’ve been to Bier Baron multiple times, and almost every time I leave wondering why I tried to go there again.
Yes, the beer list is extensive. That’s fine. Unfortunately, most of the times I’ve been there, Bier Baron has been out of the beer I’ve tried to order. This typically happens with the draught selections. There’s a vast selection of bottled beers to choose from, but it’s frustrating as a customer to not be able to have your first or second choice off the draught list.
Most of the staff I have encountered at Bier Baron are at best detached, and at worst just plain rude. Though I have had experiences with good staff, the vast majority of my encounters have been negative. In a recent instance, two of the bar staff were so rude to our party that we actually left the bar.
In addition to operations issues, I can’t recommend the atmosphere at Bier Baron simply because of my own personal preferences. The bar is in a basement and is intentionally kind of dingy. It can feel cramped and musty. They have lined the walls with old beer cans, though, which can be fun to look at.
Overall, I’d say that if you’re looking for the sheer novelty of having a huge beer selection, there are other beer bars in DC you should check out first.

When I go on vacation, I don’t like to have a set plan. It’s vacation. I prefer to have an open idea of things to do and places to check out, with little to no absolute commitment. It’s just how I roll. Enter, The Bier Baron Tavern.
My travel companion and I had vague plans to check out this place around the corner which turned out to be a total bust (looking at you, Thomas Foolery). A quick Unilocal search and a mental note of things I’d seen before led us to The Bier Baron Tavern. From the second we walked in, I loved this fucking place. They sell tshirts with their logo that say, «Fuck Brunch, Drink All Day.» Yes, I had to have one. I’m wearing it right now, as a matter of fact
THEY HAVE A BINDER OF ALL THE DIFFERENT BEERS. A BINDER. 600+ OF THEM.
I seemed to have awesome luck with bartenders in DC. Every single one of them that I encountered were SUPER helpful, knowledgeable, and friendly… Bier Baron was no exception to that. I asked about local beers, he was happy to make some suggestions, and didn’t steer me wrong. I had two tasty, tasty beers that night.
We hadn’t really eaten that day, so I was in need of food. The menu is, um, interesting. My friend ordered Pierogis off the appetizer list, served with applesauce and sour cream. The bites I had were fantastic. I needed something a bit more substantial, so I ordered chicken parmesan. On donuts. Crazy compilation drunk food? Absolutely. They were really tasty, though, albeit weird.
It’s in the basement of a place that’s now a hotel, my travel companion and I talked about maybe having booked at the wrong place (the Wardman Park Marriott), and I didn’t disagree. I sort of pined to go back while I was in the Northeast, but it never came to fruition.
I like it when a plan doesn’t quite come together.

600 Beers From Around the World – who isn’t impressed with a tag line like that?
Bier Baron is straight out of the Medieval times! It’s a perfect place if you loves dingy– damp-​wooden-​brick exposed cave-​like bars.
This location has about 65+ bottles and roughly 20 taps pouring ales, IPAs, sours, stouts and saisons from around the World and locally — plus this location provides you with the proper glassware for each style and expected, but does not always occur.
Happy Hour section is pretty sweet and it runs from 4 – 7 PM. $ 1 off drafts and if you get a draft with out an asterisk you are eligible to get a happy hour priced burger for $ 10.
If you are looking for a place to have good conversation with a beer fanatic, bring them to Bier Baron.