The Top Breweries in Washington DC

The last decade has seen an emergence of craft breweries and brewpubs in Washington DC, producing a variety of different beer styles and offering tours and tastings to the community. The city has a long, albeit interrupted history with brewing, that goes back to the 18th century, with the Heurich Brewery, founded in 1872 being the largest and longest-running brewery that eventually closed in 1956.

Craft brewery production room in DC

Today, most of these breweries offer a lively, friendly setting besides a great selection of beers and educational tours for beer lovers to explore on the weekends. Here is the list of some of the top breweries in the district.

DC Brau

DC Brau is a popular neighborhood brewery located in Northeast DC in a chic-warehouse space, lined with artistic murals which spans more than 48,500 square-feet, off of Bladensburg Road.

The brewery opened its doors in 2009 and since then has crafted award-winning beer utilizing a delicious and uniquely American blend of North American and European techniques and ingredients.

DC Brau

DC Brau's inaugural beer was 'The Public', an American pale ale style beer. The brewery has also released a Belgian-style pale ale called 'The Citizen', an India Pale Ale style called 'The Corruption', and a pilsner called 'Brau Pils', as well as many limited releases.

The tasting room is open for growler fills and on site consumption throughout the week, while complimentary tours are available on Saturdays.

Atlas Brew Works

Atlas Brew Works is a neighborhood brewery which produces hand crafted artisanal beer in 20 barrel batches, in Ivy City. The brewery also has an outdoor seating area, and is a popular hangout for young DC residents when the weather is nice.

Atlas Brew Works tasting room

Their flagship brews are District Common, a pale, well-balanced beer combining crisp lager character with fruity ale notes; Rowdy, a hop forward rye ale full of flavor; Ponzi, a hoppy American IPA made with five different hop varietals; Dance of Days, a well balanced pale ale and Silent Neighbor a rich stout brewed with rye, blackstrap molasses, and caraway seed.

The Tap Room is open for growler fills and on site consumption throughout the week, while complimentary tours are available on Saturdays.

Right Proper Brewing Company

A hip artsy brewpub and kitchen with Southern-influenced American fare in the Shaw neighborhood with a tasting and production room in the Brookland, DC neighborhood.

Right Proper Brewing Company production room

The brewpub offers a range of different beer styles which change frequently; some are more hop-focused and others more malt-focused, having a complex flavor profile that are generally lower in alcohol.

The tasting room is open throughout the week and offers flights, half pours, full glasses or growlers to go. Tours are offered on Saturdays and Sundays by the Brookland Tasting Room & Production House.

3 Stars Brewing Company

3 Stars Brewing Company produces several craft beers, sells growlers and offers tours of the facility.

3 Stars Brewing Company tasting room

The brewery has a spacious tasting room with a nice decor.

The tasting room is open for growler fills and on site consumption Tuesday to Sunday while complimentary brewery tours are offered on Saturdays.

Hellbender Brewing Company

Inspired by the endangered Hellbender Salamander, this craft brewery and tasting room has communal tables, board games and couple big TVs.

Hellbender Brewing Company communal table

Hellbender Brewing Company uses a mash filter which improves over the traditional brewing system by making more efficient use of the grain that is the fundamental ingredient of beer. A normal brew system will extract 70%-80% of the starches from the grain. The mash filter which allows a brewery to grind the grain down to a course flour compared to simply cracking it into a few pieces will extract 98%, thereby needing on average 15% less grain to make the same amount of beer.

The tasting room is open for growler fills and on site consumption Wednesday to Sunday while complimentary brewery tours are offered on Saturdays.

Bluejacket

Bluejacket is a microbrewery, tasting room and restaurant serving craft beers in SE Washington DC, in the revitalized Navy Yard area.

Bluejacket restaurant

The microbrewery and restaurant is housed in a building built in 1919 which served as a part of the Navy Yards ship and munitions manufacturing complex.

The brewery offers a wide range of beers and the flavor ranges from intensely flavored to subtly nuanced.

Tasting tours are offered on Saturdays at 3pm and costs $29 per person; reservations are required.

Bardo Brewing

Bardo Brewing has changed its location many times and is currently an outdoor brewery and beer garden along the Anacostia River near Nationals Park.

Bardo Brewing outdoor beer garden

It can be best described as a casual laid back place with a hipster vibe offering a decent variety of beer.

The beer garden is open throughout the week, the timing roughly dependent on the weather.

Planning Your Visit

The breweries are located in different neighborhoods of DC. Although, you could visit some of them in a single day, it is a better experience to plan your visit over a few different weekends. This allows you to do the tastings, take a tour and enjoy a glass of beer or two without crossing the limits of alcohol.

Almost all the breweries have a rotating crew of food trucks on most Saturday afternoons and patrons can also bring their own food or have it delivered from nearby restaurants.

For tour schedules and addresses of the breweries, check the notes in the Breweries & Distilleries listing in Washington DC, in our Things to Do Project.



Article Category: Things to Do