Things to Do

3 Unusual Ways to Celebrate the Pope’s DC Visit

Beer. A pool party. A metal show.

Beers at Brookland Pint.

Pope Francis’ DC visit September 22-24 will offer you plenty of pontiff-watching pleasures: A parade, a mass, a congressional address. But if you want to salute Francis while going to a bar, or partying by a rooftop pool, or just enjoying some good old fashioned Swedish heavy metal? Don’t worry. This isn’t Philadelphia. In DC, you have options.

Order a Sweet Baby Jesus at Brookland Pint

Brookland Pint’s taps will be taken over by an ingenious collection of “papal-inspired” brews from September 20-23. In place of the bar’s standard craft rotation, you’ll be able to quaff pope-appropriate varieties as “Salvation” (Avery Brewing Co.), “Sweet Baby Jesus” (DuClaw Brewing Co.), and Brookland’s own brew, “No Pope Til Brookland.” The latter is made in partnership with Franklin’s Brewery in Maryland.

And it gets better: In the event a beer brewed by a layperson isn’t holy enough for you, Brookland will also offer a selection of Trappist beers, which are brewed by Trappist monks at monasteries in Belgium, the Netherlands and elsewhere.

Beers start at $6/pint.

The rooftop deck at the Embassy Row Hotel.

Attend a rooftop pope party

No really, a rooftop pay-to-party, pope-themed celebration at Dupont’s Embassy Row Hotel. The hotel recently underwent a $15-million renovation that gave it a swanky rooftop pool and lounge; and on September 22 from 4-7 pm you can enjoy them and help So Others Might Eat, to which all proceeds will be donated. There will be a DJ, small bites, Malbec (presumably to honor the pope’s homeland) and sweeping DC views. Tickets are $25 and include food and a glass of wine.

Papa Emeritus III (Via)

Rock out with the “anti-pope”

The mysterious Swedish metal band Ghost plays at the Fillmore Silver Spring on September 22 at 8:30 pm. What does that have to do with Pope Francis? Well, the band members identify themselves only as “Nameless Ghouls,” and their frontman is named Papa Emeritus III (Papa Emeritus II got deposed). He dresses as—for lack of a better description— an anti-Pope. So, if you’re not on board with Pope Francis’s wholesome agenda, consider this your outlet. Tickets start at $25.