We be Pubbin @ the Blaguard

I came here for a Unilocal event and I must say, bravo!
It’s truly a dive bar. I didn’t check out the upstairs but the downstairs is a nice place to chill and have a beer.
The food– your typical delicious fried bar food. Yum yum.
I would definitely come here to chill again. It’s a nice change of scene from your typical trashy Adams Morgan bars.

We be pubbin’
Everybody loves it when Unilocal
Hosts somethin
Blaguard didn’t pull nothin
We ain’t frontin
We just eatin and drankin
Like it ain’t nothin wrong
Get ya pub on (We be pubbin’)
Ah, we be pubbin’ (we be pubbin’)
Yaeeyaae! (webepubbinwebepubbinwebepubbin)
Forgive my self-​indulgence, but I couldn’t resist paying homage to the legend who inspired this event, at least in name if not execution. Just be glad I didn’t touch the remix with DMX.
I had honestly never even heard of The Blaguard, or the buildings previous tenant, Common Share, so I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the effort they put forward for our event. The bartenders were incredibly convivial all night, pouring the mixed whiskey drinks with extra heavy hands for the most part. I avoided the PBR and Twisted Teas, because well, if I’m going to drink something awful anyway it might as well be masked by Coke.
The food, while little more than standard bar fare, was undeniably existent in generous quantities, a fact not lost on the throngs of ever increasingly intoxicated guests. The chicken fingers were a bit like rubber, and extremely salty, but the buffalo wings were pretty decent, and I was actually really surprised by how well they cooked the tater tots. I’m not sure if there were other options besides those 3 over the course of the night, as I kind of forgot to keep eating, woops.
I do have to say this was one of my favorite gatherings of Unilocal crew out at an Elite event in quite some time. There were a LOT of familiar faces here, which is always nice, but there were also so many new faces, who for once weren’t afraid to come up and chat with us old timers who sometimes get lost in catching up with friends. Great job immersing yourself in the scene guys, that’s the best way to have fun here! I am still amazed by my ability to attend almost every event and somehow walk away with zero pictures of myself almost routinely, but at least Brian managed to snag one of my sadly discarded name tag, floating torpidly in a bowl of urine (
).
The one thing that did somewhat baffle me about the event… what was with the theme? I heard virtually no old school rap, and it seemed only Tara participated in «dressing up» to go along with it (I know I’m guilty here too). We’ll certainly have to try harder next time, our bad boo!
To those of you who I may have encouraged to head to Bourbon for the after-​party with Ashley and myself, sorry for our delay! I’m pretty sure we were passed, by the same people, at least 3 times before ever making it up there… and it turned out you were all gone by the time we arrived. Again, woops.
Now everybody in the world love to go pubbin’
And after the pub it’s either …

Awesummness! Great seeing the fellow Elite-​stahs again… and having my first ever shot with Tara! The first of many, I forsee!
The staff was great, the space perfect for a lively crew, and all of my faves from the golden food group were representin!
I’ll be back!
Love the location — not in the mix of Adams Morgan, but close enuf to swagger up there for a second stop after leaving the Blaguard!

Bomb diggity!
Wings!
Tenders!
Tater tots!
Tea! (er…the hard 5% alcohol type, that is)
Tantalizing DJ!
And the inimitable Tara L.
What more could a Unilocal elite want?
More!

Holy crap it seems like forever since I’ve attended an event.
This place was like a hot sweaty arm pit the entire time. Thank God for the free Twisted Tea-​Shirts otherwise I would have drowned in my own sweat!!! I thought the fingerless gloves were a bit out of season but still cool (literally and figuratively).
The tater-​tots, wings, tenders, onion rings, jalapeño poppers, were awesome, but the clear winner for me was the Gully Gulp. The bartenders were pouring them STRONG!!!
It was great catching up with familiar faces, and meeting new ones as well.

Awesome. Nice, low key venue that seemed to never be too crowded no matter how many people filed in. It was great to catch up with people, meet some new Unilocalers, and force my dancing on Ruth, Tracey, Semra, et al. Best discovery of the night: Twisted Tea. Delicious and dangerous. What a shame this wasn’t around in my undergrad days to save me from the sugary burn of Mike’s Hard Lemonade. Good thing there was plenty of wings, mozerella sticks, tots, fried fish bites and other fried treats to keep me lucid. Second best discovery of the night: Tara and I are related… through work. The bartenders were so nice and really on top of the service despite how busy it got.
Thanks for making my Tuesday night feel like a Friday!

James L confidently rocking the lavender dress shirt, sans tie.
Challenging Monty to a drinking game after my drinking tolerance is questioned.
Fried food that my body hated me for consuming. I took a pass on the PBR tall boys, was reminded of canned Lipton teas after two of the Twisted Teas, and finished the night with multiple Gully Gulps.
Wondering where Fenny was to challenge Cupcakes’ FTR.
Shots of whiskey courage. Inciting DonMike and Amanda to climb up on the bench and rock out like they want to. Secretly spanking Amanda while DonMike gesticulates wildly behind her back. Amanda switching from Asian gangsta to Silent Hill zombie nurse with just one zipper.
Dancing up on Tracey in tandem with Theresa.
Meeting a ridiculous number of new people and reminding Preeti of the time I stalked her and Khalib to the Metro. Aforementioned new people yelling surprise as I came out of the bathroom.
The meeting of the Brian B’s, followed by an icy investigation into my armpit. Tara and Brian B dancing til I have to fan myself.
Frizzle the fantastic bartender, and the grinning bouncer whose name I’ve sadly forgotten already. With this kind of customer service, I see why they were awarded BNB of DC.
Snuffling the vanilla out of Lindsay L because I’m that good at making +1’s feel awkward.
Sank’s hat going around.
Dancing in the windowsill because even with the cooler lower level, I need a breeze… possibly causing passersby to powerwalk faster away from the lunatic lush.
That was my night. Hope yours was as good.

Gasp! Midway through the night I realized that this spot used to be the Common Share. I used to go there when I was in my early 20s. Damn, I am old.
Once I got over my horror, I had a fun time meeting a few new characters and seeing some familiar faces. The free water, I mean PBR, was nice. After 3 of them, I realized how much of a tolerance I’ve built up with all of the boozy craft beers I’ve been drinking. The whiskey was a good drink, but since it was a Tuesday night, I refrained.
I have to subtract a star for the food. I try to stay away from fried stuff (well, besides french fries of course), and that was all there was: chicken tenders, tots, mozz sticks, onion rings, and something else I couldn’t identify. I know it’s free, and that is much appreciated, but a few non-​fried options would have been a good addition. I guess old-​school rappers don’t eat healthy food.
Thanks for setting this up, Tara! I’m looking forward to the next event.

First and foremost, it should be noted that Irish Pubs or Pubs in general are not my scene AT ALL. I don’t get excited at the thought of beer (even if it is free), bar food, or being roped into (boring) conversations where guys (usually loud and obnoxious guys) engage in competitive conversation whereby demonstrating their beer knowledge (meant: validate their masculinity) and count the number of beers on tap (BKA bar athletics). Consequently, it would take nothing less than the lure of an evening spent with Unilocalers (DC’s finest) to draw me to this establishment… but I am glad it did.
Much to my surprise the atmosphere, service, and staff at The Blaguard set the perfect tone to change my tune about the Pub scene. The vibe was unassuming and relaxing, without being slummy. The bar tenders were amazing; assiduous, and cute. The owner was funny and down-​to-​earth. A few regulars trickled in after our event was over and they seemed cool. Even though there wasn’t much of a twist in the twisted tea, and it felt like a sauna the vibe was always fun and the drinks were cheap. The Blaguad won me over despite my skepticism (no small feat) and proved to be an awesome spot for an easygoing evening with friends. Another GREAT event.
Highlights:
Dancing with Ruth C.
Heart to heart w/​Tara
Largest group shots taken @ a Unilocal Event so far

This was the best Unilocal event I have been to! Seriously, it rocked. I’m not sure why it rocked… it could have been the most excellent bartenders who were attentive and ready to serve the Chinky. Or it could have been the fact that the company was so rad. Had a blast with Cleopatra and Don Juan sitting on the outside/​inside chair. The tator tots were jammin and the ice tea was OK. It was hot as balls but after about an hour, one just learned to suck it up. I mean, it’s free food and booze you assholes. Quit complaining. I’m happy to have attended an event where people weren’t pretentious little shits, too. Relaxed and drunk… the way I like my company.
Not quite sure what was up with the abundance of white women… where were all the Asians at? Too cool for Adams Morgan?
Loved it. Thanks for peeps for plus one’ing one. You rock.

At first I told myself I would never set foot in this place because it took over what used to be my home away from home (Common Share)…but because I love Tara soooooo much and because I can’t knock things until I try them,…I entered.
It was actually more roomy than I remembered it being, they set it up almost identical to how it used to be, yet it was a huge facelift for the place and still played the same good music that I used to go there for in the first place. The bartenders were extra friendly and accommodating to us drunken Unilocaler Elites (& guests of elites) and it was awesome. I only had a small sample of the chicken tenders, but they were really good, not overly fried or anything and the chicken was still tender… go figure when you’re trying to have a chicken tender ;-)
I will come back for a regular night with friends just to check it out with their regular crowd because Unilocalers are no «regular» crowd ;-) They’re a step up! Thanks for assembling yet another fantastic event Tara!

Another blast at Unilocal event. Blaguard has great bartenders and staffs. Food was typical pub/​bar food but they were tasty. It was a little too hot inside but it might be due to presence of so may HOT Unilocalers.
I had fun. Always good time with great people, good food and drinks.
Kudos to Tara and Amanda for making ‘Could-​have-​been-​Another-​Just-​a-​Tuesday’ into ‘Another-​Awesome-​Fun-​Pubbing-​Day’.

As my first Unilocal Elite Event, I have to say that this event was BALLIN! First off, the Blaguard is one bitchin’ bar, despite the fact that it got pretty toasty (with all these hot Unilocalers, what else would you expect?!). It was great to see familiar faces and also to finally meet some crazies in person!
Props to Tara L. for putting this together! I definitely appreciated the whiskey and ginger ale on the drink menu (definitely my jam). While Twisted Tea is apparently not so enjoyable, I was willing to suck a couple down also for the sake of the party!
The two downsides of this event:
1) I lost my Twisted Tea shirt :-(
2) It’s going to take me about a week to work off the amount of tater tots and fried chicken I inhaled
Oh yeah and I got a sweet new profile pic, courtesy of the wonderful Amanda S! Check that biznitch out!

Pip pip and cheerio. I be Pubbin’ at the Blaguard with the best Unilocalers ever! It was a hot night both literally and figuratively. I loved the vibe of the pub, but I am not a whiskey drinker. I had a Boddingtons draft to cool me off. I didn’t try the Twisted Tea either because even though I am half British, I hate ice tea. I like mine hot with a bit of milk — the British way. I’ll tell William and Kate you say hello.
Food was hot and fried. I sampled a few fried cheese sticks and had to eat some tots because they were right in front of my face at the bar! They were quite spicy and tasty!
The bartenders were awesome (at least the one closest to me). They definitely got a work out from us! Cheers to all the great Unilocalers at the event. I even met a few new to me super Eliters!

I had one drink and the earliest I could make it to work today was 10:00 am (supposed to be here by 8:30am), this is a clear sign that a) I’m getting old, b) I had a great time and stayed out later than my bedtime.
Great to see the new and old faces of Unilocal!I was impressed by the staff and service at the Blaguard, especially the bouncer who liked to joke around. This was my first time at the Blaguard, and I remember the previous occupant, The Common Share, the type of bar where you’d stick to the floor and have to dodge flying beer bottles. Blaguard classed it up a bit.
On that particular night it was Africa hot in there, but thanks to the generous Unilocalers who applied cold PBR cans to my neck, my pre-​menopausal hot flashes subsided.
Thanks for the fun times, DC Unilocalers are the best!

«Hi Tara!!» was the first thing as I said as i walked into the Blaguard.
Tara was the first Unilocal-​a-​riffic face I saw tonight. She happily told me, «The bar is open, go get a drink». I happily obliged and made my way to the bar, snacking on tater tots and happily chatted with Unilocalers as I waited for my drink.
The place was filling up quickly with new faces and old faces. Everyone was happy to be there and I quickly set to work (with PBR in hand) to steal the FTR and to post a few pix of the crowd. Boo-​ya! The Blaguard itself had that old pub feel and would probably be one of the places I would’ve enjoyed frequenting if I wanted a cold drink and a chill place to relax.
I was glad to meet many of the «new to me» faces that I’d only seen on Unilocal and a many familiar faces that I hadn’t seen in many many months or even more than a year ago (too many to name). As I mingled with my fellow DC Unilocalers, the group seemed to sway and move towards the mountain of fried food so generously provided by the Blaguard. There were onion rings, fried mozarella sticks, fried jalapenos, fried chicken strips, fried fish cubes, buffalo wings and more tater tots.
Did I mention there were tater tots?
Hell yeahz those were taysss-​teeeeeeee.
It had been a mondo-​long time since my last Elite event and it was so great to see everyone. What made it even better were all the happy faces that welcomed me with hugs, handshakes and heart felt hellos. You DC Unilocalers are the best and thanks to Tara for such a fun fun time (and all the free shwiggidy-​shwag). A big thank you to the Blaguard staff who kept us Unilocalers hydrated on such a warm night and well fed with many tasty fried delights.
Great fun, free food and drink and awesome conversation with DC Unilocalers; those things ALWAYS make for a five star night in my book. DC Unilocalers are THE best, bar none! :-)
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UPDATE:
Please vote this picture «Very Helpful» and click on the box to «Suggest as primary photo «. Gotta make it the main pic of the night:
Friggin’ awesome. :-)

Thanks to Tara and Unilocal team for throwing another awesome event at Blaguard. The venue is a typical comfortable local pub/​watering hole. No pretense, but a simple spot to for the locals to come gather for a drink. They could use a bit more climate control. It got a bit hot. The drinks were strong and the music was good. It was a great time to meet and greet the new and old elites.