OT: How does one get into craft beer?

Go to a bar that specializes in craft beer and ask the bartender what they would recommend. Strike up a conversation. Dont let some sense of pride or shame get in your way. Theyre happy to talk about what theyre into especially if youre interested and you are. Best of luck to you. 

Also, if you started with Hopslam youll be just fine. 

Find a style or two that you like and try everybody's offering. 

Experiment and make note of the styles you like.  When you find a good one, check out the info online from beer advocate.  Try to find similar beers to see if you can find one "style" that you prefer (ie Sout, Porter, Lager, Ale, IPA, wheat beer, etc).  Once you find a style you can experiment quite a bit within that style.

Personally I love ales, but not IPAs.  So I look for ales with lower IBUs (bitterness).  I also found that I'm not really a fan of citrus flavors in my beer, so I rule those ones out.  I have a pretty good success rate finding beers I like knowing a few things like that.  

Once you get to that point, having 37 flavors on tap is awesome because you know what style you like, and you will have lots of new choices.

Download the app "Untapped" and go from there.

How do i always get into these MOST delicious of threads at, like, #161...guess my free blog timing is WAYYYYY off!  But, damn, when it comes to craft beers, just try them...dark, light, bitter, hoppy, sweet, fruity, stout, earthy, tangy...whatev...and take note of your very own, unique palate!!  I am fond of many varieties at any given time, and am currently smitten with West Sixth Brewing out of Lexington, KY.  Nice, flavorful IPA and a summer time favorite is their Lemongrass American Wheat.  But, that's my palate.  Go, explore my friend...just stay thirsty.

hit a beer festival in your town or area - you can walk around to different breweries and sample anything you want (and discuss beers with the reps if youre that interested).  this would be cheapest way to sample as many as possible, walk around with mini cups and sip em all - plus they typically have music, food trucks, etc, just a real good time.  

or find a package store that allows you to build your own 24 - and whether based on recommendations of friends / coworkers / store employee / bloggers, etc or based on brewers youve previously enjoyed, just throw a bunch of options into a case - great way to stock your fridge with up to 24 different brews.  and obviously breweries sell variety packs (ie 4 different 6-packs) so thats another option.  

ask bartenders / servers when youre out if youre looking for recommendations.  find out what you enjoy most and go from there (ie avoiding the darkest brews in your case).  youre right though, bw local and more national crafts and the standard domestics / imports, theres plenty of options when out and about

The first thing you have to do is learn styles and breweries.

From scanning this thread, it sounds like you like IPAs and hoppier stuff rather than roasty or malty stuff. So, start with those. Church Key has a listing of "hoppy" to make it easy.

Walking into a bottle shop or beer bar can be very confusing because there are so many options. Truthfully, a great many of those options aren't very good and you will be fooled by marketting. Gravitate towards certain breweries (suggestions below) and ignore ones you don't know. Or better yet, remember the name and look them up later.

I use beer advocate to look up beers and breweries. I rarely buy anything w/o knowing about it first. My rule of thumb is if it is not close to a 90 (like 88 and up) on the 100 scale or a 4 on the 5 point scale then I will ignore it unless there is some other reason for buying it. Tons of breweries make beers that rate in the mid 3's or low 80s. Ignore those breweries until you know more.

There is a ton of beer and breweries that you can and should just ignore.

Price is not a reliable indicator of quality.

Luckily for you, there are two local-ish breweries that do great things with hops. DC Brau is in the District and has four great beers with increasing taste--The Public, The Citizen, Corruption, and then the famous rain maker On the Wings of Armagedon (OTOWA is the shorthand). All of those but the OTOWA are readily available in cans around the District. Three Stars Brewing is also local and good but they don't do hops as well as DC Brau. They have a beer called Madness out right now that is awesome. But it is dark and silky and maybe not what you prefer. Right Proper Brewing is not far from DuPont and good. It is a destination place. I don't think they sell beer in stores yet.

The other suggestion I have is Dogfish Head. It is easily available. Again in increasing flavor, 60 Minute, 75 Minute, 90 Minute, and then the weirdo 120 Minute. You can use those as a scale to see what you like. The Dogfish Head IPAs have more of a malty backbone than some others that increases with the number so you can use that to rate your interest in malts.

If you got to Nats games, they have stands that sell beers from all the local breweries (DC Brau, 3 Stars, the Fox one--Sly or Mad?--Port City, etc.) Try those.

Other breweries that are easily available and pretty reliable are Founders, Bells, Lagunitas, and Stone. That should get you started.