D.C. beer enthusiasts, rejoice — this new book has all the fun facts you could ever share while downing DC Brau at happy hour. D.C. expert and self-proclaimed “history dork” Garrett Peck will be at Politics & Prose Saturday, March 22 at 1 p.m. to chat about Capital Beer: A Heady History of Brewing in Washington, D.C. (History Press, $20).
While beer brewing may evoke images of biergartens and lederhosen, Peck clarifies that America has its own special relationship with the beverage. “Five centuries of pure ingredients and process” in German brewing now competes with “innovation” in the United States, where “craft brewers stretch the imagination with hoppy, malty brews or yeast-driven beers.” Our sponge-like culture, Peck writes, “borrows liberally from Belgian, Czech, English, and German traditions to form our eclectic American style.”
And while Capital Beer certainly addresses beer’s place in history in the United States, its focus is on D.C. brewing. The industry has gone through ups and downs in the nation’s capital. The first breweries in the late 1700s produced heavy English-style ales (not ideal for sticky summers) and gave way to German lagers popularized by new immigrants in the mid-19th century.
But you also can’t forget the politics of beer in D.C., which some wanted to serve as a model “dry” city; not to mention the effects of Prohibition. Breweries were the District’s second-largest employer until that 13-year mishap. Only one, the Christian Heurich Brewing Company in Foggy Bottom, made it until 1956. We were then completely brewery-less until DC Brau and 3 Stars opened in 2009 and 2012, respectively. Since then it’s been craft beer central.
Why’d it take us so long to get back on the wagon? Capital Beer will answer all your questions in the endearing style of your history buff friend who you can’t take to museums (in a good way!).
Peck is a literary journalist, author of five books, and leads tours of Seneca quarry and the local Temperance Tour. Along with the D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild, Peck worked to have the Rickey declared Washington’s native cocktail (gin or bourbon, squeeze of half of a lime and soda water). He also is the resident beer connoisseur at Politics & Prose’s seasonal beer-tasting events.
The talk is free and open to the public.
