GM decided to revive his occasional series “Why Not” to address an overlooked corner of Georgetown and consider what it could be: a biergarten.
The spot is a tiny recessed commercial building on Wisconsin Ave., just north of Q St. The setback building creates a forecourt, but it also creates a challenge. The retail space has seen a recent succession of stores coming and going: including a tea shop, a lingerie shop, a christmas tree lot, and most recently a consignment shop (which just closed). Book Hill has challenges drawing foot traffic, and that side generally draws even less foot traffic than the east side. Add that to the setback, and it makes for a difficult space for a shop to succeed in.
So GM wonders if that forecourt couldn’t be better used, and what better way than a biergarten? There are few places in Georgetown to enjoy a cold beer outside, and the ones that do exist are mostly down closer to M St.
It wouldn’t take much to set up. Dacha, in Shaw, set up a trailer and a handful of picnic tables last fall and was hugely successful. Using the indoor space to serve the beer to patrons outside would probably suffice.
Obviously the liquor license is an issue. But one thing in its favor is that this address is not subject to the liquor license moratorium (which ends at Q St.). So no need buy a license on the secondary market.
But the larger (really, largest) issue is sound. The space opens on Wisconsin, so most sound would be directed out to there. But there appears to be a sliver of space between the buildings that opens up into the backyards of homes on 33rd. This could possibly be enough to scotch any idea like this. But perhaps a sound barrier could be erected to protect those residents?
Maybe this isn’t really the best location for a biergarten, but that shouldn’t be a reason to dismiss it out of hand. The parking lot of Marvelous Market could also serve as good location for one. Any other locations come to mind?
The Georgetown Metropolitan 
Great idea and I’m not even a big beer drinker!
Those are the 2 best locations I can think of… It seems that the space is small enough that noise shouldn’t be a huge problem. Plus many beer gardens (and biergartens) tend to draw larger early-evening crowds, and due to the lower overhead, can sustain slightly earlier closing times to mitigate noise issues.