In the D.C. region, conversations often start with, 鈥淲hat do you do?鈥� 草莓传媒鈥檚 鈥�Working Capital鈥� series profiles the people whose jobs make the D.C. region run.
While not directly involved with billion-dollar business deals and government contracts, this company may have had a hand in bringing the parties together for a cold pint.
Both Alex Spencer, the head brewer, and Brandon Skall, the CEO and co-founder of , make sure you have a refreshing pilsner, IPA and even a spiked seltzer in your hand whenever you need it.
The Northeast D.C. brewery is celebrating its 15th anniversary, and over the years it has brewed a lot of beer, consistently pouring an alcoholic amber nectar.
鈥淒espite popular belief, we don’t just have a beer faucet here that we turn on and whatever we want comes out,鈥� Skall told 草莓传媒.
That D.C. Brau “Joint Resolution” you enjoy after a long day at work may only take 20 minutes to drink, but it takes three to four weeks to produce.
鈥淚t’s a full day’s worth of work on the brewhouse side, and then everything else is the yeast doing its job,鈥� said Spencer.
While most beer starts with malted barley, hops, water and yeast, they can yield wildly different beers, from the high gravity 鈥淥n the Wings of Armageddon鈥� to the crisp 鈥淏rau Pils.鈥�
鈥淵ou’ve got your four basic ingredients, but within those ingredients, there’s a lot of different variations,鈥� Spencer said. 鈥淚 couldn’t count how many different kinds of malt there are out there.鈥�
The many types of hops and yeast can also transform the taste and look of a beer.
鈥淟ike with any form of art, subtle changes can have really big impacts,” Skall said. “And a lot of that is intuitive. You can go to school to learn brewing, but once you’re out there, really working in the industry, building up years of experience, those changes and that knowledge comes naturally.鈥�
鈥淚 think it’s similar to being a chef in a lot of ways, in that there’s a lot of different techniques and ingredients you can apply to really make something that is distinctly yours,鈥� Spencer added.
Creating a new tasting experience is one of the best parts of the job, they said. The brewery, in its early days, would produce anything they wanted to brew.
Over the years, there have also been happy mistakes in their beer lab.
鈥淲e had a batch of Corruption IPA years ago that somebody accidentally put the Belgian yeast in there instead and created a Belgian IPA that was enough of a fan favorite, we ended up bringing it back once a couple of years ago for just a one-time batch,鈥� Spencer said.
But Skall said the pandemic made them more strategic and intentional. They study market trends to see what might work here.
鈥淎nd, of course, passion, which one of those are we passionate about? Where is there a hole missing in the market that we can fill?鈥� Skall said.
They have produced lower ABV beverages and developed hard seltzers that became a huge portion of their portfolio.
For their anniversary, they created 鈥淏aby Wings,鈥� a redux of their popular 鈥淥n the Wings of Armageddon鈥� but with a lower alcohol content. Another new brew is called 鈥淒eclaration,鈥� in honor of D.C. Brau’s anniversary and the United States’ 250th birthday.
The names and labels of their core beers are very D.C. politics-centric, including 鈥淭he Public,鈥� 鈥淛oint Resolution,鈥� and 鈥淭he Corruption.鈥�
鈥淭hen we had brands like on the 鈥榃ings of Armageddon鈥� or 鈥楽pace Reaper,鈥� that were more speaking to that culture here in D.C. that exists outside of politics. The people that live here, work here, run businesses here, and that creativity, we hope, really translated to people seeing that there’s two sides to the city,鈥� Skall said.
You can buy D.C. Brau by the can or the pint at your local grocery store, bar or liquor store, and at , open Thursday through Sunday.
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