The outside of Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. in Hyattsville. (Photo by Ethan McLeod)
A little over a month after pouring its first pints, Hyattsville’s newest brewery, Streetcar 82 Brewing Co., is bustling on a Thursday night. More than two dozen people are gathered at the space, a converted auto repair garage on Rhode Island Avenue, drinking inside or sitting at picnic tables or playing yard games outdoors. While some patrons chat aloud, many others communicate via American Sign Language, be it to heckle each other over games of cornhole or joke and chat over drinks. The brewery has become a hub for deaf patrons, because Streetcar 82 Brewing is the East Coast’s first fully deaf-owned and -operated brewery.
“Sometimes I come at five o’clock and it’s 90 percent hearing people,” Pepe Cervantes, a customer and Hyattsville resident, says. “But by the time it gets a little later, I would say it’s about 50-50.”
Burke, Jon Cetrano, and Sam Costner—all graduates of D.C.’s Gallaudet University, which serves students who are deaf and hard of hearing—co-founded Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. this summer, as first reported by the Hyattsville Wire. They named it for the 82 streetcar line that ran from downtown D.C. and along Rhode Island Avenue from 1888 to 1958, a route they learned had passed Cetrano’s present-day home in Eckington, Costner’s in Woodridge and Burke’s in Hyattsville.
Were the streetcar up and running now, “the idea is that we all hop on the streetcar and get together at the brewery!” Burke wrote in an email.
Streetcar 82 joins a small number of other deaf-owned breweries around the country, including Arizona’s Lochiel Brewing and Oregon’s Grateful Deaf Brewing.
Like so many others in the craft beer explosion, their venture was inspired by an affinity for home-brewed beer (a “cliché microbrewery story,” they admit on their website). Burke says they gathered at his house and tried a sampling of beers he and Cetrano had made together—among them a saison they’ve since tweaked and added to their brewery’s rotating menu—and ultimately decided it was good enough to serve to the masses.
They launched a Kickstarter campaign in late May seeking to raise $15,000. It ultimately drew $25,487 from 229 donors within a month, enough to build out the space, secure permits, buy equipment, and ultimately debut with a soft opening in early July.
Since that first weekend, Streetcar 82 has continued opening on a “soft” basis Thursdays through Saturdays, announcing the weekend’s lineup of available beers on social media. Burke says they’re eyeing a more permanent schedule “as we ramp up production,” and will open officially on Sept. 7 with a ribbon cutting and a celebratory weekend to follow with food trucks, live music, and more.
An early August weekend featured five brews on tap, including two Belgians, one a blonde ale, another a table beer; two styles of IPAs; and an American Pale Ale. (There’s also cold brew coffee from nearby Vigilante Coffee Co. on offer as a non-alcohol option.) And there’s more in the pipeline. Lining one wall of the garage area, fermenters sit labeled with recipes—a West coast-style IPA, a Belgian stout and a Northeast-style pale ale—all due to be tapped for this week. They’re also eying some specialties for the future, such as a “s’mores stout” and a coffee stout, the latter brewed in concert with Vigilante Coffee.
“We aim to have a beer for everyone, as we want our brewery to be a community gathering place,” Burke says.
While food offerings are limited, Streetcar 82 does have a partnership with the year-old Hyattsville outpost of Pizzeria Paradiso: Streetcar 82 customers can call in an order and the restaurant will hand-deliver their pie. Burke says they also plan to have food trucks on the weekends.
Streetcar 82 Brewery Co. co-founders Sam Costner (left), Mark Burke (center), and Jon Cetrano. (Photo courtesy of Streetcar 82 Brewing Co.)
Beyond the patrons signing to each other throughout the brewery, other marks of the deaf community’s involvement are apparent within Streetcar 82’s space. Cetrano noted in an email that the brewery’s spacious layout and diffused natural light adhere to “DeafSpace” design principles suited for deaf people’s sensory and communicative abilities. He says this happened “by happy accident due to the location and building that we were fortunate to get.”
For branding, the team hired Andres Otalora, a deaf graphic designer, to create their logo incorporating the imagery and colors of the old streetcar, and Route 66, a deaf-owned design and apparel company, to design their t-shirts.
There’s also talk of deaf-centric educational events, including American Sign Language classes. Cetrano says those will come “later on in the fall as soon as we get the brewery settled and into a routine.”
Streetcar 82 has opened amid a surge in commercial activity for the town along D.C.’s northeastern border. Craft alcohol is fast becoming part of that boom, with the forthcoming arrivals of a new restaurant and taproom for Silver Spring-based Denizens Brewing, honey wine producer Maryland Meadworks, and gin, whiskey, and brandy maker Sangfroid Distilling, all of which join the staple brewpub Franklins in downtown Hyattsville.
Burke says the “unbelievable” support his company has received from his alma mater’s community “goes to show the desire to see more deaf owned businesses.”
Their goal is broader than serving one niche, be it beer drinkers in the neighborhood or the deaf community. “We want to be a brewery where the community all come together and interact,” Burke says, “whether they are deaf or hearing.”
Streetcar 82 Brewing Co. is located at 4824 Rhode Island Ave. in Hyattsville. Check the brewery’s Facebook page and Instagram for hours and the most up-to-date beer offerings.
This story has been updated to note other deaf-owned breweries around the country
