Right off the Metropolitan Branch Trail in Eckington, on S Street NE, stands a century-plus-old former Nabisco factory. Now it’s home to Lost Generation Brewing Company, the latest brewery to announce its debut in the District. Come this fall, beer lovers (and their dogs) can expect to enjoy IPAs and lagers with names referencing the works of famous Lost Generation writers and artists like Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway.

“We always feel that the notions of that era just kind of have become timeless and relevant … again,” says co-owner and head brewer Jared Pulliam of the concept.

Pulliam says they’re hoping to open in late September. The building on 327 S St NE is still undergoing construction, but the structure is all there. The front half of the 5,000 square foot space is the taproom, which Pulliam says will evoke “a little bit of a speakeasy feel” with a modern touch. It has a bar made out of reclaimed 120-year old douglas fir wood from the original factory, pulled out from under the floorboards. The back half of the space is the brewery, which you can see in its entirety from the taproom through glass walls.

“We want people to be able to see where the beer that they’re drinking comes from,” Pulliam says. “That was a big focus for us.”

He says the taproom, with its 25-30 seat bar and 16 taps, will set Lost Generation apart from more distribution-focused breweries in the D.C. area.

“I worked so long in distribution brewing, where I’m just sending product out, and I’m so disconnected with my consumer,” Pulliam says. “It’s so nice instead to be there with them, while they’re having your product and enjoying your product. ”

His wife, co-owner and general manager Anne Choe says they want their taproom to foster a sense of “micro-community.” They plan to invite local food trucks to park outside, and they want to support local arts: they’ve hired D.C. artist Kelly Towles to paint a mural to cover the taproom wall from across the bar. There will also be local art on the brewery’s drink labels.

“We want to be a part of the neighborhood,” she says. “D.C. has always been home to us.”

The brewery joins nearby Red Bear Brewing Co. in NoMa and — also along the Metropolitan Branch Trail — City-State Brewing in Edgewood. Lost Generation also comes on the heels of a spike in development in the area. Towering over construction by the nearest Metro stop in NoMa is a new luxury apartment building, the Burton. Pulliam, a D.C. native, says there were 10,000 units slated to open just within a half mile radius when they were signing the lease for their brewery.

That would bring an influx of residents who aren’t necessarily from the area and who may quickly leave, and even more dramatic change to the neighborhood that he and Choe have long called home. Pulliam says that’s what makes D.C. unique: to live among a diverse and “random collection of individuals.”

“There can be advantages to that,” Pulliam said. “There’s a lot of intermingling with old and new, and that makes this area pretty cool.”

For Choe, who’s worked in hospitality for many years, opening Lost Generation feels like coming full circle. She has fond memories of shopping at wholesale warehouses in nearby Union Market just after high school, while working her first job at a local cafeteria. To build something in this area, she says, is a “dream come true.”

Lost Generation has been about a decade in the making. It all began when a friend introduced Pulliam to homebrewing, a hobby that Pulliam says initially sounded “terrible.”

“We can easily just go buy beer at the store, why are we going to spend seven hours outside doing it in our yard?” he says.

But after some solo attempts which “failed miserably,” Pulliam threw himself into brewing and reading every book he could get his hands on. “I’m very stubborn,” he says. “I wasn’t going to be happy until I could make Lagunitas Hop Stoopid on my own.”

At the time, Pulliam was a teacher. But he soon took a side job at Chocolate City Brewing, which closed in 2014.

“I would shut down the classroom, get all my papers I needed to grade, go fire up the brewery…grade papers while I was lautering, and then shut down a brewery around midnight,” he says. “And then you know, wake up, start teaching, do it all over again.”

Working two jobs, Pulliam was almost never home and was soon “burning the candle at both ends.” At first, he was inclined to drop brewing and focus on teaching, but Choe encouraged him to pursue his passion.

To do that, Pulliam felt he needed to learn from “the best.” He wrote to the owner of Lagunitas Brewing Company in California, Tony Magee, offering to sweep floors if he could brew for the company. “We assumed it would go into the trash, that it would never reach Tony Magee’s desk,” Choe says. But Pulliam was hired, and eventually rose up the ranks to run the company’s production facility.

Upon returning to D.C., the couple faced many challenges to opening up their own spot. They were going to a sign a lease for the building in March of 2020 when the pandemic hit. Pulliam says they “cobbled” up money over the past decade for the brewery, but they still needed help from banks.

And like everyone, they’re affected by supply chain issues and inflation.

“There’s double the amount of work with half the amount of resources. And so that’s been kind of challenging,” Choe says. “But we’re getting through it. It’s been a long road. But we’re hopeful that… after many push backs and many delays that this is the final stretch.”

The opening of Lost Generation, set for late September or early October, comes amid the closure of several local establishments, including the recent shuttering of beloved brewery 3 Stars Brewing Company.

Still, Pulliam says he’s optimistic.

“It’s an industry that even despite the closures is growing exponentially in comparison. And even in the area,” Pulliam says. “We do see a lot of opportunity for success and growth. And we’re looking to bring something a little different to D.C.”