Summer hit DC at least a month early, and now the city is in High Festival season – punctuated by Fourth of July celebrations.
Whether you are seized by a spirit of jingoism, you want to express your appreciation for all the good things (or ignore all the bad things) to be found in the US of A, or you just need a good excuse to go eat something grilled and wash it down with copious amounts of domestic, micro-brewed beer, there are places to enjoy Independence Day throughout the DC area.

“Ordinary” can sometimes mean “Good.” Such is the atmosphere at Marshall’s Bar & Grill on L Street in Foggy Bottom. Despite the proximity of the GW campus, Marshall’s lets other bars handle the Three C’s (Collegiate, Cool, Crowded) and sets about being a simple, straight-forward place to grab a bite and a beer.

Elephant & Castle is described on its corporate website as a “British Pub and Restaurant concept.” Many bar-goers and beer-drinkers may think twice about procuring their poisons of choice at a “concept,” but the success of the idea cannot be denied. The twenty-plus establishments nationally seem to generally be thriving.

Mixed in amongst the townhouse facades near GW is an unassuming, narrow little bar/restaurant, up a short flight of stairs from street level, easily missed on the way up or down Pennsylvania Avenue.

For a bar that’s been around less than six years, the 51st State Tavern feels well lived-in. Since 2004 it has become a local hangout far on the West side, drawing its share of regulars, GW students, and lost tourists. And what it lacks in distinctive character is balanced by its nonchalance and surprising selection and specials.

There’s a fair amount going on in Bethesda, and there are more than a few places to eat, drink, or watch your team play. But there might be no better spot to do all three than Tommy Joe’s.

The distinctive, dark, gritty atmosphere one expects to find in a rock club usually only comes with the purchase of a concert ticket. That can be achieved at the Black Cat, with two stages that are regularly occupied by local favorites and big names alike, and with good beer on tap to boot. But a very nice dive-y rock’n’roll bar is also on the premises, and can be entered without a cover charge. The atmosphere and beer can thus be enjoyed minus the live music.

At times it seems the nation’s capital is filled with either redundant little package stores with 40 types of generic beer in cans, or haughty wine emporia that carry nine styles of Lambic and nothing brewed outside of Benelux. But there are one or two exceptions.