DC’s Best Nightlife

Best Beer Selection [1]: ChurchKey [1] is to beer lovers what Proof and Vinoteca are for oenophiles, with more than 500 beer offerings listed on the menu by flavor or taste rather than place of origin or style — a boon for those who don’t know the difference between a weissbier and a hefeweisen.

Best Live Music Venue [2]: Adams Morgan’s most popular bar, Madam’s Organ [2] packs patrons in nightly with live music on the first floor, a DJ on the second floor, a rooftop patio, and five bars.

Best Drink With a View [3]: The name of the rooftop terrace at the W Hotel Washington DC says it all: POV [3] (Point of View). Indoor and outdoor spaces overlook the White House, the Washington Monument, and the National Mall, with views clear to the river, the Jefferson Memorial, the Pentagon, and the Air Force Memorial.

Best Neighborhood Bar [4]: I’m not sure why everyone — Esquire magazine and the Food Network included — classifies the Tune Inn [4] as a dive. Sure, it has taxidermy and vinyl seats sagging from the weight of thousands of derrieres, and the service is sometimes brusque, but the floor and the bathrooms are clean, the beer is cold, and the chili cheese fries are gooey sticks of deliciousness. It’s an awesome place.

Best Place to Get Your Groove On [5]: Maybe it’s not as upscale as other clubs in DC, lacking the strict “no sneakers, no Timberlands, no ball caps” dress code found elsewhere, but U-Street Music Hall [5] pulses, with a huge dance floor, a body-thumping Martin sound system, and DJs who get the crowd moving.

Best Alternative Music Venue [6]: From artists on the cusp of playing Coachella to big alternative names to groups you’ve never heard of, the Black Cat [6] has it all.

Best Jazz Club [7]: The competition is stiffer than ever, but Blues Alley [7], the District’s longest-running jazz hall, wins with aficionados for its supper-club ambience and top-notch musicians.

Only in DC [8]: An unmarked door leads upstairs to 18th Street Lounge [8], a nightclub set in a townhome once rented by Teddy Roosevelt. Kudos to the decorators who made Queen Anne Victorian style cool.

Best Spot to Take a Date [9]: Dimly lit, cozy yet chic, and with a wine menu that offers full or half pours, the wine bar at Bistrot Lepic [9] is like a mini break to contemporary Paris without the airfare.