Saturday afternoon I went down to the new Pizzeria Paradiso which had moved from its previous digs into the more modern building on the corner of 20th and P Streets right by Dupont Circle itself. Just a hop from the metro now, Paradiso is going to be a hotspot for the circle area beer drinkers. It’s got a bigger bar than the old joint, but not as much space as Birreria Paradiso, which is an entire basement devoted to good beer drinking. The new Dupont place is mostly restaurant and the actual bar space may get a little tight once everyone starts crowding it for some of their 180 bottles, 12 taps or 1 cask.

While I was there I got to chat with Greg Jasgur, Birreria Paradiso’s manager in charge of ordering and stocking all the awesome beer they provide. He explained that the difference between the two places (other than Dupont being much more restaurant oriented) is that there’s more room for bottles and less room for kegs in the new place. So I’m thinking DC beer drinkers may find more interesting kegs still at Birreria while the bottle selection at Dupont may change and grow because of the extra capacity. Sounds good to me.

photo by P.J. Coleman

As for selection, he’s gonna try not to have too many repeats between the two places, but will probably have selections at both from his favorite breweries. As of right now you might need to drink your Fantome Saison at Dupont, but make the trek over to Georgetown to get your Fantome Hiver. Greg said that might change, but at the moment they are looking to see how customers enjoy the selection. The beers at the moment reflect a nice survey of the beer world, going beyond Belgians but still giving them their due. If you look at the coolers storing the beer, they include a stout section, an IPA/amber section, a German section, and then two coolers of Belgians.

Sponsorship

As for beer events, most of the big events will probably still take place over at Birreria Paradiso because the space is nice and separate from the restaurant over there. They will however have some events at the new Dupont location, including the Dogfish Head/Sierra Nevada collaboration Life and Limb launch party kickoff brunch in November. It’s a little ways away, but between now and then there will be plenty of happy hour nights at Paradiso Dupont. Just like Birreria Paradiso, the happy hour will be from 5 to 7 PM on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Half price drafts.

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