Wikipedia
The Brickskeller (officially The Brickskeller Dining House and Down Home Saloon) was a tavern in Washington, D.C., located near Dupont Circle across from Rock Creek Park and on the edge of Georgetown, in the Marifex Hotel (now the Brickskeller Inn) building. With over 1200 choices of bottled beer in the coolers, over a dozen keg beers and real ale in cask the Brickskeller from her beginnings as the first restaurant ever to offer customers a Beer List to introducing many thousands of beers to the city, the country and the continent.
Felix Coja, a young man from the French Mediterranean island of Corsica located west of the Italian Peninsula, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the Italian island of Sardinia, along with his bride Marie joined the many Corsican natives who emigrated to the Americas after World War I. Felix, a Cordon Bleu trained Master French Chef found work in Washington, D.C. at the popular Blackstone Hotel on 17th Street NW. Following a successful career at the Blackstone the couple managed to purchase their own hotel property several blocks away near 22nd & P Street NW when they acquired The Robert Peter Inn. With it's dominant commercial location in the bustling embassy area near Rock Creek Park they changed the property name to The Marifex Hotel. The Brickskeller restaurant was established in 1957 as a rathskeller type eatery, by Felix and Marie. Later their son Maurice, along with his wife June, wound up developing the property extensively in the 1960s until 1982 when their daughter Diane and her husband former Brickskeller bartender Dave Alexander took over the daily operations. The Brickskeller therefore can be called a matriarchal corporation. Marie was the first President and Diane the last. The Alexanders ran the Brickskeller from 1982 until selling the building and moving all Brickskeller tastings and events to their new restaurant, RFD Washington at 810 7th Street NW. The original Brickskeller's official last night of operation was December 18, 2010.
Diane's grandfather Felix established a Washington import company, disassociating himself from the restaurant to start Wide World Imports.. He was the first and original importer of such European beers like Cantillion, DeDolle, Schlenkerla Rauchbier and Scheidmantle - introducing the North American continent to these fantastic gems. He later invented one of the first computer driven automatic bar machines which accurately measured and poured alcoholic beverages automatically for bars throughout the United States.
The Brickskeller down home saloon made its mark in DC as one of the city's most popular night spots in the 1960s and 70s after son Maurice and June Coja took over the restaurant/hotel operation while his dad pursued other interests. Residing in the hotel, Maurice and June took over all day to day operations and employed their genius marketing skills to develop the property quickly pushing the basement hideaway into local prominence. The young couple took advantage of the 50 year old brick sand-blasted interiors of the former cellar of the hotel to create a darkened atmosphere of few lights and many red-checkered tablecloths seating in the many dimly lit nooks and crannies of the multi-roomed cellar. The atmosphere and ambiance were perfect for couples and student groups from the many Washington area colleges and schools to get acquainted over a cold 3.2 percent alcohol beer (the only legal alcohol available to the 18-21 age crowd in the District of Columbia at the time). In addition to the university crowd from nearby George Washington, Georgetown, American University, Galudet, Howard, the University of Maryland and many other colleges, a younger group from neighboring Virginia and Maryland high schools often lined up nightly circling a large portion of the city block waiting for tables to open so they might get romantic seating at the very popular Bricks. The basement restaurant became so popular in it's heyday that The Coja family added a large upstairs addition directly above to the basement restaurant which operated as a live music venue during those early years hosting many young folk acts who highlighted D.C.s live music scene of the sixties and seventies. While The Cellar Door in nearby Georgetown was hosting top social activist performers like Peter, Paul & Mary, The Mama's & Papa's & Judy Collins - the Brickskeller Upstairs brought in lesser known new folk acts like Jose Feliciano, Tom Rush, Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys and The Country Gentlemen to name a few. Business boomed in those days as Maurice and June had obviously discovered and created a formula that fit the bill for success and future growth. As pointed out in a current FaceBook site: "I used To Hang At The Bricks", the history of this original down home saloon remains a storied legend attested by decades of young people who frequented DC & Georgetown bars when they were students, government workers and beer connoisseurs from 1957 til 2010 when it closed it's doors.
The beer menu was always a prominent calling card for patrons but it wasn't until the late 60s when one of the Coja's sharp management crew, Joe Corey, a talented musician and the in-house booking agent for upstairs music acts started making runs in a rented refrigerated truck to Golden, Colorado to buy truckloads of a little known beer(in the east coast) called Coors. Beer lovers from around The Beltway flocked to the Brickskeller to enjoy the newly discovered brew that advertised and prided itself in never shipping any of their cold filtered products east of Colorado. The beer staple continued to grow for the Brickskeller and the extremely large beer menu started growing to an enormous import list that rivaled any in the United States. Combining food items like their famous "Brickburger" and pizzas with cheap $2 monogrammed Brickskeller pitchers of beer kept the place packed with budget conscious students and other saloon lovers. When Maurice became less active in the business in the late 1970s his daughter Diane Alexander and her husband Dave took over the business and continued the success patterns of her parents. During the Alexander's years at the helm they received a Guinness World Record for the largest selection of beers commercially available, Dave was the first bar owner and fifth American to be knighted into the Confederation of Belgian Brewers in their over 600-year history. He received the Best Beer Bar in the. Country award from the Adams Beverage Media group and the first landmark lifetime achievement award they ever presented from the Washintonian magazine. In addition the Washington Post and other city papers declared The Brickskeller the best "beer bar" and best beer selections in the District of Columbia.