2017 will go down in the history books for a lot of things (absurd politics, 3 a.m. tweet storms, the #MeToo movement, the year Prince Harry officially took himself off the market, etc.), but for us it has been pretty epic in a lot of great ways.
The Expansion
The year began digging in the dirt.
There were countless trucks with cranes, backhoes and trailers ready to break ground on a huge expansion project that included the addition of a brand new GEA Brewing Systems brewhouse.
Did we mention the dirt?
The mammoth project finally wrapped up earlier this fall increasing our overall footprint to more than 48,500 square feet of space on Bladensburg Road.
The new brewhouse will allow us to increase our annual capacity as local, non-local, and even international markets demand in the coming years. You can read more about the expansion project in this article Prince of Petworth wrote in November just after it came online.
In addition to the shiny new 30-barrel, state-of-the-art system, we upgraded the bathroom in the tasting room and installed an ADA-compliant ramp in the front.
The Lab
2017 has been a year of growth for the DC Brau lab program! In addition to our microbiological program, we have added a spectrophotometer to our analytical equipment list. This is an important tool to monitor bitterness, color, and flavor compounds from batch to batch. Our equipment and testing protocols now put us as one of the more modern labs in the craft beer community. The continued investment in the lab program is a reflection of our commitment to quality and consistency at DC Brau. In the new year, we plan to expand our sensory program to include more employees and foster a focus on quality at the individual level.
On the Rack
For years, we've sourced small spot quantities of barrels from various local distilleries, as well as bars and restaurants with private label spirit selections, that we filled with flagship beers for special events. At the start of the year, we became more intentional with our barrel-aging program, specifically brewing beers for barrel aging and sourcing the freshest possible barrels available. Kyle Larkin has taken the lead on the barrel program, and is a welcome addition to this ever-expanding endeavor that includes not only clean-barrel aging (think rye whiskey & bourbon barrels) but mixed fermentation, as well. As we move forward, we hope to have more of this product available in packaged form in the tasting room. 2018 should be an exciting year as we share these new explorations in fermentation with everyone. We hope you'll come along for the ride with us!
New Markets
Speaking of growth, you can now find DC Brau cans & tap handles in the farther reaches of the DMV, thanks to the hard work of our dedicated sales team members, including Kayleigh Tanthorey, Rachel Weinreb, Brendan Kirlin, Chris Wilson & Charles Newsome.We're now also available throughout Massachusetts, including Boston! How 'bout them apples?
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