D.C.’s newest brewery will give the city a first taste of what it’s offering tonight as Hellbender Brewing Company debuts one of its flagship beers.

Behind Hellbender are Patrick Mullane, a former congressional aid who handles the business side, and Ben Evans, a microbiologist and neuroscientist turned head brewer. Their operation is located in a warehouse near the Fort Totten Metro station, with a large tasting room out front and state-of-the-art brewing system in the back.

Hellbender uses a mash filter system — “one of the first of its kind on the East Coast,” Mullane said during a media tour — that requires less grain, water and, they presume, energy. “We assume there’s probably a 20 percent savings there,” Mullane said.

The focus on environmental friendliness and sustainability extends into their disposal of spent grain — they’re looking for a farmer willing to pick it up for feed — and the furniture in the tasting room, built from leftover wood from packing crates. The bar in the tasting room was crafted over about 100 hours from a piece of salvaged barn wood.

The brewery’s namesake, the Eastern Hellbender, is North America’s largest salamander, endangered in many of the states where it’s found. It’s listed as a species of special concern in neighboring Virginia, where the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute is conducting research. The brewery plans to raise awareness about the Hellbender.

Hellbender will first release its three flagship beers to bars and restaurants, including the Red Line Ale, which goes down like water. “We wanted a nice bright finish to complement that roasted toffy flavor,” Mullane said, adding that it’s meant to be enjoyed year-round.

Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

The taste DCist had — which was excellent — was from the first batch of beer Hellbender produced in its Northeast facility. “It was pretty awesome,” Evans said of tasting the finished product for the first time. The Red Line Ale will debut for $5 a pint at Chinatown’s Iron Horse Taproom at 5 p.m.

Hellbender is also releasing its Eft IPA, with 6.8 percent ABV. “We wanted the hops to shine through,” Evans said. A Bäre Bönes Kölsch — the lightest of the German styles, per Muallane — will follow in a few weeks. “If there’s a mistake in there, it’s really really obvious,” Mullane said. “That’s why we brewed it last. … We wanted to make sure we had experience under our belts first.”

Twenty-five kegs of the Red Line Ale went out the door Monday afternoon, as well as 44 kegs of the IPA to distributors. Cans will follow, but probably not for two years. “There’s plenty of demand here for kegs,” Mullane said.

Pints, tasting flights and growlers will be offered in the tasting room, which opens November 15. After that, Hellbender will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Special one-off beers will eventually be offered as a “tasting-room exclusive.”

The attention to detail is seen, not only in the taste of the beer, but in the tasting room itself. The taps are adorned with custom Hellbender tap handles, which Evans perfected with a researcher from the National Zoo.

“I was sending the head researcher the proofs back and forth,” Evans said. One detail that needed to be perfected: The Hellbender has four toes in the front, five in the back.