Update at 1:35 p.m. — Individuals associated with the business have said in the comments section that World of Beer plans to serve sausages and snack foods.
Watch out, Rustico, a new business is trying to achieve total beer domination in Ballston.
“World of Beer” has applied for an ABC permit for a proposed location at 901 N. Glebe Road. World of Beer is advertised as a “neighborhood, non-smoking, upscale social establishment dedicated to the enjoyment of beer and education of the beer enthusiast.”
The business will feature a rotating lineup of 50 beers on tap and 500 beers in bottles. It also promises to have 20 big-screen TVs for sports viewing, a stage to host local bands, and outdoor seating.
This would be the first D.C. area franchise for the Florida-based chain. The business is attempting to obtain a license for on-premises beer consumption and take-home beer sales — which would be a possible exception to the usual rule that only food-serving restaurants or grocery stores can be licensed for on-premises consumption in Virginia.
World of Beer is hoping to open its Ballston location in July, according to the chain’s web site. The local World of Beer Facebook page lists its expected hours of operations as 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. Monday through Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on Sundays.
Hat tip to “Xaoc.” Photo courtesy Timothy C.
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Great, as if we need more ways to encourage drinking and driving around here.
and get off my lawn!
I live on N. Stuart ST, I will probably drive to this place.
Where are you supposed to park that doesn’t require a 10 minute walk to get there or require walking across Glebe?
You park at home.
If 901 N Glebe is the building I’m thinking of, there’s a parking garage there. And crossing Glebe is really not a hard thing to do.
You didn’t notice that Arlington is trying to discourage driving, drunk or not?
Every restaurant, that serves alcohol, with a parking lot encourages drinking and driving.
I plan to walk there, or take a cab.
OK, I was excited to see that The Green Turtle was opening up right across the street from my condo, now World of Beer is opening on the same block as me? O_O
Nice! Also I finally tried Daily Deli which replaced Upper Crust Gourmet, pretty damn good.
I’m planning on trying it this weekend!
FYI – On the World of Beer website’s “Locations” page, it lists the Arlington location as “Coming in July 2012.”
Good catch, we’ll update the article.
This building is in Bluemont, not Ballston. [ducks]
Bluemont is 50 miles west of Ballston.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=bluemont+virginia&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Bluemont,+Blue+Ridge,+Loudoun,+Virginia&gl=us&t=m&z=14&vpsrc=0
True, but there is also a part of Arlington that is called Bluemont:
Arlington County officially recognizes it as a neighborhood:
http://www.co.arlington.va.us/Departments/CPHD/ons/conservation/CPHDOnsInsider_Bluemont.aspx
It has its own civic association (which has been around for quite sometime):
http://www.bluemontcivic.org/
For whatever reason, others seem to recognize it as its own Arlington neighborhood:
http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Bluemont-Arlington-VA.html
http://arlington22205.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/beautiful-bluemont/http://www.areavibes.com/arlington-va/neighborhoods/bluemont/areavibe/
I’ve lived there since 1961 and that part of Arlington has been called Bluemont since my family moved to that part of Arlington. There is also one of those Arlington neighborhood carved stone signs on eastbound Wilson Blvd. after going down the hill at N. Manchester crossing the W&OD/Four Mile Run bike trails and Four Mile Run that says “Bluemont Neighborhood 1890″.
Thanks, BS1961, but I live in the Bluemont neighborhood too. It was a joke – and a commentary on how the neighborhood got its name.
Also, alot of neighbors in the Bluemont area are annoyed that “Bluemont” has erased much older neighborhood names inside it.
It isn’t really a neighborhood at all. It’s only the jurisdiction of a civic association.
The 1890 sign is bogus. The Bluemont neighborhood didn’t exist until long after that – and your memory is faulty, because it wasn’t called Bluemont until the early 90s. Before that, it was Stonewall Jackson. The neighborhood changed the name to get rid of the association with the confederacy, just like earlier when Stonewall Jackson school became Arlington Traditional School.
The 1980 date probably came from the date Bon Air neighborhood was established, which is part, but not all, of Bluemont.
(Bluemont got its name from the Bluemont Junction trail, which was once the turnoff for trains to head for Bluemont, VA.)
I thought it had always been called Bluemont. I never heard of that area referred to as Stonewall Jackson when I was growing up by any of our neighbors, so when I first head our neighborhood area referred to as Bluemont, that was the name I knew and thought for all these years that was what it was called. I know that ATS was called Stonewall Jackson because that was the elementary school I attended long before the name change. My area of Bluemont is called Brockwood, so it almost becomes a “pick-a-name-for today.”
Stonewall Jackson civic association wasn’t very active – probably because most residents didn’t want anything to do with the name. When it was changed, it got lots of new members, and soon they wrote and got approved their neighborhood conservation plan. That plan is where the new “Bluemont” signs came from.
You should change your name to “Brockwoodsince1961″!
This city is, but there is a Bluemont neighborhood in Arlington (I only know it because of the Bluemont Junction Trail)
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Bluemont,+Arlington,+Virginia&hl=en&sll=39.111217,-77.833884&sspn=0.059605,0.132093&vpsrc=0&gl=us&hnear=Bluemont,+Arlington,+Virginia&t=m&z=15
Technically, it is not in Bluemont. According to the civic association maps, in this particular area the Bluemont neighborhood only gets the even-numbered buildings along Glebe Road (west side of the road) while the Ballston-Virginia Square neighborhood gets the odd-numbered buildings (east side of the road). World of Beer, with a building number of 901, is odd-numbered and on the east side of the road. It will therefore be in the Ballston-Virginia Square neighborhood.
(It’s been a slow day at work.)
You’re right. I was assuming this was the new building across the street.
good to know… Lou, you get The Green Turtle then, ha.
At least we get some food. Sort of.
Hmm… doesn’t seem like a pretty a very good business model if you exclude food. Drunk people and greasy pub food go hand-in-hand.
I’ve been to a similar place called “Good Beer NYC” in the East Village, small beer store that also has taps for onsite consumption… They only sell small “appetizers” like sausage, charcuterie, etc and do extremely well, it’s always packed in there.
Good news! There will be food! There will an assortment of hot dogs, sausages, bratwursts, and other snack foods.
Obviously they will serve burgers, pizza, cupcakes, and froyo.
World of Beer sounds like a crappy name for an “upscale establishment” to me, but I guess if it’s a chain it must work.
This will be a big improvement to the neighborhood, along with the theatre planned as part of the building replacing the funeral home.
Is “theatre” code for another highrise condo/apartment?
It’s a highrise condo, yes, with a theatre on the ground floor.
This site was going to be condos, but now I think it’s going to be an ofice bilding.
Went to WOB in Daytona a few weeks ago. It’s far from upscale or educating but they serve lots of great beers. Weird place, but it seems to work.
Do they have any food at all?
None, but they gave menus to nearby places so you could have it delivered.
I was under the impression that Virginia maintained sales ratios regarding food:alcohol (confirmed- http://www.abc.virginia.gov/hearings/firstoffense.html) so I’m not entirely sure how they’ll get away with that model here.
I have been to one place in DC that does this (Iron Horse) but I doubt VA will allow it for World of Beer, maybe they can serve only chicken fingers and fries.
Well I guess they are expecting a major exception to be made for their business.
I think there is another regulation regarding consumption of food not prepared on site, as in any restaurant or bar that serves food can not allow food not prepared in their kitchen to be consumed in their business. It is tied to their health department license I believe. Now, maybe a place that only serves beer would not have that same restriction, but since that type of entity is not allowed by normal ABC guidelines it is impossible to say what they can or can not do.
How can they do this here? VA law requires you sell food, you cannot have a bar in Virginia.
Yes, there will be food and a nice variety to choose from
They must have naked pictures of the whole VA ABC board if they think they will get a pass on major parts of the ABC regulations.
Is there anywhere else in the commonwealth that can sell beer but not food and that can sell on-off like this?
I am sure many of the breweries around Charlottesville would have loved to sell on- off with no food requirement but… they had to open resturants attached to their brewery due to ABC regulations.
Whole buncha comments and finally this one down here actually touches on the real curiosity of the matter, which is – what makes this chain think that they are so darn special that they can get this sort of exemption? I mean, I could come up with all sorts of cool business models and money-making endeavors if it weren’t for pesky things like laws and stuff.
Second question – with the proliferation of beer bars in the area, I am wondering how unique and successful this business model will really be. Beers go from craft to mainstream sellout in about 3 months these days (the epitome of this was Fat Tire, which went from launch parties all around D.C. to the shelves of Costco in about 4 months). I’m sure their menu will read like every other beer place…ooh, Bell’s, how creative! Or they will be like ATR, with 40 taps and about about 30 of them dispensing various versions of “light/lite” products. I highly doubt that this place is going to have any distinguishing feature, unless it somehow can significantly compete on price alone.
Not sure about the food beer thing, but the on/off thing – Westover beer garden does it. I read some of the ABC code and if I’m following it right, there’s a rule that allows on/off but the way I read it, it was intended for rural areas that didn’t have many of either – not sure why that would ever apply in Arlington for current or future buisnesses.
What does it say about Arlington, with all the chains coming in? Are people of Arlington uniform and not unique?
Just wait until the “Beer ‘o rama” opens and then the “Beer ‘R Us”. I miss the Brickskeller.
I miss the Brickskeller too – the problem for me was that when I lived a block away from the place, I was too poor to afford going there!
A) I still miss Bardo.
B) that rule explains the purpose of a menu at Freddies.
If they limit themselves to beer/wine the threshold is 5% food sales vice 50% food sales if they have a full bar.
Five percent should not be a problem. A microwave and frozen wings from Costco. Yum
Know what’s even better? A microwave, frozen wings from costco, cheap craft beer from costco, and my couch and big screen.
Costco chicken bake
I wish the frozen ones they sold were as big as the ones they offer up front in the cafe! I always feel like a slob eating two…
Yeah really. This place is another sports bar, with a terrible name to boot. I don’t wish them any ill will, but this certainly does very little to bring anything interesting to the area. Lame.
World of Beer in Arlington VA will have food and plenty of it.
Guys it could be worse, it doesn’t have Tavern in it’s name. Might as well be called Tavern of Beer.
It’s sad how this country is becoming more boring. Everything’s the same, catering to the same type of people, etc…
Yeah- beer in the usa 20 years ago was so diverse and varied.
I live near Ballston and am looking forward to this place and drinking all those wonderful beers, yum yum. Many people live within walking/metro distance of this place. When you have places to drink more restaurants will open up as people can go for dinner and then try out the many beers and then walk/metro home without having to leave the culture and sights of Ballston.
We are never going to have dive bars/cheap eats in Ballston, the rents are already too high, However, I would like to see some more bars in the mall as well, perhaps a place could set up ping ping tables in the mall after 9 pm.
ahh beer,
the nectar of nitwits…
Happy to have a place 5 blocks from my house! Although, I don’t understand the comment about driving and drinking…if you live in the area have one less micro brew and call a cab! We never drink and drive in this house. Cabbing to and fro is much cheaper than a DUI. Check out the app Taxo Magic it’s genius. A cab there is cheaper than to Clarendon or simply walk, god knows how we all love to walk/run/bike! Seriously, what’s with all this nit picking about neighborhood names, too many know it alls. I live in Ballston(period), no one ever asks me what civic neighborhood assc. I live in.
They had me until “upscale”. I take that to mean overcharging. I love beer, but I don’t want to be upscale about it.
“Work is the curse of the drinking classes.” Oscar Wilde
Am I getting my blogs confused, or did this article at one time mention cigars would be featured?