Meridian Pint opens Thursday

The day is finally upon us. what looks to be a major player in the DC craft beer scene is set to open it’s doors. On Thursday, July 1 Meridian Pint at 11th & Park Streets, NW in Columbia Heights will debut their “An environmentally driven establishment with a primary focus on the pairing of American Craft beers with American contemporary dining.”

Meridian Pint is a two-level restaurant/bar which will feature 24 draft lines fed to both floors. The basement level, known as The Joint Chiefs, will feature “table taps” which is a charge-by-ounce system. Beer Director, Sam Fitz said all draft lines will “rotate fairly frequently… I imagine around 5 new beers a week but this will be dictated by volume of business.”

Responding to the increased interest in and availability of cask beers, Meridian Pint will be installing a beer engine in the coming months, but until then will be meeting your “real ale” needs with gravity pours. Many of their cask beers will come from Oliver Breweries of Baltimore, but you will also see some Heavy Seas and other breweries from time to time as well. “For the first week we will have a a different Oliver’s gravity pour each day… We have three of the ESB, each dry-hopped with a different varietal. 3 Pagan Porter, one with coffee beans, one with vanilla, and one with cocoa. We also got the dry-hopped Blonde.”

When Meridian Pint says that their primary focus is American craft beers, they mean it. Beer Director, Sam Fitz clarified saying “No imports. Not even Canada. I love Belgian and German beer but I have completely embraced (owner John Andrade’s) American theme. His reasons are that it cuts down on environmental impact by not shipping across the Atlantic, and it supports our own economy in a time of need. Additionally, America makes some great beer, and I am very happy about the products we will be carrying. The large format bottle list also allows me to carry some American beers that (you don’t often see in kegs)… I have my ear to the streets and will be bringing in a lot of cool, rare things. I already secured a keg of Avery Czar, which has been aging for 6 months, that I’m going to put on slow pour in a couple of weeks.”

With a food menu friendly to both vegans and meat-eaters and their “drink fresh” beer ethos, Meridian Pint is certainly something to be excited about. If you check them out over the coming weekend, please let us know what you think in the comments section.