With 2014 on the books, resolutions made, and reflections on the past year impossible to ignore, let’s take a look at how the D.C. beer scene fared in 2014.
With few exceptions, most aspects of the beer scene grew at an unprecedented pace. Both 3 Stars Brewing Company and DC Brau Brewing Company expanded capacity in 2014. Not only did 3 Stars bring in new fermenters to increase volume output, but they also set up a barrel program for aging and blending their beers on different barrels, and acquired a bottling line to get Peppercorn Saison and Pandemic Porter into stores around the area. With DC Brau expanding into five states in just five years, six new 60-barrel tanks were brought in this summer to keep up with demand. Atlas Brew Works also made waves by creating the 1500 South Cap Lager as an exclusive beer for the Nationals, a Helles lager named for the address of the park. Additionally, this winter Atlas became the second brewery in the district to can their beers. Their flagship beers, District Common Lager and Rowdy Rye, are available citywide.
New breweries came to the area, but not without a little controversy. Silver Spring’s Denizens Brewing (formerly known as Citizens Brewing Company) was sent a cease and desist letter by DC Brau over the brewery’s former name and its similarity to DC Brau’s flagship beer, The Citizen. Since that hurdle, Denizens has moved forward and brought a number of solid beers into the market. This fall, Hellbender Brewing Company opened with a focus on producing beers by energy efficient processes and utilizing sustainability technologies.
2014 also brought new beer to the city in the form of brewpubs. Right Proper opened in December 2013 and showed many in the beer scene that full-flavored beers don’t have to be full of alcohol. That the majority of head brewer Nathan Zeender’s beers fall below 5% ABV is a blessing to many who want sessionable beers that don’t drink like a light beer. With many of the beers on the menu dosed in lactobacillus and brettanomyces (beer-nerd speak for the some of the bugs that give us sour and funky flavors), it is no surprise Right Proper has become a D.C. favorite for casual drinkers and geekiest of beer geeks. Over near the H Street NE corridor, Bardo also started producing their own beers in their outdoor brewhouse though some weren’t as happy with the product as others.
So what do we see moving forward into 2015?
The continued rise of lower alcohol beers and beer hybrids
While we all enjoy the soft numbness of inebriation, the trend of double-digit ABV (alcohol by volume) beers is being reined in by a large number of brewers making easy-drinking and lower alcohol beers. All the local brewers have at least a few beers under 6%, and the majority of breweries in market have sessionable offerings that are satisfying but not debilitating. Combine this with the large growth of ciders and radlers in the market, and you have a beer scene that is accessible to everyone. Cider in the D.C. area has been a little slow to make a name for itself beyond people’s perception of sweet, boozy apple juice. However, local producers like Millstone, Albemarle, and Blue Bee have come into market, showing how complex and refreshing true ciders can be. Even Sam Fitz, former beer director of Pizza Paradiso and Meridian Pint, has fallen in love with ciders and is hoping to open a cider-focused venue in the upcoming year. Radlers, a mix of lager and a non-alcoholic beverage (often juice or soda), were incredibly popular in the scene last year and will continue to gain popularity as an alternative to those who don’t feel like having a “regular” beer.
Pints on premise
With breweries finally able to sell pints on-premise for consumption, they will now become more of a destination point for many looking for a place to have a beer with friends. More events will happen at breweries, which will further incorporate the idea of beer as a selling point to the community as they are continually integrated into the community.
Increased whaling
“Whale hunting,” or searching out the rarest beers, has been a niche endeavor for some time by many beer-nerds. We often seek out the hand-numbered, one-of-a-kind, experimental beers in order to feed our palate-based obsessions while simultaneously rubbing it in our friends’ faces when a particular bottle is captured. Like High Fidelity‘s protagonist Rob Gordon said, “Fetish properties are not unlike porn. I’d feel guilty taking their money, if I wasn’t … well, kinda one of them“. However, with the increase in popularity of beer, whaling has become a common occurrence in the beer movement as a whole, and D.C. is no exception. Once, rare keg tappings were attended by the nerdiest of us who felt empowered by being able to try such a rare thing while questioning life decisions that lead us to feeling so empowered by tasting a beer. Now, rare tappings are full-scale events, and some of the rarest have long lines and wait times. This year, Cantillion’s Zwanze Day (named for one of the most sought after beers in the world) at ChurchKey had long lines hours before the tapping and presold tickets just for a taste of this cuvée. As the demand increases, so will the insanity that goes along with whaling, or more specifically, people caring more about the badge of honor than the beer.
Neighborhood bars
D.C. is finally starting to really have a neighborhood bar scene that many of us grew up with in older beer towns like Philly, Boston and Chicago. Brookland Pint, Steel Plate, Brookland’s Finest, and Smith Public Trust all opened recently in Brookland. Bloomingdale has gotten Red Hen, Showtime, and Boundary Stone. New bars in Petworth, Navy Yard, and Takoma are also becoming part of the neighborhood. This is great for small business owners, residents, and local brewers as everyone can benefit from an increased neighborhood cohesiveness and appreciation for all tasty things local.
With more beer coming to market, more bars carrying great local and national products, and more neighborhood options for the consumer than ever before, it looks like 2015 is coming in strong for our beer community.
Cheers.
